It’s USJ-R vs SWU-Phinma again in Cesafi women’s volley finals

Renee Coleen Nathalie Gimeno of SWU-Phinma tries to get one past USC defenders in a Cesafi women’s volleyball game at the USC Main gym.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON

For the third straight year, Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma and University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) will be meeting in the Cesafi women’s volleyball championship round.

This after the reigning champions Lady Cobras and last year’s finalist Lady Jaguars beat separate opponents in the round-robin semifinals yesterday morning at the University of San Carlos (USC) Main gym.

The Lady Cobras, who are gunning for an unprecedented five-peat in the league, defeated USC, 25-14, 25-18, 25-22, to improve to 2-0 (win-loss) in the semis, enough to clinch a spot in the finals.

The Lady Jaguars, on the other hand, hacked out a 20-25, 25-22, 25-15, 25-15 triumph over the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) to advance to the finals.

As they prepare to meet again for all the marbles, coaches of both teams said the outcome will all boil down to the effort of their respective players.

Even though SWU-Phinma has beaten USJ-R in the finals of the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Lady Cobras mentor Roy Ulan believes his players should be in their top shape come the championship round.

“The players need to condition themselves in the finals. Hopefully, we can avoid any injuries during practice,” Ulan said.

“Well, we coaches only give instructions. The players will be the one who will be playing on the court, so I just hope that they can apply what they learned in practice in the actual game,” said multi-titled Jaguars mentor Grace Antigua.

Before the best-of-three finals series starts this Sunday, a finals preview will take place on Saturday as both USJ-R and SWU-Phinma clash in the final game of the round-robin semifinals.

USC and USPF will clash for third place in the women’s classification.

In the men’s division, last year’s runner-up SWU-Phinma also made its third consecutive trip to the championship round as it survived the defending champions USJ-R, 25-12, 27-25, 27-25.

Despite the loss, USJ-R is still in contention for a finals slot but is in a must-win situation against the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) next week.

Also still in the hunt for a finals spot is CIT-U, which eliminated the University of the Visayas via a 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 25-15 victory.