THE Pardo National High School boys volleyball team shocked Abellana National School after pulling off a straight-sets victory, 25-20, 26-24, to advance to this afternoon’s finals of the Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) Volleyball Batang Pinoy qualifiers at the Aznar Coliseum.
Pardo arranged a finals showdown with the University of San Carlos (USC), who won easily against Barrio Luz via default.
The winning point was behind the attack of AJ Nino Prajes, who has been named as the best libero of the 2013 Batang Pinoy Visayas regionals.
“The team is a mix of players from the elementary and secondary players of Pardo,” said assistant coach Loui Gesim, who added that his family has come up with a program that trains both the elementary and high school players to keep them in Pardo instead of the kids getting pirated to bigger high schools.
According to Gesim his father, Sim is the head coach of the elementary team, which has already played in several Central Visayas competition and some of the players were picked up to play in the Palarong Pambansa.
Gesim added that before, their players, upon reaching high school, are forced seek athletic scholarships in different schools in the city to be able to prepare themselves for varsity scholarships for college.
However, some of the players requested the Gesim family to train them so they will be competent enough when they want to try out for college teams without having to get deported to high schools in the city.
“This is the first year that we have handled the training program of the high school team upon the request of the players. Ganahan sila nga sa Pardo ra gihapon sila mu-eskwela kay dool ra sa ilang respective residences,” said Gesim.
The team is made up of Palarong Pambansa campaigners Ed Anthony Carpio, Mark Joseph Enriquez and Gumaliel John Enriquez then Prajes and CVIRAA player Cyrill Jay Pradilla.
The University of San Carlos head coach Jonrey Sasing said Pardo will be a hard team to beat.
“Dili sad ka kakompyansa-an ang Pardo. We were expecting to play Abellana team in the finals and it was a surprise that Pardo defeated Abellana in two straight sets pa gyud. Dili sad ta matingala, the players have already played in the Palaro. We will play our best lang gyud ani ugma,” said Sasing.
USC is a shoo-in for the finals having won all of its assignments in this tournament.
Meanwhile, in the girls’ division, ANS will take on Southwestern University in the crossover semis this morning following USC’s semis against the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJR). (ISL)