The 91st National Collegiate Athletic Association beach volleyball tournament has turned into a brothers and sisters affair.
This, after the Taneo siblings, Relan and Rey Jr., of University of Perpetual Help, and twins Maria Jeiziela and Maria Nieza Viray of San Beda downed their respective foes to stretch their unbeaten streak to six in beach volley action at the Boardwalk of Subic Bay in Zambales on Friday.
The Taneos overpowered Mapua’s Philip Michael Bagalay and Samuel Joseph Almales, 21-15, 21-19, in a duel of undefeated squads to jump to the top of the men’s division.
The emphatic triumph pushed the Las Pinas-based school a win away from clinching a Final Four berth.
A sweep will catapult the Taneo pair straight to the finals and a triumph away from reclaiming the championship Perpetual Help lost to College of Saint Benilde last season. It will also turn the Final Four into a stepladder semifinals.
“We’re starting to feel it,” said Rey, the elder of the Taneos, in Filipinos.
The Virays, on the other hand, overcame Letran’s Julia Angeles and Regielyn Cabrera, 25-23, 21-13, to also remain unbeaten in six matches in the women’s section.
Just a game behind the Virays were San Sebastian’s Gretchel Soltones and Dangie Encarnacion, the reigning back-to-back champions who slammed Saint Benilde’s Jannine Navarro and Melanie Torres with a vengeful 21-13, 21-14 win.
Soltones and Encarnacion improved to 5-1 (win-loss), which was good for joint second with their recent conquests, Navarro and Torres.