SISI Rondina and Jovelyn Gonzaga overcame teams from Canada and the Czech Republic to advance to the quarterfinals of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures at the Subic Bay Sand Court on Friday.
Playing together for the first time in international competition, the Rondina and Gonzaga beat Darby Dunn and Olivia Grace Furlan of Canada, 21-19, 21-18, in on Friday morning.
See After playing in four countries, Lindsey Vander Weide finds home at Petro Gazz
They came back at noon to defeat Czechs Valerie Dvornikova and Anna Pospisilova, 21-14, 21-16.
The knockout quarterfinals are set Saturday.
“We just enjoyed the game,” the 26-year-old Rondina, Rondina, owner of back-to-back Southeast Asian Games bronze medals with Bernadeth Pons.
“We made adjustments and we approached our assignments one match at a time.”
Pons, recovering from a shoulder injury, was in the stands cheering the five Philippine teams competing in the event
“It was tough because I’m playing with Sisi and the pressure is there for me to step up,” said Gonzaga, called up only two weeks ago.
Coach Joao Luciano Kioday was pleased with the duo’s performance.
“They are fighting for every ball,” said the Brazilian coach, brought in only over a week ago.
“It’s just only the beginning so we focused on a well-organized system of receiving and setting in 10 days. We just did the basic things.”
The other Filipina pair of Genesa Jane Eslapor and Floremel Rodriguez opened their campaign in the main draw with a 21-7, 21-13 victory over Singapore’s Eliza Hong and Zhao Rong Phua, but couldn’t sustain their drive against Israel’s Yahli Ashush and Anita Dave, 13-21, 16-21.
Jude Garcia and Krung Arbasto beat Japan’s Ryoto Sato and Ryo Shindo, 2-0, but later lost to Latvia’s Martin Plavins and Mikhail Samoilov, 19-21, 21-18, 7-15, to bow out of the men’s main draw of the tournament organized by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
