XAVIER University’s female badminton team completed a grand slam finish in the recently concluded 3rd Mindanao Peace Games held in Davao City.
The XU lady smashers of coach Efren Pollentes bagged the gold via a 2-1 victory over Ateneo de Zamboanga University in the women’s final team event.
Anchored by Julia Myka Acapulco, Charity Faith Bacarro, Karina Pollentes and Christine Emmanuelle Varias, the XU bets encountered a rough sailing as they absorbed a first set loss to Zambo rivals.
But, Acapulco and Varias came to the rescue as they leveled the match at one-all after pulling a 21-16 and 21-18 win in the doubles event.
Bacarro, on the other hand, put an exclamation mark to XU’s thrilling escape via 21-13 and 21-14 touches in the third and final sets.
With the win, Pollentes’ wards secured a special place in the annual MPG Games as the first team to complete a grandslam.
“They played as a team and now they made a record in the MPG Games,” said Pollentes, himself an Australian level 1 coach and badminton world federation shuttle time tutor.
The team members celebrated victory with a thanksgiving mass upon their return in Cagayan de Oro.