Harbor Pilot composed of Therese Ramas (right) and Janelle Cabahug (left). CDN Digital photo | Mars G. Alison
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Harbor Pilot manned by former Cesafi beach volley champions Therese Ramas and Janelle Cabahug swept its elimination matches and advanced to the semifinals of the 1st Mayor’s Cup Sinulog Beach Volleyball Tournament as the top ranked team.
Harbor Pilot capped the elimination round with a 21-17, 18-21, 15-11 victory over reigning Cesafi women’s champions University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) Panthers of Crisley Ann Sucalit and Iris Tito on Saturday, January 26, 2019, to keep its record clean going into the semifinals.
In the men’s division, advancing to the crossover semifinals was the duo of John Kevin Juban and Raphy Abanto of the University of the Visayas (UV), also the reigning Cesafi men’s champions.
The UV pair topped bracket A with a clean 4-0 (win-loss) record. It will face the Asian team manned by the Pepito twins, Rommel and Ramil, who secured the second spot in bracket B with a 3-1 slate.
Topping bracket A was USPF B of Ian Kym Jumandos and Amil Pacinio Jr., who also did not concede any of its four elimination games.
The pair will face Prime Sular represented by former UST players, Krung Arbasto and Kris Roy Guzman.
The semifinal round was done late in the afternoon so teams can rest in the morning of Sunday, January 27, and be fresh for the championship round in the afternoon.
“Para makita jud ang duwa sa mga players, papahuwayon nato. Di maayo nga patyon nato ug duwa ang mga players, di mugawas ang ila duwa,” said tournament director Jordan Paca. (We will let them rest so they will be able to play their game. If we let them get exhausted then we will not be able to see their game.)
A total of 16 teams are seeing action in the event with six teams vying for the women’s title.
According to Paca, there would have been a total of 20 teams but there were last minute withdrawals. /bjo