BACOLOD CITY—Defending national women’s champion University of Visayas (UV) easily disposed of University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos (UNO-R) to open its back-to-back bid on a high note and lead the opening-day winners of the 12th Nestea Beach Volley Visayas Eliminations Tuesday at the University of St. La Salle sand courts.

The pair of Jusabelle Brillo and Janez Armie Igot, intact and as potent as the one that ran away with the biggest trophy last year, hardly broke a sweat in a 21-11, 21-14 victory over UNO-R’s Jenny Torres and Julie Anne Billote to move a step closer to a title-retention quest in Boracay.

“It’s our teamwork that worked to our advantage. We understand each other so much,” said Igot. “We just hope we could sustain this type of game, as we know that it will get tougher as the tournament goes deeper.”

The UV duo combined power-serving and stonewall defense, resulting in a bunch of easy points that had UNO-R’s bets reduced into a token foe.

Equally impressive was the debut of last year’s runner-up Southwestern University (SWU) as Janelle Tabio and Florian Gutierrez trounced University of Iloilo’s Richell Arros and Karen Mae Aranda, 21-11, 21-8, to also advance into the second round of the winners’ bracket.

“It’s nice to have this convincing win to start our campaign,” said Tabio. “Our ultimate goal this year is to finally win the title that we fell short last year. But we know that we have to take it one step at a time, and this is one good step.”

Joining the Cebu-based UV and SWU in the winners’ column were Foundation University (FU) and University of Southeast Philippines Foundation (USPF).

FU’s Maria Antonia Gabiligno and Elenie Perew-Perew defeated Iloilo Doctors College’s (IDC) Una Kresta Piagola and Aiza Pama in straight sets, 21-13, 21-11, while USPF’s Herlene Ybarita and Erika Camille Verano downed University of San Agustin (USA)’s Jackelyn Estoquia and Marian Joy Jamora, 21-19, 21-16.

In the men’s division, University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) racked up two victories to lead the race for the three tickets to the national finals from April 24 to 26 in Boracay.

The duo of Ariel Carumba and Loujie Tigpos first subdued Jeffrey Getida and Armando Diwatin Jr. of Collegio San Agustin-Bacolod, 21-13, 21-10, and then squeaked past University of St. La Salle’s (USLS) Emmanuel Marlon Luces and Mark Sabusap, 16-21, 21-16, 15-8.

UV and Colegio de la Purisima Concepcion (CPC) also won their preliminary matches.

UV’s Jade Becaldo and Jose Marie Etcobanez beat Saint Gabriel College’s Silvestre Cahilig and Kirk Patrick Quiambao, 21-12, 21-7, while CPC’s Joemar Hernandez and Jan Mhar Basinang blasted UNO-R’s John Paul Geolleague and Jhonson Mag-Alasin, 21-14, 21-14.

The University of Iloilo pair of Je-em Laranja and Nicanor Depamaylo Jr. likewise won its opening match, a 21-18, 21-14 trouncing of IDC’s Darryl Lim and Raffy Zamora, but was sent to the one-loss side by a loss to USA’s Allan Dayang and Verdin Paul de Ocampo, 13-21, 15-21.

Marquez: I’m here to demand, not beg

DETHRONED super-featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez on Tuesday clarified he came to Manila not to beg for a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, but to demand for one.

Louie still believes he can get hands on $0.13M

LUISITO ESPINOSA is not losing hope that he would still get his purse for a world title fight against Arentina’s Carlos Rios staged at the South Cotabato Stadium in Koronadal City more than 10 years ago.

ADAMSON University kept its composure, then leaned on guest player Neriza Bautista in the third set as the Lady Falcons hacked out a shocking  25-22, 25-21, 25-23 victory over fancied San Sebastian College (SSC) to seize the solo lead in the Shakey’s V-League Season 5 at The Arena in San Juan Tuesday.

Patrick Gregorio, the first to be named executive director of the powerful Basketball Association of the Philippines-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP), is contemplating stepping down from his post, a source said.

THE conference is barely two weeks old and yet the Coca-Cola Tigers are already making quite a noise.

HAPEE Toothpaste needed a strong first half in repulsing Burger King, 100-85, for its third-straight win Tuesday night in the 2008 Philippine Basketball League (PBL) Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

BACOLOD CITY—Defending national women’s champion University of Visayas (UV) easily disposed of University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos (UNO-R) to open its back-to-back bid on a high note and lead the opening-day winners of the 12th Nestea Beach Volley Visayas Eliminations Tuesday at the University of St. La Salle sand courts.

Mercedes-Benz, the worldwide leader in luxury vehicles, is taking an aggressive stance in promoting golf in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region for 2008.  The German auto giant had recently signed a three-year deal as the Asean Golf Tour’s title sponsor.

THERE’S the saying “a sound mind, a sound body.”

No matter what is one’s religious persuasion, there’s no doubt that positive thinking, or faith for some, does wonders. Not because things would magically turn in one’s favor, but because positive thinking is a matter of changing one’s perspective.