FEU, SWU UniGames beach volleyball champs

DUMAGUETE CITY – Far Eastern University (FEU) and Southwestern University (SWU) bagged the men and women beach volleyball titles against Holy Cross of Davao College (HCDC) and University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos (UNO-R), respectively at the close of 21st University Games (UniGames) in Sand Court, Rizal Boulevard here Saturday afternoon.

The FEU duo of Cebuano-speaking Jeremiah Barrica and Kevin Hadlocon, both of Dipolog City, had to work hard over another Cebuano speaking tandem of Calvin Sarte and Brendon Wariza of Davao City, who took the first set, 21-17.

The Tamaraws bullied their way with a 21-19 reversal and wrapped up the final set with another cliffhanger, 17-15 despite Hadlocon's leg cramps. HCDC was leading 13-10 when tournament officials gave Hadlocon a four-minute rest before resuming the match.

Hadlocon recovered and overcame adversity, sealing the victory with his spike just in time for another cramps. University of Sto. Tomas (UST) defeated SWU to take the second runner-up post.

SWU volleybelles Floremel Rodriguez and Therese Rae Ramas took the first set, 21-18 against the UNO-R duo of Alexa Polidario and Erjane Magdato. The Lady Rams came back strong in the second with a tough 21-19 win for the deciding game. The Negrenses failed to grab the opportunities with miscues in returning their shots and the Cebuanas survived the match, 15-13.

The tandem of Donnah Angela Quisado and Valerie Faye Mesiona of University of Mindanao-Tagum beat their counterpart from UST to finish third place.

Roger Banzuela, UniGames president, led officials in the awarding of trophies and medals.