Rondina, Gervacio win round-of-12 match in World Tour beach volleyball

WORLD CLASS VOLLEYBALL. A Canadian lady volleyball player spikes the ball against a Filipina player’s block on Saturday (May 5, 2018) during the opening of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Beach Volleyball World Tour Manila leg at the Sands SM By The Bay. Host Philippines (orange) won over Canada (blue) 21,21,-17-17. (PNA photo by Jess Escaros Jr.)

MANILA — Cherry Ann Rodina and Angeline Marie Gervacio outplayed their Canadian opponents in the round-of-12 match of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Manila Open at the Sands SM By the Bay on Saturday.

Playing together for the first time, the Filipinos banked on their solid defense to conquer Caleigh Cruickshank and Megan Nagy, 21-17, 21-17, and stay in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth.

“I did not expect to reach this far,” said Gervacio. “I haven’t trained internationally and I know that our opponents are taller. But when we faced USA, I knew that we have a chance.”

Rondina and Gervacio scored a 21-12, 21-16 victory over Americans Lindsey Fuller and Kaley Melville in the first match of the main draw last Friday.

The Canadian pair, on the other hand, eliminated locals Charo Soriano and Bea Tan, 12-21, 15-21, in the losers bracket also last Friday.

Earlier, locals Karen Kay Quilario and Lourdilyn Catubag absorbed a 36-34, 23-25, 15-17 loss to Thailand’s Thatsarida Singchuea and Pawarun Chanthawichai, the newly-crowned Asian U-19 beach volleyball champions.

Both Quilario and Catubag said they are willing to play in top-level tournaments such as the World Tour, if given the chance.

“We want to play anywhere for exposure,” said Quilario.

“If given a chance, we will grab the opportunity to play in this kind of tournament. Many players want to play but only some get the chance,” said Catubag.

Meanwhile, German pair Lisa-Sophie Kotzan and Leonie Klinke defeated Dutch tandem Katja Stam and Lisa Wouters, 21-11, 21-19, while Fuller and Melville downed Norway’s Janne Pedersen and Hanne Zylstra, 21-15, 21-17.

In the men’s division, Javier and Alejandro Huerta of Spain pulled off a 24-22, 21-15 upset victory over top seeds Martin Appelgren and Simon Boman of Sweden to reach the quarterfinal round of the tournament, which is organized by Beach Volleyball Republic, Inc. and promoted by E-Plus Global Sdn Bhd.

Austria’s Florian Schnetzer and Daniel Mullner, Germany’s Max-Jonas Karpa and Milan Sievers and Switzerland’s Simon Hagenbuch and Quentin Metral and Gabriel Kissling and Michiel Zandbergen have already earned quarterfinal slots.

In other round-of-12 results, Austrians Felix Friedl and Maximillian Trummer prevailed over Jorg Wutzl and Simon Fruhbauer, 23-21, 21-19; Petr Bakhnar and Taras Myskivsurge of Russia outclassed Wang Chin-Ju and Hsieh Ya-Jen of Chinese Taipei, 21-14, 21-8; while Marcus Fegurson and Tom Dickson of Australia downed Kevib Lau Tsz Ho and Wong Pui Lam of Hong Kong, 21-15, 21-15.