By ADRIAN STEWART CO
University of St. La Salle-Bacolod (USLS) showed their dominance in the Negros Occidental Private Schools Sports Cultural Education Association (NOPSSCEA) beach volleyball tournament held at their sand court in Bacolod City.
The USLS Lady Stingers of Keyan Andrada, Raaya Olaes and Ashgan Bkheet emerged as champions in the secondary girls’ beach volleyball after beating Colegio de Sta. Ana de Victorias in the finals, 21-18, 21-12.
Prior to the finale, the trio of Andrada, OIaes and Bkheet defeated Bacolod Tay Tung High School Thunderbolts’ Sophie Cagalawan, Jan Rose Bulak and Antheai Nishant Galicia, which ended with the bronze medal.
Meanwhile, the USLS Stingers crew of Renbert Puzon, Joshua Elloran and Allen Teruel clinched the secondary boys’ beach volleyball event after edging Living Stones in the finals, 22-20, 21-16.
The trio of Jopeth Torico, James Alarcon and Maruel Tan carried the USLS Stingers to the tertiary men’s beach volleyball championship after a 21-17, 19-21, 15-12 win over Colegio de Sta. Ana de Victorias in the finals.
For their championship feats, the USLS’ secondary girls, boys and tertiary men’s beach volleyball teams are advancing to the Regional Private School Athletic Association Meet to be held in Iloilo City.
On the other hand, the USLS tertiary women’s beach volleyball team of Ashley Diandra Rapiz, Nicolei Galvan and Sayrel Bermeo settled for a bronze medal finish after bowing to University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos (UNO-R) in the semifinals.
The UNO-R squad of Marixi Maligmat, Gelimae Villanueva and Kyla Malunes Gallego later went on to bag the women’s beach volleyball tiara after winning their championship match.
The USLS’ beach volleyball squad was handled by head coach Simon Aguillon and his assistant coaches Joeve Dela Cruz and Armando Degracia.
“The coaches are proud of the achievements of our beach volleyball teams,” Aguillon said.
“Their months of training and hard work have paid off with championships and podium finishes,” he added./ASC, WDJ