Western Visayas completed a thrilling, come-from-behind five-set win to rule the Palarong Pambansa 2023 secondary girls volleyball tournament, stunning National Capital Region, 18-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-16, 18-16, at the packed Marikina Sports Complex on Friday, August 4.
Middle blocker Dona Mae de Leon did the most damage in Bacolod Tay Tung’s dethroning of Nazareth School-National University, dropping 21 points to help erase a huge 0-6 deficit in the deciding fifth set and eventually take an 11-10 lead off her quick attack.
“We’re happy because we won and the players didn’t give up in the fifth set, so that’s on their character, their will to fight,” said Western Visayas head coach Ian Macariola in Filipino after the awarding ceremony.
“I told them to just not give up in the end because NU may stumble and we should be ready to grab that opportunity.”
Rhose Almendralejo pushed Region 6 to match point, 14-12, off a kill, but NCR bounced back with a 14-all tie off a Celine Marsh ace, eventually setting up a 16-all deadlock in extended play.
However, it was Tay Tung and Jothea Ramos who had the last laugh, as she powered down a down-the-line hit for another match point, 17-16, before she followed up with one last ace to end the nerve-wracking affair, sending both teams crashing to the mat in a contrasting eruption of joy and despair.
Meanwhile, Trinitas College of Central Luzon trounced Central Visayas’ University of Southern Philippines Foundation in another nip-and-tuck five-set championship match, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 17-25, 15-12, to claim the Palarong Pambansa secondary boys volleyball gold medal.
Bronze medalist Calabarzon joins Central Luzon and Central Visayas in a completely different podium for secondary boys volleyball from the last Palaro edition, as NCR, Western Visayas, and Davao Region composed the top three in 2019 before the pandemic cancelled all events until 2023.
