THE University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) defended its crown after an exhilarating four-set victory over the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) in Game 3 of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) volleyball girls’ division finals on Sunday, Nov. 11, at the USPF Gym.
“We are the champions,” said a teary-eyed Yolanda Rizarri, USPF’s head coach. “It was one of their best performances, just like what they did in Game 1. Every game these girls always give out their best.”
USPF came out swinging, taking the first set, 25-16. USJ-R answered by winning the second set, 26-24. The third set was also close with USPF taking it, 25-23.
The fourth set was neck-and-neck with neither team refusing to give in. USPF had a run and took a 21-16 lead, the largest in that set. But USJ-R crawled its way back up and trimmed it down to just two points, 20-22.
But Metzie Panangin took over in crunch time, scoring the last two kills to win the fourth set, 25-21, and the game for USPF.
“They really had the determination. They really wanted to win this,” said Rizarri of her team’s heart to win the title depsite of the countless of practice hours sacrificed because of conflict in the girls’ school work.
Because of her impressive performance, Panangin, was named MVP and was also named the First Best Middle Blocker.
Her teammates Maria Gloria, Jamela Gayo, Vanessa Lou Miñoza and Tricia Cortes also bagged individual awards. Gloria was named Best Libero, Gayo won Best Setter, Miñoza bagged the Best Opposite Attacker award and Cortes snagged the Second Best Spiker plum.
USJ-R’s Krisha Caasi and Chennie Tagaod won the First Best Outside Attacker and Second Best Middle Blocker awards, respectively.
USPF dominated the high school division after winning both the girls’ and boys’ titles this season. (EKA)