Impressive rookies

THEY may be rookies but they surely aren’t inexperienced. Southwestern University’s (SUW) Rommel Pepito and Relan Taneo capped their first year in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. with a bang after beating University of the Philippines Foundation’s Left John Tormis and John Ylanan, 19-21, 21-17, 15-12, to win the men’s title at the SWU sand court yesterday.

Both were discovered by athletics director Ryan Aznar and head coach Jordan Paca during the Gov. Gwen Unity Volleyball (GUV) Cup when they played for Liloan. The two also exemplify what Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Ritchie Garcia and consultant Eric Lecain said-- players who can really excel in the sport are those who play the sport in their own backyard.

“Both of them grew up with the sport; they just played right in their backyards in Lilo-an. Just like our 2012 Olympian winners. Cebu’s beach volleyball community is starting to develop and soon we will be able to produce more world-class beach volley players,” Lecain said.

Nineteen-year-old Pepito started with a local sport called “dayun-dayun” and he credits the sport for starting his interest to play beach volley.

“I played the sport almost every day since I was 12. I love the sport and I didn’t imagine that this can even help me gain a scholarship when I reach college,” said Pepito, who lives in the coastal barangay of Estaca.

“The beach is just a few meters behind our house and beach volleyball is really a sport we usually play for fun since we were little,” said Taneo, who also lives in a coastal barangay in Poblacion, Lilo-an, Cebu.

In the battle for third, University of San Jose Recoletos’ Owen Bellen and Jade Illut beat University of the Visayas’ (UV) Mike Abria and Mark Anthony Fernandez in three sets, 19-21,24-22,15-9.

UV, the defending champion, seemed unable to recover from its shock semifinal loss to USPF, 16-21, 21-19, 15-13. SWU beat USJ-R, 24-22, 21-12.

SWU’s Danika Gendrauli and Raphril Aguilar will have a chance to sweep the titles after advancing to the finals against USPF’s Apple Saraum and Rochel Rica.

SWU beat University of Cebu’s Stephanie Morales and Joely Suquibin, 21-10, 21-10, while USPF defeated University of San Carlos’ Chona gesulga and KC Capinin, 14-21, 21-13, 15-9.