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CEBU, Philippines – Western Visayas kept its hold over the Palarong Pambansa girls secondary volleyball division, prevailing in a five-set gold medal match for the second straight year over feisty National Capital Region, 25-15, 18-25, 27-29, 25-22, 15-12, at the University of San Jose-Recoletos on Monday, July 15.
Representing volleyball powerhouse Bacolod Tay Tung, Dona Mae de Leon showed her full potential as a rising middle blocker, leading the way against FEU-Diliman with 15 points on a staggering 10 blocks with 5 attacks.
Outgoing captain and UP commit Jothea Ramos, last year’s Palaro MVP, poured in ample supporting numbers as she ended her high school career on the highest of notes.
“I’m really happy because this is a rare feat, going back-to-back, and we’re in the province, unlike NCR, where the players are crowded. We just work with who we have,” said two-time Palaro champion coach Ian Macariola.
Down 11-17 at one point in the fourth set where it looked all but over for Tay Tung’s title defense, De Leon, Ramos, and a mix of starters and timely subs joined hands to pull off a 25-22 fifth set-forcer and seize momentum heading into clutch time.
With FEU looking quite panicked and winded at the game’s waning moments, Tay Tung practically only had to stay composed on the defensive end, as three of its last four points – including the championship point – came off NCR errors.
“Our kids right now are really brave. Even before Palaro, we already honed these kids last month in Shakey’s [Super League]. We didn’t bring some seniors so we could expose the ones we put in our Palaro lineup,” Macariola continued.
“We only got silver in Shakey’s, but that’s okay, we got the exposure we really needed for Palaro.”
Conversely, NCR got the job done over at the boys secondary tilt, as NU-Nazareth downed gutsy Calabarzon-La Salle Lipa in another five-set marathon right before the girls final, 27-29, 25-19, 19-25, 28-26, 16-14.
Super blocker Miguel Egger had the performance of his young life, exploding for 32 points on a whopping 13 blocks with 18 attacks and an ace to lead his team to a well-deserved title. – Rappler.com
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