THE UNIVERSITY of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) beach volleyball squads put their dominance in full display by sweeping all of their elimination round assignments in the Cesafi beach volleyball tournament yesterday at the Southwestern University (SWU) sand courts.
The defending men’s champions Spiking Jaguars team composed of Kent Verbosidad, Alastair Gairanod and RA Tecson won all of their five elimination round games highlighted by a 21-17, 14-21, 15-12 triumph over arch nemesis SWU Spiking Cobras for the top spot in the standings.
Not to be outdone, the Lady Jaguars took the top spot in the women’s play by handing the Lady Cobras its first loss of the season via come-from-behind fashion, 12-21, 21-15, 15-12. They have a 3-0 (win-loss) record.
But those unblemished records won’t matter when the knockout semifinal round starts today at the same venue.
The Jaguars are set to battle anew the fourth-ranked Spiking Cobras, who finished the elimination round with a 2-3 card.
USJ-R mentor and Cebu Volleyball Hall of Famer Grace Antigua knows it won’t be easy facing SWU.
“I just told them to not be overconfident and to communicate inside the court because no matter what SWU is SWU,” Antigua said.
In other men’s semifinals pairing, the second-ranked University of the Visayas (4-1) take on the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (3-2).
The Lady Jaguars will go up with the fourth-seeded University of Cebu (0-3) while the second-ranked Lady Cobras (2-1) take on USPF (1-2).