LINGAYEN,Pangasinan – The Volleyball teams of Alaminos City and Burgos town seized the championship in the volleyball tournament of the 1st Local Government Units (LGU) Unity Games organized by the provincial government of Pangasinan.
Both team won the first and second face-offs with their archrivals for the best-of-three finals of the women’s volleyball tournament, which is conceptualized by Governor Amado I. Espino, III as an avenue for female employees of LGUs to showcase their prowess and skills in playing volleyball, and also serving as an avenue for health and wellness promotion.
Alaminos City defeated Sta. Barbara for the volleyball tournament’s Division I while Burgos outclassed Aguilar in the Division II during the second match-ups held at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center gymnasium on August 25.
Sweeping rival team Sta. Barbara in their first face-off last August 17, Alaminos City shattered its opponent’s hopes to force a rubber match by sealing the five-setter second game (20-25, 25-16, 17-25, 25-20, 15-11).
Alaminos City capitalized on its running spikers led by Alice Visda to punish Sta. Barbara’s defense from the attack line and service deck.
Dropping in the opening set (20-25), the sole city in western Pangasinan gained momentum in second set (25-16).
Sta. Barbara fueled to end third set (25-17), but it fell short in fourth set (20-25), letting Alaminos City rise from behind to launch a take-off for a deciding set.
Alaminos City set the tone early for the fifth set, closing technical time out (08-03) as it poured much-needed points to win over Sta. Barbara (15-11).
Meanwhile, Burgos overwhelmed Aguilar as it asserted its power in a close-fight five-setter second match-up (22-25, 25-08, 22-25, 26-24, 15-13).
Losing to Burgos (25-23, 25-19, 21-25, 25-18) in their first face-off last August 17, Aguilar had high hopes of stealing the second match-up as it set the brawl in its favor in the first set (22-25).
Burgos flawlessly ended the second set, twisting Alaminos City (25-08), which suffered miscommunication errors which paralyzed its defense and offense departments.
Third set saw the neck-and-neck clash of the rival teams which triggered powerful counter attacks from spikers.Third set ended (22-25) in Aguilar’s side.
Rousing with victory in the first and third sets, momentum strikes for Aguilar to claim the fourth set, but Burgos remained focused, forcing a deadlock (21-21) to steal chances of edging a two-point lead. Fourth set was controlled by Burgos (26-24).
Despite the spinning service points, and powerful spikes courtesy of Aguilar town’s ace player Hillary Castro, the receiving department of Burgos worked well to launch successful counter attacks courtesy of spikers led by Mitch Naval.
Tied with two sets apiece, Burgos and Aguilar staged a tension-filled deciding set which ended with the triumph of the first district town (15-13).
“We are very thankful for this opportunity to showcase our might in volleyball, as we deeply appreciate this tournament being a ground for wellness promotion,” said Arlene Velano, Alaminos City team captain.
In the same manner, Burgos team Captain Winnie Colobong expressed gratitude to the provincial government for coming up with an avenue to help promote camaraderie and friendship among LGUs in Pangasinan.
“It was a well-fought battle for us. Magaling ang aming kalaban na tumalo pa nga sa amin sa elimination games. We are very grateful for the turn-out of the tournament.” Colobong said.
By: Mark Gerry Naval Oblanca
