UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas unleashed a lethal weapon to beat Cignal while College of Saint Benilde played true to form to emerge as the men’s and women’s champions of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation Challenge Cup last Saturday night at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Joshua Ybañez, standing only 5-foot-6, proved to be a David in UST’s lineup as he unleashed a high-flying and all-over-the-court act in the Tigers’ 20-25, 25-22, 25-22, 19-25, 15-13 slaying of many-time club champion Cignal, which won the men’s tournament inaugurals last year.
“I still can’t believe we won against a top team Cignal,” said Ybañez, 20, who added the Challenge Cup Most Valuable Player trophy to his Rookie-MVP plum in Season 85 of the UAAP.
“But we won because of teamwork and, of course, our coaches,” added the pride of Gen. Santos City who had 26 points in the two-hour and 16-minute thriller.
If UST had to dig deep in scoring the upset, coach Gerry Yee and Saint Benilde were tactical in beating University of the Philippines 25-18, 25-18, 25-13 to reign supreme in women’s play.
The Lady Blazers, back-to-back NCAA champions, needed only 81 minutes to frustrate UP and complete a sweep of the 16-team women’s division of the tournament supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, PLDT, Rebisco, Akari, Foton and CBPI.
“We joined the Challenge Cup to gear up for the NCAA and we’re very glad we won,” said Yee, whose wards never surrendered a set in the tournament. “We’re all inspired and boosted ahead of the NCAA.”
The Tigers were no lucky finalists–they ousted three-peat UAAP champion National University in the semifinals.
“Of course, it’s unreal. These are literally kids and their opponents are pros,” said UST coach Odjie Mamon, who also handles the men’s national team. “It’s part of our preparations for the UAAP and evaluation of our updated playing system style. And this championship validated all of our system.”
PNVF president Ramon “Tats” Suzara thanked all 36 teams–men and women–for seeing action in the Challenge Cup, the federation’s second-to-last major tournament for the year.
