Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons of the Philippines. File photo
MANILA -- The pair of Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons will take on a duo from Brazil in the main draw of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, Thursday at the Nuvali Sands Court by the Ayala Land in the City Santa Rosa, Laguna.
Meanwhile, Sunny Villapando and Dij Rodriguez will be up against a pair of New Zealand.
Rondina and Pons square off with Mylene Thainarra and Talita Simonetti in the 3 p.m. match of the tournament hosted by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation, with Villapando and Rodriguez tackling Shaunna Polley and Olivia McDonald at 1:20 p.m. both on center court.
READ: Rondina-Pons tandem to lead PH campaign in 2025 Beach Pro Tour Nuvali Challenge
Kly Orillaneda and Gen Eslapor will compete against Anniina Parkkinin and Vilhelmiina Prihti in the 2:10 p.m. duel also both at center court.
Cambodia 2023 Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists James Buytrago and Ran Abdilla begin their campaign in the men's main draw against world No. 47 D' Artagnan Potts and Jack Pearse of Australia also on Thursday at 10:10 a.m.
It wasn't the way three Alas Pilipinas pairs wanted in the qualification round on Wednesday when the matches in all five courts of the Nuvali facility were played in a drizzle in the morning and under overcast skies the whole day.
Jenny Gaviola and Alexa Polidario had a good chance of pulling off an upset but squandered the opportunity against Canada's Amanda Harnett and Devin Corah, 15-21, 16-21.
"This is our first time to play together in an international competition, but we gave it our best although we failed to snatch the opportunity," the 26-year-old Gaviola, playing out of the Philippine Coast Guard and Muntinlupa City said.
"We learned a lot of things in this match as we saw how our opponents adjusted when they trailed."
The 27-year-old Polidario, of the Philippine Army, also said they would learn from the experience to get better ahead of the Thailand 33rd Southeast Asian Games in December.
"It was a bad moment. We lost our focus in this mental game," Alas Pilipinas's Brazilian beach volleyball coach Joao "Kioday" Luciano Simao Barbosa said. "It's the same result with our men's game earlier."
In the men's qualifiers, Larry John Francisco and Edwin Tolentino suffered a 15-21, 10-21 loss to Freddie Bialokoz and Issa Batrane of England while Ronniel Rosales and Rancel Varga fell to Canada's Luke Se Greeff and Martin Litch, 17-21, 15-21.
"We expect a strong opposition because we are competing in the Challenge level—far more competitive than the Futures," Rondina said. "But we will be ready for tomorrow against anybody. We trained for this."