ABIGAIL Escandor and Jimberly Dizon found their timing in the
third set as they endured the tough stand put by their University of the East
schoolmates to win the 2008 Petron Ladies’ Beach Volleyball Tournament first leg
yesterday at UE Caloocan.
The two UE standouts forced their varsity teammates Katherine
Rivera and Gina Flor Alanguilan to three big errors at the start of the third
set of their championship encounter to pull off a 21-16, 12-21, 15-8 win.
Escandor and Dizon moved ahead right after Alanguilan came
off with wide crosscourt returns twice, as they quickly established a 6-2
cushion in the third set.
"Kinuha sa first serves at receives. Even if they are our
teammates, we still came all out. We didn’t pull our punches," said Escandor, a
20-year-old English major.
Escandor and the 17-year-old Dizon bagged P10,000 in the
tournament backed by Petron with support from the UE Physical Education
Department, official outfitter Speedo, official ball Mikasa, Asian College of
Science and Technology and Arellano University.
The UE pairs also clinched automatic berths to the Petron
beach volleyball grand finals slated at the end of the year.
Escandor and Dizon reached the finals after scoring a
four-game sweep of the elimination round then quickly disposed of Asian College
of Science and Technology bets Raisalyn Noleal and Venus Benecio 21-14.
Rivera and Alanguilan, on the other hand, had a tougher time
dealing with last year’s first-leg winners Sheena Rose Teves and Lourdes
Patillano of ACSAT.
Teves and Patillano, who needed to beat Rivera and Alanguilan
twice in a row after finishing the eliminations with a 3-1 record, pulled off
21-14 verdict in their first semis match.
But Rivera and Alanguilan escaped with a 21-12 triumph in their second semis
encounter.
