PROVING THAT they are an emerging force in the beach volleyball arena, the Ateneo Beach Spikers finished second in the third leg of the 7th Petron Ladies’ Beach Volleyball tournament held July 24 to 25 in Lingayen, Pangasinan.

Asia Urquico and Sharah So secured the top two spots in Bracket B by crushing teams from the Philippine School of Business Administration, Philippine Women’s University, University of Luzon and University of the Philippines. Their lone loss came at the hands of La Salle Dasmariñas-A during the elimination round.

A thrilling 2-1 victory against top-seeded La Salle Dasmariñas-B of Bracket A in the semis sent the Beach Spikers to the finals with a rematch against their elimination round conquerors. Yet the Almaden-Manzano duo’s height and power were too much for the Urquico-So tandem as the former emerged champions.

Urquico says, “[Even if we just obtained a second-place finish] I believe that we were very confident this time around. We trained very hard for this tournament and hopefully, we can use this experience to help us improve for the next tournaments.”

La Salle Dasmariñas-A, Ateneo, La Salle Dasmariñas-B and UP will compete in the final leg of the tournament on October 11 to 12 at Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

Jessica Morado and Pepi Sison were also part of the team that competed in the tournament.