SWU Lady Cobras win fourth straight CESAFI volleyball crown

Mars G. Alison

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SWU Lady Cobras win fourth straight CESAFI volleyball crown
The Southwestern University Lady Cobras are still the queens of CESAFI volleyball after sweeping the USJ-R Lady Jaguars

CEBU CITY, Philippines (UPDATED) – The Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma Lady Cobras continue to be the queens of CESAFI Women’s Volleyball after they clinched their fourth straight title Sunday afternoon, November 20, at the University of San Carlos (USC) gym.

The SWU-Phinma Lady Cobras copped their fourth and seventh title in total at the expense of the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R) Lady Jaguars, 3 sets to 1, 26-24, 25-10, 17-25, 25-14, by sweeping the Best of 3 Finals series.

SWU-Phinma head coach Roy Ulan said that despite his team’s third set letdown, he was confident that his team was going to close out the series today.

“I was confident because I saw how determined they are during our practices. We practice at 5:30 in the morning and they are really sincere about it.”

Adding to SWU-Phinma’s victory is 3 of their volleybelles getting special honors including the coveted Most Valuable Player award which went to Therese Rae Ramas, who was also named as the Best Setter.

Ramas teammates who got special awards were Janelle Cabahug who was named as the Best Attacker and Jessa Semblante who was picked as the Best Libero.

Two of the special awardees were picked up from the first runner-up USJ-R— Daniella Alfeche who was hailed as the Best Blocker and Linlyn Torado as the Best Server.

The SWU-Phinma team is comprised of Therese Rae Ramas, Janelle Cabahug, Dhalia Babatid, Floremel Rodriguez, Sheena Abegal Quino, Necca Rose dela Llana, Sheila Mae Bongo, Renee Coleen Nathalie Gimeno, Elah Silva, Al Sheree Ann Eupena, Dyan Darantinao, Aira Remollo, Jessa Semblante and Shiraz Dennise Makinano. 

Bond is their strength

Ulan said that perhaps the biggest factor in their success is the bond that the team has, “they know each other so well, they are like sisters.”

According to Ulan, his instructions to the girls before the game was “Trust in yourselves, trust in your teammates. Do not give your opponents a chance to boost their confidence.”

Despite a strong start in the first set, the Cobras allowed the Jaguars to tie them at 24-all on the efforts of Paula Mane Maninang. However, a service error by the Jaguars allowed the Cobras to close out the set in their favor 26-24.

The second set saw a dominant SWU-Phinma going up 9-0 behind the service of MVP Ramas, who then combined efforts with Rodriguez to bomb the Jaguars with one drop shot after another that the Cobras eventually lopsidedly owned the second set at 25-10.

The third set, however, saw the Cobras slacking and losing steam with the set deadlocking three times. USJ-R’s Alfeche took charge as she became unstoppable with her aces, drop shots and blocks. The third set ended in the Jaguars’ favor, 25-17.

However, the Jaguars failed to capitalize on that win as they were totally dominated by the Cobras in the fourth set, 14-25.

Last season saw the SWU winning the title in all divisions except for the boy’s contest. This year, only its women’s team retained their title. – Rappler.com

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