UC eyes vengeance vs SLU in TCS tilt

A MIX of veterans and rookies meet in the first TrueColors BBEAL Panagbenga Women's Beach Volleyball at the Burnham Park on March 2-3.

Saint Louis University rookies Colleen Rossi and Elaine Daniels will spearhead the campaign of the Lady Navigators are expected to meet rough waters when they face veterans Maureen Agudia and Roxanne Almonte of the University of the Cordilleras Lady Jaguars.

The two schools were the protagonists in the women’s volleyball finals at the close of the 26th Baguio-Benguet Educational Athletic League with SLU winning the crown after 10 long years of drought led by Rossi Daniels.

SLU and UC will compete in the top bracket of the two bracket event organized by TrueColors Media Works and presented by the City of Baguio and Chadrock Mineral Resources.

“Akala nila kahit bata kami hindi kami mananalo at marami pa namang daw oras sa amin. Pero pinilit talaga namin,” said Daniel after helping SLU to the BBEAL title in October of last year to win for the first time after more than 10 years.

“Maganda eto at sabik ang mga Jaguars na manalo laban sa SLU,” said SLU athletic director and tournament director Henry Fuentes who added that the Big Three schools are sending in two teams each in the highly competitive and moderately competitive divisions of the two day event presented by the City of Baguio.

Although his squad might be champions in regular volleyball, its first after nearly 11 years, Fuentes said that the advantage is on the Lady Jaguars.

“This is but the start for Collin and Rossi and its going to be a long partnership,” he said sans injury to any of the two youngsters who were once archrivals during their high school days.

“Bata pa naman sila kaya ok lang matalo ngayon,” said Fuentes of his prized spike and quick, who were forces to reckon with in SLU’s return to the throne.

But Fuentes is also eyeing Joan Lunday of University of Baguio to step as the top spiker of the last BBEAL has no equal in delivering the killer blow.

“It is real a toss up. Even maybe the second teams could be threats,” said Fuentes of the top bracket A which has seven teams in the event that enters as a special in the 10-school, 26 year old BBEAL.

Other teams seeing action in bracket A is the University of the Philippines. "We are hoping to see the Cordillera Career Development College in the highly competitive bracket A," said Fuentes.

In bracket B, UP, CCDC and Pines City College complete the nine squad bracket. (Roderick Osis)