THE two Philippine women’s teams made it to the Round of 16 in the AVC Senior Women’s Beach Volleyball Championship Thursday in Roi-Et, Thailand.

Relishing the experience of playing against Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons gave Australia 1’s Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar before dropping a 16-21, 17-21.

Rondina and Pons gave the Aussies everything to handle in the second set, to point that Clancy and Artacho del Solar used a timeout, but the tournament’s top-ranked team pulled away late to prevail, ending the Filipinas’ bid to secure a place to the quarterfinals.

It was Rondina and Pons’ second consecutive Round of 16 berth, as they also made it past the pool stage of the AVC Beach Tour Roi-Et Open a week ago.

“Probably one of the best highlights of my September. TYL (Thank You Lord) u da best,” said Rondina through her Facebook account on playing against Clancy and Artacho del Solar.

Progessing to the Round of 16 this time after missing the cut in the Roi-Et Open, Dij Rodriguez and Gen Eslapor ended their campaign with a 7-21, 14-21 loss to Thailand 1’s Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee and Taravadee Naraphornrapat.

Rondina and Pons finished their Pool D stint with a 2-1 record in second place, having beaten Thailand 3’s Wornatchayakorn Phirachatakrailert and Charanrutwadee Patcharamainaruebhorn, 21-15, 15-21, 15-7, and New Zealand 3’s Maya Dickson and Katie Sadlier, 21-11, 21-8. Their only loss came from the hands of China 1’s Lin Meimei and Xia Xinyi, 10-21, 11-21.

Rodriguez and Eslapor’s lone win from the hands of Australia 3’s Alisha Stevens and Georgia Johnson, 21-19, 21-13, but the result was enough to finish second in Pool G and gain a place in the Round of 16. Their two losses were five-setters – against Japan 2’s Akiko Hasegawa and Yurika Sakaguchi, 16-21, 24-22, 12-15, and Hong Kong 2’s To Wingtung and Wong Manching, 21-16, 18-21, 13-15.

A total of 32 pairs participated in the three-day continental competition, where the Philippine National Volleyball Federation supported the national women’s beach volleyball teams’ participation.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Theodore P. Jurado