SANTA ANA, Cagayan — Tuguegarao provided one of the inspirational stories in the BVR on Tour bubble here.
Starring AJ Pareja and James Pecaña, Tuguegarao bounced back big in the recently-concluded second leg. They finished second to Creamline 1’s Jude Garcia and Krung Arbasto in the highly-competitive men’s division.
Carrying the colors of Tuguegarao is something the 6-foot-4 Pareja has been relishing in the two weeks that he and Pecaña competed in the bubble.
“We couldn’t be more thankful for the trust that Tuguegarao gave us to represent. Me and Henry have been working since April of this year when we decided to pair up; and it has been such an honor representing and bringing a medal for Tuguegarao!” said Pareja.
To make it past the pool stage, which Pareja and Pecaña were not able to accomplish in the first leg, Tuguegarao hurdled three three-setter matches to advance to the knockout rounds.
“Those three-setter matches really made us look into our own strengths and weakness as a pair as well as reassess our mindset for each game. It made us realize more how to pace ourselves when to go all out or when to slow down which is still very much a work in progress for us,” said Pareja, who is also a doctor.
Tuguegarao has learned a lot of lessons from its first leg experience, which included a tough loss to Negros Occidental Beach Volleyball Club.
Pareja and Pecaña were able to avenge their first leg defeat to Eljhay Ronquillo and Deanne Neil de Pedro in the second leg which was the turning point of Tuguegarao’s campaign.
“The first leg finish was more mental than physical in a way that we were so pressured to play a perfect game because we both wanted to prove something to the local beach volleyball scene. We let the pressure get the best of us to the point that we are both nitpicking each one’s errors making us work against each other instead of working together,” said Pareja.
“The second leg we let go of that pressure to play perfectly and we (me and Henry) became more open to each other’s shortcomings in-game,” the former UAAP MVP added.
With Tuguegarao’s runner-up finish, Pareja is confident that his partnership with Pecaña will flourish in the future domestic and international competitions.
The Tuguegarao bets will be one of the Philippines’ representatives to the Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships on Nov 23-27 in Phuket, Thailand.
“We are very confident that with the program we are currently following, our world tour dreams are an attainable reality. This is just the beginning for the both of us and the rest of my Indios Beach Volleyball Crew!” Pareja said, referring to their club where Pecaña is currently part with.
