Thai squad tops Rebisco volley tilt

Nakornnonthaburi Volleyball Club gave local players a taste of international action as they booked a 25-20, 20-25, 25-12, 25-16 victory over Bacolod Tay Tung to rule the Rebisco Volleyball League (RVL) Invitational Finals recently at the Gameville Ball Park in Mandaluyong City.

The Thais banked on a solid start before flaunting their might in the third and fourth sets to dominate the back-to-back RVL national champion and reign supreme in the invitational event of the country’s biggest grassroots tournament that is now on its sixth year.

Meanwhile, Kings’ Montessori School defeated the University of San Jose-Recoletos, 25-21, 25-20, 25-22, in the bronze-medal match of the six-team invitational tournament, where the top four teams in the national finals, including the University of Batangas, welcomed foreign teams like Northern California Volleyball Association Club of the United States and Nakornnonthaburi.

Wisaruta Sengna dropped 32 points to emerge as finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) after showing the way for Nakornnonthaburi, which captured its second RVL title after raising the 2019 national finals trophy.

Rhose Viane Almendralejo proved why she is the RVL national finals MVP as she took home the same honors on top of the 1st Best Outside Spiker award after leading the Bacolod-based hitters to a runner-up finish.

Aside from Almendralejo, Bacolod Tay Tung had two more players who took the spotlight in Best Setter Jan Rose Bulak and Second Best Middle Blocker Donna Mae de Leon.

All of the individual awardees were gifted with Mizuno shoes from Gameville-Mizuno.

Nakornnonthaburi, for its part, had two awardees in Best Libero Jiratcha Naoprachun and Second Best Outside Hitter Chirawadi Saisaen.

Kings’ Montessori also had two award winners in Best Middle Blocker Ashley Nicole Macalinao and Best Opposite Spiker Kriska Morena Gindap.

De Leon stood tallest as Bacolod Tay Tung’s first line of defense — so much so that Ateneo de Manila University recruited her for a chance to see action in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines women’s volleyball tournament.

On the other hand, outside hitter Marie Joy Aseo of Eastern Visayas champion Linao National High School earned a call-up from Adamson University.