Gilligan’s takes home PSL beach volleyball crown

MANILA, Philippines – After dropping the first set, the Gilligan’s Sisig Queens won the next two over the Foton Tornadoes to come away with a 19-21, 21-14, 15-11 victory and take home the Philippine Superliga Beach Volleyball cup title on Saturday, August 8, at SM Sands By the Bay.

Made up by the tandem of Norie Diaz and Danika Gendrauli, Gilligan’s nearly erased a 19-16 Foton lead in the first set before a Fiola Ceballos kill sealed first blood for her and Patty Orendain. It was all Gilligan’s in the second set, however, as the final led to a third period.

Both teams fought even in the opening moments of the final set, but errors cost mightily for the Tornadoes, who were undefeated before the finals, leading to their downfall.

In the bronze medal encounter, Cignal HD B duo Wensh Tiu and April Hingpit surprisingly swept Foton Hurricanes tandem Bea Tan and Pau Soriano, 21-18, 21-18.

After barely holding off Foton for a first set win, Cignal managed to build a 17-14 lead in the second period, thanks to a 7-3 run. Tan and Soriano then converted on consecutive service aces to trim the deficit to one, but Tiu and Hingpit avoided errors the rest of the way and converted on timely spikes to clinch the victory.

In the earlier matches, team Amy’s (Marleen Cortel and Samantha Dawson) defeated team Phillips Gold (Aileen Abuel and Rosanne Fajardo), 21-18, 21-19, to claim 7th place. 

Jusabelle Brillo and Jem Gutierrez of team Meralco, on the other hand, defeated Gretchen Ho and Charo Soriano (sick) of team Petron XCS by default to win 5th place.

In the men’s final match, SM By the Bay A (Jade Becaldo and Hach Gilbuena) out-dueled Champion Infinity (Tippy Tipgos and Marjun Alingasa), 21-17, 23-21, to win the title.

The next conference of the Philippine Superliga, the Grand Prix, will open on October 10, according to league commissioner Ian Laurel. – Rappler.com