MANILA – Bernadeth Pons and Cherry Rondina of Petron XCS kicked off their title-retention bid in the Philippine Superliga Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup with a pair of victories at Sands By the Bay in the Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
Pons and Rondina crawled back from a set down to pull off the victory on Wednesday over Ilongga Fiola Ceballos and Bacolodnon Patty Jane Orendain of Generika-Ayala A 19-21, 21-14, 15-8.
“Whenever I jump, it seems that the sand was pulling back my feet. We had difficulty moving in the first set. Fortunately, we managed to adjust and win the second and third sets,” Pons said.
Pons and Rondina claimed their second victory late in the day when it swept the pair of Cocolife A of Danika Gendrauli and Ilongga Nerissa Bautista 21-19, 21-10 for an early lead in Pool A.
Cignal A of Mylene Paat and Rapril Aguilar also emerged victorious as they recovered from a sluggish second set en route to a 21-19, 5-21, 16-14 win over Generika B of Shiela Pineda and Sheeka Espinosa.
But Paat and Aguilar failed to clinch a second victory later in the day as they suffered a 21-14, 19-21, 5-15 defeat in the hands of Sta. Lucia A of Ilongga pairs Dhannylaine Demontano and Jackie Estoquia.
Foton Tornadoes, led by twins Maria Nieza and Jeziela Viray, also came through, sweeping Cignal B composed of Cherry May Vivas and Jannine Navarro 21-16, 21-17.
Sta. Lucia B of Jonah Sabete and Bianca Lizares also won their opening-day match by sweeping Marge Tejada and Alex Tan of Cocolife B 22-20, 21-16./PN
