June Wilfil Yungco of USC manages a spike against USPF in Game 3 of their best-of-three finals of the 2018 Cesafi boys’ volleyball at the USPF gym.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON
IT HAD seemed like deja vu from last year’s finals except that this time, the University of Southern Philippines Foundation ended on top to successfully reclaim the championship title of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (Cesafi) boys volleyball tournament, Saturday night, November 10, at its home turf, the USPF gym.
USPF head coach Cecil Jotojot shared that it was a relief reclaiming what was their’s back in 2016.
“We made an all out adjustment just for this game,” Jotojot said, after USPF emerged as the champion with a 25-16, 25-27, 29-27, 34-32 thrashing of defending champion University of San Carlos (USC) in Game 3 of the finals series.
“During Game 2, our attacks cannot penetrate with their taller players guarding the frontline and agile players at the back as their formation. I learned from there so I made alterations,” Jotojot added.
USPF rookie Amil Pacinio Jr. was declared as the Most Valuable Player of the season.
“The tough training was really worth it. We worked really hard for this big thing to happen,” 16-year-old Pacinio said.
Even though it is still his first year, Pacinio also bagged the Best Opposite Attacker award.
“I was not expecting to win these awards. All I did was believe in myself and in the team,” said Pacinio, who added that USC gave them a good fight and that they were fast and had good setters.
Two other Carolinians were given special awards, Jan Marc Solon and June Yungco, who were both named Best Outside Attackers.
The Best Middle Blocker award was shared by Chris John Pastor of USC and Christopher Claro of USPF while Ruel Sarnejo Jr. got the Best Setter award.
Named Best Libero was Kobe Bryan Rizaga.
Today, Game 3 of the Girls Volleyball best-of-three finals will take place at 5 p.m. at the same venue.
Meanwhile, in the collegiate semifinals games, University of the Visayas (UV) won against Southwestern University (SWU)- Phinma, 27-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-16, and Cebu Institute of Technology- University (CIT-U) defeated University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), 25-21, 23-25, 25-11, 18-25, 15-13, in the men’s category.
In the distaff side, USC swept USPF, 25-21, 25-17, 25-20, while USJ-R owned the SWU- Phinma, 25-18, 25-13, 25-15.