USJ-R’s secondary girls volleyball team. | Photo from USJ-R Chito Sy
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Central Visayas’ top bets in the Palarong Pambansa secondary volleyball competition, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars, booked a seat in the much-awaited quarterfinals today, Sunday, July 14, at their homecourt in the USJ-R Basak Campus.
It was despite the contrasting results of USJ-R’s girls and boys’ squads in their final group stage matches.
USJ-R’s girls’ team finished the group stage undefeated with a 3-0 record after beating Davao Region (Region 11) 25-16, 25-16.
On the other hand, USJ-R head coach Roldan Potot’s boys’ volleyball team absorbed their lone defeat in the group stage. They lost to Northern Mindanao (Region 10) 21-25, 25-22, and 22-25.
The girls team had a contrasting performance in their last remaining group stage match after easily beating Davao Region which was a strong contender in the competition.
To recall, the Lady Jaguars’ entire line-up suffered stomach illness in the first day of competition. Thus, they struggled in their first two matches that ended in three sets.
“Gikan sa sugod, one game at a time mentality ra gyud amo. Dili mi mag look forward daan sa semifinals. Lisud mag una atong huna-huna kay naa pa games the following day,” said Potot.
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“Kung unsay maabot namo, amo-a gyud nindoton ang performance.”
The Lady Jaguars, the reigning Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) high school girls champion, will take on SOCKSARGEN (Region 12) at 12 noon today.
Despite the defeat, USJ-R’s boys team still finished second in their group which is enough to qualify them to the quarterfinals against the formidable CALABARZON (Region IV-A) at 9 a.m. today.
“Lipay ra sad ko sa mga players kay everybody in the team, ni trabaho gyud sila ug sakto in every region among nakontra. Every team masugatan nato, ato jud sila respetaran ug preparahan,” Potot said.
“Kung asa mi maabot aning pontuha, akong giingon sa girls to give your best. Ang ako lang kung unsa pa na sila ka kusog, basta moduwa lang mi ug nindot, makaya gyud namo,” he added. /clorenciana