ALAS PILIPINAS young stars pulled off crucial wins in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures Nuvali on Saturday, with Kat Epa and Honey Grace Cordero marching on to the Round of 12 along with Khylem Progella and Sofia Paraga at the Nuvali Sand Courts in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

National University’s Epa and Cordero, champions in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, turned back Israel’s Ronni Rivka Lavie and Anita Dave, 21-15, 14-21, 15-9.

The UAAP runners-up from University of Santo Tomas, Progella and Pagara overcame the Netherlands’ Danieke Prins and Annemieke Driessen, 23-25, 21-11, 15-10.

James Buytrago and Rancel Varga also advanced by defeating BPT Futures Qingdao champions Domonkos Doczi and Bence Attila Streli of Hungary, 21-15, 21-19.

Epa and Cordero went cold in the second set as gusts started to pick up, but regrouped in the third to seal the win in 51 minutes. The match started with the temperature at 36 degrees but reached 38.1 by the third set.

“It was pretty difficult in the second…I had trouble passing, I was unable to find the right shots,” Cordero said. “I told myself in the third, I should make up for the misses.”

Progella and Pagara, on the other hand, faced a unique challenge against the Dutch at center court in the  tournament organized by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation headed by its president Ramon “Tats” Suzara, who is also the president of the Asian Volleyball Confederation and Executive Vice President of the world volleyball governing body FIVB.

As the young Alas Pilipinas stars tried to step it up, their opponents’ movements in between points were deliberate.

“They were quite intimidating in the first place,” the 19-year-old Progella said of the tall and athletic veteran Dutch spikers who were given delay warning.

“But the pace of play was a big factor,” Progella added.

The Philippines had 35 attack points against 27 by the Dutch, and had eight aces against only one from their rivals.

Silver medalists in the BPT Futures last year, Buytrago and Varga were already familiar with the Hungarians’ play, having met them in a tuneup, and are pleased to get a big win in the tournament backed by Ayala Land, Nuvali Evoliving, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Sports Commission, PLDT Home, Rebisco, Akari, Mikasa, Microtel by Wyndham South Forbes, Cignal, One Sports, Pilipinas Live, Senoh, Alibaba Cloud, ialchemy, One Over Zero Technologies and Supreme Infotech Solutions.

“There’s some pressure of course, but we can’t let pressure prevail,” Buytrago.

Other Philippine pairs bowed out early, however, with Jaron Requinton and Jude Garcia, bronze medalists in the 2023 Southeast Asian Games, lost to Americans David Wieczorek and John Schwengel, 11-21, 21-16, 10-15.

Lerry John Francisco and Edwin Tolentino got steamrolled by Ralfs Andrejevs and Eduards Dūdens, 21-13, 21-17.

Sunnie Kalani Villapando and Jen Gaviola were swept by Japan’s Nozomi Sekiguchi and Yu Okuno, 21-16, 21-18.

Alexa Polidario and Dix Rodriguez could not sustain a hot start against Latvia’s Monika Mamaja and Alise Aleksane, 21-12, 11-21, 10-15.