For a while, the men’s team of the University of San Carlos (USC) thought it was the end of their campaign in the Cebu City Mayor’s Cup Open Volleyball Tournament.
But winning the first set in their five-set loss to the University of Cebu (UC) yesterday at the USC gym proved to be crucial for the Spiking Warriors as this allowed them to advance to the crossover semifinals of the tournament.
The Webmasters actually won the match against the Warriors, 24-26, 25-23, 18-25, 25-22, 15-12. The win gave UC a 2-2 (win-loss) record. Incidentally, USC, with the loss, dropped to the same 2-2 record.
“Honestly, I expected that by losing this game, we will be [eliminated],” USC Men’s Volleyball head coach Harvey Bernil said. “My hopes went high after the (tournament) officials called us coaches for a point system review.”
After reviewing the scores, tournament officials gave the last ticket to the semifinals to USC.
“Both of the teams had six points after the game,” Jordan Paca, the tournament director, said. “USC earned another point for winning the first set. If the game did not reach five sets in favor of UC, the Webmasters will still have a chance,” he added.
USC, thus, finished second in bracket 1 of the Men’s Division. Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma iConnect, which bagged another win yesterday by default after the Techno failed to show up, ended the elimination round with a 4-0 record to take the top spot. Only the top two will advance to the crossover semis.
The top two in the other bracket is Cebu Province (4-0) and University of San Jose-Recoletos (3-1).
This means USC will face the unbeaten Cebu Province in the semifinals while SWU faces USJ-R.
Bernil said his team needs to work hard on their fundamentals, such as passing, blocking and ball reception, if they want to move on to the championship round.
“Most of our players now are new. We have 11 new players and nine regular. So we have got a lot of things to work on,” he said.
The men’s semifinals start on Tuesday.
In the Women’s Division, SWU-Phinma iConnect defeated the South Spikers, 15-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-18, to improve to 1-2.
USC, meanwhile, defeated the Makati Gospel Church-New Life Christian Academy, 25-21, 25-14, 25-17, to remain unbeaten in three games.