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BORACAY—Florian
Gutierrez has achieved the most in the Nestea Beach
Volley by snatching her fourth title. And now, she is
keen on retiring.
“Wow!
That’s a great accomplishment, and I’m so proud of it,”
beamed Gutierrez moments after she led the Southwestern
University (SWU) to the women’s division title of the
2008 edition of the summer sports event on Saturday at
the Hey! Jude sand court here.
The
25-year-old Gutierrez and her new partner, Janelle Tabio,
pulled the rug from under Janez Armie Igot and Jusabelle
Brillo of the defending champion University of the
Visayas (UV), recovering from a set down for a pulsating
18-21, 21-19, 15-11 squeaker in the finals.
It was
SWU’s fourth title in the annual summer event, which had
just concluded its 12th year, and first since its
three-year rule from 2003 to 2005.
Gutierrez was part of all those conquests.
“I was
so determined to win this tournament because I want to
end my stint here in Nestea in a glorious way. I’m so
glad I did it,” said Gutierrez, who took a leave of
absence from her studies in 2006 and 2007 before coming
back to restore SWU’s pride.
Represented by Maritess Natad and Joreen Sanchez, SWU
failed to advance to the national finals two years ago,
while Natad and Tabio made it to the championship round
last year only to succumb to UV.
In the
men’s division, Rolando Agus and Arnel Amadeo notched
for Foundation University its second title by defeating
Southern Philippines Foundation’s James Ryan Rivera and
Jonrey Sasing, 15-21, 21-14, 15-9, in the three-day
event sponsored by Havaianas, Speedo, Mikasa, Penshoppe,
Tagum Beach Volley Drome at Rotary Park , University
of St. La Salle Bacolod, Island Cove Hotel and Leisure
Park, Crystal Sand Beach Resort, Le Soleil de Boracay
Hotel, La Carmela de Boracay, D’Mall, D’ Boracay and
Hey! Jude Hotel Resort.
UV was
actually heavily favored to repeat as champion after it
swept its two matches against SWU in the Visayas
Eliminations and then walloped the latter again in the
preliminaries of the Boracay finals.
But
Gutierrez and Tabio did not give up and managed to set
up a titular showdown with Igot and Brillo and won in a
game that mattered most to go home with P125, 000 top
purse.
“UV is a
very good team. But we didn’t lose hope, and when we had
them in the finals, I told Janelle not to get intimidate
and just focus on our game instead in our opponents,”
said Gutierrez.
SWU
opened its campaign in this National Finals with a
21-16, 21-13 thumping of Luzon’s top qualifier Adamson
U.
The
Gutierrez-Tabio tandem, however, was sent to the losers’
side after absorbing a 21-15, 15-21, 15-12 defeat at the
hands of their provincial rivals Brillo and Igot. There
they had to repeat against Adamson, 21-8, 19-21, 15-8,
and beat another Luzon entry in Far Eastern University (FEU)’s
Shaira Gonzales and Wendy Semana, 21-19, 21-18, to
arrange a titular showdown with the UV pair, which swept
all its previous matches.
Brillo
and Igot started their bid by trouncing University of
Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF)’s Erika Verano
and Herlene Ybarita, 21-11, 21-16. After beating SWU,
the UV duo outlasted University of Mindanao-Tagum,
21-13, 18-21, 15-11. But that proved to be their last
victory in this year’s circuit. |
