UST Golden Tigresses and Tiger Spikers conquer S85 beach volleyball, bringing home their eighth and seventh championships respectively.
University of Santo Tomas (UST) captured yet another elusive double gold in the UAAP Season 85 beach volleyball tournament at Sands By The Bay on November 29.
The UST Golden Tigresses pair of Gen Eslapor and Babylove Barbon defeated the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs Honey Grace Cordero and Kly Orillaneda, 21-15, 21-16, in their first finals appearance and gave the Tigresses a five-peat.
Rising queen of the sands, Barbon, captured her second straight MVP, in her return to the court after not having played in Season 84 due to the women’s beach volleyball not being included in the semi-bubble set up.
Barbon claimed that she is just happy to carry on the winning ways of her seniors as they continue their own win streak with 37 consecutive matches dating back from 2016 as reported by ABS-CBN.
"Kasi 'yung goal namin is makuha 'yung championship and iyon po ang nagawa namin ngayon. Pinagtrabahuan namin ng ilang taon at ito ang bunga ng paghihirap namin," said Barbon.
"Sobrang saya po kahit nag-pandemic. Nagawan pa rin namin ng paraan na makapag-training kami and nagawan ng paraan na makuha po 'yung goal namin, which is 'yung championship.”
Over at the men’s side, the Tiger Spikers, headed by Jaron Requinton and Rancel Varga reasserted their dominance against NU’s James Buytrago and Pol Salvador, with a straight set win, 21-16, 21-14, to clinch their fourth straight championship.
"Sobrang saya and thankful po kami sa mga coaches (Paul Jan Doloiras and Romnick Rico) po namin kasi sila ang naghubog ng talento namin. Kaya 'yung success po, sa kanila po talaga mapupunta. Sa mga coaches po namin," said Requinton, who went home with the season MVP award.
"Kasi kung hindi dahil sa kanila, sa mahihirap na training na ginawa sa amin, hindi naman kami aabot sa championship at saka hindi namin makukuha ang five-peat at four-peat sa beach volleyball," he added.
According to Rappler, UST holds the most successful program for beach volleyball as they end Season 85 securing its eighth women’s championship and the men’s with their seventh title, not too far behind.
Tags: #UAAP, #volleyball, #UST