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MANILA, Philippines – Heart-stopping rallies, hard-hitting spikes, and a display of impressive skills – these were what last year’s Palarong Pambansa Volleyball Division was all about. The Foundation University Gym in Dumaguete City was filled with the best of the best student athletes in all 17 regions ready to battle it out to reign as the 2013 Palarong Pambansa Volleyball Champions.
The Big City spikers of the National Capital Region successfully defended their title. Will this year be another win for them or will a different region snatch the title away? But before the action, let’s take a look at last year’s memorable moments.
Quarterfinals
Even without 2012 MVP Ana Gopico and Shakey’s Girls V-League MVP Des Cheng, NCR was still able to win against opposing team, Eastern Visayas. Sweetzand Petilos of Eastern Visayas delivered good blocks, but it was not enough to stop the Big City Spikers from advancing to the next round.
Northern Mindanao and Davao’s game lasted for three sets with the former being victorious (24-26,25-18,25-22). Davao secured the first set led by Alyssa Alterado but Nothern Mindanao took the match by winning the last 2 sets.
Central Visayas ousted 2012 runner-up West Visayas from the tournament thanks to the plays of Rica Jane Rivera and Janelle Cabahug (25-20,31-29). It wasn’t an easy win with Western Visayas fighting hard, making the second set reach up to 4 deuces.
Semi-finals
The semi-finals featured a promising Final Four.
The match between Northern Mindanao and Central Visayas was as expected: long and full of rallies. Reaching up to 3 sets, Central Visayas walked away a step closer to the championship with scores 25-23;24-26;25-22. Janelle Cabahug and Rica Jane Rivera were players who owned the spotlight for the match.
Expected to be a championship-caliber duel, NCR and CALABARZON’s game ended too soon with an outcome of 25-16;25-13 and NCR advancing to the finals. CALABARZON struggled offensively. The game ended with Monica Ortiz and Yen Ilustre being the top scorer of the teams.
Intense championship match between NCR and Central Visayas
Who could forget NCR’s championship sweep? During the match, the Big City Spikers showed no mercy to crowd favorite Central Visayas winning every set with scores 25-12, 25-7, 25-1 in the secondary girls’ volleyball finals. The underdogs were no match for the star-studded players of NCR.
With Kim Dy, Des Cheng and Justine Dorog setting a strong atmosphere for the team on the first set, along with the poor performance of Central Visayas, they were able snatch the win easily.
– with reports from Bjorn Landas/Rappler.com
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