DAVAO City – WVRAA Blue Barons pushed NCRAA to the wall before surrendering a 22-25, 25-9, 23-25, 25-17, 15-6 defeat in the 2019 Palarong Pambansa secondary girls volleyball finals on Saturday at the University of the Philippines-Davao Gym here.
Ranged against the defending champions, the Blue Barons showed a lot promise and at times threatened their experienced opponents before being rattled down the stretch to settle for a silver medal – an upgrade from its bronze in Vigan, Ilocos Sur in 2018.
Both teams went toe-to-toe early in the opening set with the Blue Barons clinging to hairline of lead before getting timely hits from Shane Carmona and Alyssa Bertolano to draw first blood.
After being stunned by the Blue Barons, NCRAA opened a 17-6 advantage in the second set behind Alyssa Solomon and Mhichaela Belen. WVRAA was not able to recover from it for a 1-1 set count.
WVRAA started strong in the third and went up 14-7 after a hit by Carmona but NCRAA rallied to take the lead at 16-15 before the Blue Barons came up with another surge to escape with a 25-23 win.
NCRAA had a fiery start anew in the fourth frame as they took an 8-3 lead. The WVRAA were still hanging around and were just down 15-18 before the NCRAA went on with consecutive points to force a fifth set.
WVRAA gained an early 3-1 edge in the fifth set before the NCRAA leaned on the exploits of Solomon to snatch a 9-3 lead. Errors by the Blue Barons allowed NCRAA to clinch the crown.
Meanwhile, the Blue Barons also settled for silver medal in secondary boys after losing to NCRAA in the finals. WVRAA also had a runner-up finish in elementary girls volleyball./PN
