Netters take stage as Powerade tennis begins

The clash of eight teams comprising of almost 100 players began Friday night as the 2005 Powerade Team Tennis Tournament kicked off at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Mountain Blast and Lemon Lime were first to battle, and after their scores were settled, both teams came out with three victories and three losses.

The duo of Boyet Minor and Tony Santos were solid in opening the tournament for Mountain Blast, beating Dodong Espanola and Marlon Estigoy 8-5 in their men’s doubles bout, while teammates Lito Cabrera and Shinobu Furr found the same success and slipped past Joy Minor and Ruben Leynes 8-4 in the mixed doubles. Mountain Blast got its third win courtesy of Gary Ramsey and Art Lopez, who defeated Perry Cacdac and Russell Buenaventura 8-4 in another men’s doubles.

Lemon Lime, for its part, had a sterling performances from captain Peter Loyola, who had his way against youth standout Ji Hoon Heo en route to an 8-1 victory. Cacdac and Dong Lacbayo earned win No. 2 for their team as they defeated Nigel Cacdac and Yesman Gurung 8-2. Lemon Lime then got a huge performance from Ligaya Paculanang and Maru Dela Torre, who won their women’s doubles match against Ayumi Cajigan and Furr, 8-5.

Also having their fair share of the spotlight were members of the Green Squale and Strawberry-Mellon teams, who went neck and neck before organizers called it a night.

Strawberry-Mellon captain Richard Asuncion and Sally Cacdac pushed the right buttons in the late goings and defeated Yuko Kobayashi and Green Squale captain Eli Buenaventura 8-6 in the mixed doubles.

Kobayashi would have her revenge in the women’s doubles as she teamed up with Mia Jones to beat Cacdac and Aki Gotanda. Green Squale also got a solid outing from Bong Gamab and Roger De Villa, who joined forces to squeeze by Asuncion and Gerald Narciso 8-7, while Toshi Beltau and Orly De Leon won by default for the Green crew.

Action continues today as Amazon (Gold Rush) battles Strawberry-Mellon from 4pm to 6pm and Mountain Blast takes on Fruit Punch from 6pm to 8pm.

The 2005 Powerade Team Tennis Tournament is sponsored by Coca-Cola Beverage Co., (Micronesia), Inc., which is the exclusive distributor of the energy drink, and organized by the Fil-American Tennis Association.

For more information on the 2005 Powerade Team Tennis Tournament, contact Joy Minor at 323-3081.