Zamboanga City: Zamboanga City clinched a hard-fought victory over the Umingan Volleyball Club, 23-25, 25-23, 32-30, 17-25, 15-10, in the semifinals of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) U21 Championship National Men’s Division at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium here Saturday.
According to Philippines News Agency, Christian Paul Salboro led the charge with an impressive 35-point performance, including six blocks. Teammates Jubert Sioting and Carl John Nabora contributed 20 and 14 points, respectively, helping Zamboanga City outscore Umingan in attacks, 179-159, in the five-set victory. Zamboanga City will face the winner between One Silay and the University of the East for the gold medal match at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
In the classification round, Lingayen defeated City of Naga-Cebu Volleyball Club, 25-18, 25-18, 22-25, 25-19, while Notre Dame of Dadiangas University edged out Volleyball Never Stop (VNS), 25-23, 23-25, 22-25, 25-15, 15-13, in the fight for the Nos. 5 to 8 rankings.
During the preliminary round, Zamboanga City bested Lingayen, 16-25, 25-20, 23-25, 30-28, 15-7, and One Silay, 25-22, 25-21, 21-25.
Meanwhile, other tournaments in the PNVF calendar are the National Beach Volleyball Championships in February and the Second AVC Beach Tour-Nuvali Open in April both at the Nuvali Sand Courts in Santa Rosa City, Laguna.
Nuvali will also be the venue for the FIVB World Beach Pro Tour Futures.
The Philippines will also host the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship for the first time from Sept. 12 to 28 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum and SM Mall of Asia Arena.
