ALAS Pilipinas women mainstays pulled off twin victories in the Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships pool play yesterday at the Nuvali Sand Courts in the City of Santa Rosa.
Khylem Progella and Sofiah Pagara of Alas Pilipinas beat New Zealand’s Shauna Polley and Olivia MacDonald 21-19, 21-18 in Pool E of the event hosted by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF).
Gen Eslapor and Kly Orillaneda defeated Yekaterina Ryukhova and Anastassiya Ukolova of Kazakhstan 21-19, 21-13 in Pool F of the tournament sanctioned by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) which PNVF president Ramon “Tats” Suzara also heads.
The Philippines, however, suffered an early double whammy in the men’s side as D’Artagnan Potts and Jack Pearse of Australia downed Rancel Varga and Lerry John Francisco 21-11, 21-16.
Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists Ran Abdilla and James Buytrago also dropped their first match, a tight 20-22, 19-21 loss to Alani Nicklin and Thomas Hartles of New Zealand.
AVC Beach Tour Nuvali Open champions Jana Milutinovic and Stefanie Fejes of Australia got off to a hot start via a 21-11, 21-13 rout of Japanese qualifiers Kana Motomura and Nayu Motomura.
The top-rated pair of Wang Jingzhe and Xia Xinyi of China eased past Indonesian qualifiers Kaize Josephine Selvina Anasthasya and Melinda Novita Sari Devi 21-14, 21-10 in the event backed by Nuvali, Ayala Land, Rebisco, Smart, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, City of Santa Rosa, Mikasa, Senoh, Asics, Akari, Sip, Cignal, One Sports, One Sports Plus and Pilipinas Live.
Australia’s Tara Phillips and Kayl Mears scored a 21-12, 21-13 victory over Kazakhstan’s Laura Kabulbekova and Nadezhda Ivanchenko.
Indonesia’s Desi Ratnasari and Nur Atika Sari held off Thailand’s Patcharaporn Seehawong and Samitta Simarongnam, 22-20, 18-21, 15-7.
China’s Xue Chen and Zeng Jinjin posted a 21-14, 21-11 drubbing of Japan’s Ren Matsumoto and Non Matsumoto.
Thai qualifiers Salinda Mungkhon and Somruedee Koedkaew pulled off a 14-21, 21-18, 15-8 win over Vanuatu’s Sherysyn Van Toko and Majabelle Lawac.
