SWU on a mission

THE Southwestern University (SWU) high school volleyball team will have to skip the Sinulog celebration as they leave for Manila today to represent Central Visayas in the Shakey’s Girls Volleyball Tournament of Champions on Jan. 21-26 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.

This year’s tournament of champions will be a tougher challenge because not only are they scheduled to face winners in the regional tournaments, but also the champion team from Victoria, Australia, which has three Australian national team players and three six-footers.

“The team has been practicing since right after Christmas. Hopefully, we will be at our best in the nationals,” SWU athletics director Ryan Aznar said.

Aside from the Australian team B, other teams in Pool B are Western Visayas, Northern Luzon and Eastern Luzon, while Pool A is composed of NCR-West, Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, Mindanao and NCR-South.

This Monday, SWU is scheduled to face the Australian team at 4 p.m. in their first game.

“It is a great opportunity that we are with the Australian team in Pool B and get a chance to play them. At least we can gauge kung unsa gyud atong kaya. Nindot nga experience para sa team to face a strong foreign team,” Aznar said.

SWU will be banking on their key players such as Therese Ramas, Sheena Quino, Sheila Bongo, Karen Derder and Rica Rivera. They also recruited Tovya Kaiko Galeon of St. Theresa’s College (STC).

Last year, the tournament was won by Hope Christian School of the National Capital Region (NCR). This time, Hope will be fielding three Cebuano players, Angeli Basarde, Isabel Molde and Justin Dorog, who was named as NCR leg’s most valuable player. The three used to play for Catmon Elementary School.