Friday, April 11, 2008 After 2-year hiatus, Gutierrez returns with a bang
BACOLOD City—She was forced to stop playing because some teams told her to give others a chance. Florian Gutierrez, the only player to have scored a grand slam in the Nestea Beach Volleyball Competition, is back and she is back with a vengeance as she and partner Janelle Tabio made it to the Boracay leg of the competition.
“After winning my third title in 2005, they told me ‘Bigay mo naman ang title sa iba.’ I felt embarrassed, so just I decided to stop,” said Gutierrez
Gutierrez was the women’s champion from 2003 to 2005. This year, Gutierrez plays with Janelle Tabio—the player she defeated for the first national title.
In 2003, Tabio and Gutierrez were playing from the opposite side of the court going for each others necks in the hopes of winning the national crown of the Nestea Beach Volleyball Competition—the premier beach volleyball competition of the country.
Tabio was playing with Rolyn Marquicias under Foundation University, while Gutierrez was playing in her third national finals with Janeth Ponte for Southwestern University.
During that time, Tabio and Marquicias were the powerful forces that made FU a powerful force in beach volleyball as much as Ponte and Gutierrez were for SWU.
Competition was fierce between the two teams and they fought tooth-and-nail in a final that remained the most memorable by far in the entire volleyball careers of Tabio,
Gutierrez and Ponte.
Exciting
In that final, the game was stretched to a deciding third set. “It was very exciting. FU was already at match point, 14-12, and we managed to tie the game at 14,” recalled
Ponte.
“All of Boracay came out to watch and it was so noisy. Everyone was standing up. We lost though, but it was very memorable,” Tabio said.
Fast forward five years later. Little did these three players know that the stars will align for them to combine forces together.
Ponte is now the head coach, while Tabio and Gutierrez are paired for the first time in the beach volleyball event.
This combination of players and coaches just might be the formula that SWU needs in order to once more win another national title.
For Tabio, being paired up with Gutierrez is exciting.
Reliable partner
“Who wouldn’t be? She is the only player to have pulled off a grand slam in the Nestea event. It gives our team the psychological edge against the teams from Manila and Mindanao and for me, it gives me confidence because I have a reliable partner,” Tabio added.
Gutierrez and Ponte were the champions in 2003. Gutierrez then paired with Maritess Natad in 2004 and 2005, where they also took the title.
Now, after a two-year hiatus, Gutierrez is back and she is out to show that despite a long brak, she and Tabio are out to make another name, not only for themselves, but for SWU, but and for Cebu as well. (MCB)
