UV feels pressure

THE reigning Nestea National Beach Volley champion team University of the Visayas’ (UV) head coach Raffy Briones said that with only five weeks to go before the 16th Nestea Beach Volley Visayas elimination, they are starting to feel the pressure of defending their title.

The Visayas and Mindanao finals will be held simultaneously in Cebu on March 22.

A total of 64 men’s and women’s teams (32 from Visayas and 32 from Mindanao) are expected for the joust. The venue of the competition will still be determined.

“Lisod gyud ang elimination sa Visayas considering that most of the teams are strong.

Like in Cebu, we have the University of Southern Philippines (USPF), University of San Jose Recoletos(USJR) and Cebu Athletics Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) defending champion Southwestern University (SWU),” said Briones.

He added that last year's Visayas elimination team St. La Salle University of Bacolod City is also a team to look out for, as well as the University Games champion team Foundation University.

“I will still have Jade Becaldo and Mike Abria to play for UV. We have been practicing a lot. Abria continues to improve especially with the exposure he had,” Briones said.

Abria, with his strong defense, earned the monicker “The Wall” and expectations are high that he will still show his impressive performance in last year's tournaments starting from the elimination until the finals.

“Focus gyud mi ani sa elimination especially since a single elimination or a knock-out system will be used. Maningkamot gyud mi because once we lose, we automatically lose our chances to defend our title in the nationals, ” said Briones.