Photo by AVC
THE two Alas Pilipinas women's teams advanced to the next round even they failed to win their respective final pool play fixtures Thursday in the Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championship at the Nuvali Sand Courts in Santa Rosa, Laguna.
Khy Progella and Sofiah Pagara suffered a heartbreaking 21-14, 16-21, 10-15 defeat to China’s Yu Tong and Jiang Kaiyue in Pool E.
Kly Orillaneda and Gen Eslapor dropped a 10-21, 14-21 decision to Japan’s Asami Shiba and Chika Nakagawa in Pool F.
Progella and Pagara, and Orillaneda and Eslapor ended with similar 1-2 records, enough to get past the pool round.
In the Round of 16, Progella and Pagara, the Beach Volleyball Republic on Tour Sipalay leg champions, take on another Chinese duo, fourth-seeded Xue Chen and Zeng Jinjin for a place in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Friday.
Earlier in the day, Orillaneda and Eslapor will begin their bid for a quarters berth in the Round of 18 against Japan's Kana Motomura and Nayu Motomura at 8:30 a.m.
In the men's side, the pairs of Ranran Abdilla and James Buytrago and Rancel Varga and Lerry Francisco bowed out of the tournament.
Abdilla and Buytrago, who came up with a scintillating performance to beat Japan’s Yoshi Hasegawa and Dylan Kurokawa, 22-24, 24-22, 15-9, in the morning session Thursday finished with a 1-2 record in Pool F.
Varga and Francisco, who will pick up a lot of lessons in his international debut, wound up at 0-3 in Pool C.
The matches are aired live on One Sports+ and on the Pilipinas Live app.
