Alas Pilipinas standouts Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons fended off a spirited challenge from compatriots and UST’s Khylem Progella and Sofia Pagara, eking out a 21-17, 18-21, 15-12 victory to open their Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour (BPT) Futures Nuvali campaign with a win on Friday in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
The veteran tandem recovered from a second-set collapse, showcasing their chemistry and experience in the scorching heat to seal a hard-earned win and a 1-0 record in Pool A.
“We go all out. We feel no pressure and we expect nothing, especially since we had very little time to prepare. We give our all to the best of our abilities, this is all for the country,” said Pons, determined to bounce back on the sands following a tough indoor volleyball loss with Creamline in the Premier Volleyball League.
Facing the young but fiery pair, Pons and her long-time partner Rondina leaned on grit and familiarity to mark a triumphant return to beach volleyball. The event is organized by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF), headed by president Ramon “Tats” Suzara, who also serves as AVC president and FIVB executive vice president.
Known as the iconic “SiPons” tandem, Rondina and Pons previously captured bronze medals in beach volleyball at the Southeast Asian Games in 2019 (Philippines) and 2022 (Vietnam), but were left out of the national team last year.
Since then, the two shifted their focus to indoor volleyball—Rondina with Choco Mucho and Pons with Creamline—before making their much-anticipated return to the sands in preparation for another SEA Games campaign later this year in Bangkok.
“We have committed to train in beach volleyball because we want redemption in the SEA Games. We train until December,” Pons added.
Meanwhile, Honey Grace Cordero and Kat Epa stumbled in their Pool B opener of the main draw, falling to Lithuania’s Ieva Dumbauskaite and Gerda Gruzsinskaite, 17-21, 17-21. The loss came after a strong showing in the qualifiers where they pulled off a dominant 21-11, 21-8 upset over the highly touted Australian duo of Charlotte Graham and Emma Hannagan.
Cordero and Epa also clawed back from a set down to defeat Japan’s Keiko Urata and Minami Asano, 17-21, 21-11, 15-12, to punch their ticket to the main draw late on Day 1.
Over in the men’s division, 2024 Beach Pro Tour silver medalists James Buytrago and Rancel Varga endured a flat start in Pool D, yielding to Israel’s Tamir Hershko and River Day, 21-23, 12-21.
Lerry John Francisco and Edwin Tolentino also bowed out in their Pool C opener, suffering a 13-21, 9-21 defeat to Czechia’s Tomas Semerad and Adam Miroslav Stocek in the tournament backed by Ayala Land, Nuvali Evoliving, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Sports Commission, PLDT Home, Rebisco, Akari, Mikasa, Microtel by Wyndham South Forbes, Cignal, One Sports, Pilipinas Live, Senoh, Alibaba Cloud, ialchemy, One Over Zero Technologies, and Supreme Infotech Solutions.
