CEBU City – Bacolod Tay Tung High School Thunderbolts, representing Western Visayas, repeated as gold medal winners in Palarong Pambansa secondary girls volleyball.
The Thunderbolts retained their gold medal following a 25-15, 18-25, 27-29, 25-22, 15-12 victory over National Capital Region-Far Eastern University Lady Baby Tamaraws in the finals match on Monday afternoon at the University of San Jose Recoletos-Basak Gym here.
After a heartbreaking defeat in set 3, Western Visayas responded with a strong showing in the fourth set for a slim 25-22 set win, forcing a decider.
In the fifth set, Western Visayas struggled early as they were down 3-5 before they unloaded consecutive points to take an 11-8 advantage over NCR.
NCR, however, kept the match close at 10-11 with back-to-back conversions before Western Visayas completed their come-from-behind victory with a 4-1 finishing run.
Bannering the Western Visayas squad were team captain Jothea Mae Ramos, Rhose Viane Almendralejo, Brianna Nikola Ang, Camila Amor Bartolome, Mary Antonette Bontia, and Dona Mae de Leon.
Also part of the Thunderbolts squad were Jan Rose Bulak, Czarina Marcella Dosayla, Ana Francessca Hermosura, Ana Ysabelle Hermosura, Joenil Anne Ramos, and Rhea Mae Tomas.
The Thunderbolts completed a sweep of their group stage matches against the Region XII SOCCSKSARGEN (25-16, 25-18), Region 2 (25-16, 25-18) and Region I-Ilocos Region (25-15, 25-11).
In the quarterfinals round, the Thunderbolts dominated Davao Region, 25-15, 25-18, before finishing off Northern Mindanao in the semifinals round, 25-14, 25-13, 25-20, on Sunday.
This will be Bacolod Tay Tung High School’s last time to represent Western Visayas as will be under the Negros Island Region beginning next year./PN
