Bacolod Tay Tung prepares for new tourney days after winning Palarong Pambansa gold

MANILA, Philippines – Quitters never win, and winners never quit.

That is the mindset of Western Visayas’ Bacolod Tay Tung girls volleyball team after ruling the Palarong Pambansa 2023 secondary girls volleyball tournament off a stunning five-set comeback win over National Capital Region (NCR) powerhouse Nazareth-NU last Friday, August 4.

Despite being still on a high after snapping NCR’s Palaro three-peat bid, the Thunderbolts are already preparing for another tournament in Bingawan, Iloilo in an effort to polish the skills of their younger players and Team B hopefuls.

Make no mistake, Tay Tung head coach Ian Macariola is not taking his girls’ Palaro run in Marikina City for granted, and is nothing but grateful that they displayed what elite players from Western Visayas can do against all odds.

“I know this is a great thing for Western Visayas, for its volleyball players, and for Bacolod Tay Tung,” he said in Filipino after the tournament’s awarding program, where his top opposite spiker Jothea Ramos was also handed MVP honors.

“I’m happy that this championship made all the sacrifices we made in training worth it. We woke up early, we got exhausted and hungry on the way.”

Down 0-6 in the fifth and final set of a grueling battle against NCR inside the sweltering Marikina Sports Complex, Tay Tung’s standouts like Ramos and eventual top scorer Dona Mae de Leon somehow found another spark of energy in them and shell-shocked NU to an 18-16 escape.

Fittingly enough, it was tournament MVP Ramos who powered down the championship point-forcing kill and the subsequent ace that sent the entire Western Visayas delegation in the venue to an understandable, joyful frenzy.

“We just stayed positive. We know we could overcome our opponent,” Ramos said in Filipino.

“I didn’t care if I won MVP or not as long as we all were able to do what we need to do inside the court.” – Rappler.com