Strawberry-Melon rules Powerade tennis

After barely making it to the finals of the 2005 Powerade Team Tennis Tournament, captain Richard Asuncion and his Strawberry-Melon squad pulled off an upset and captured the title by defeating fellow powerhouse Jagged Ice Saturday night at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Strawberry-Melon got its glory and a year’s worth of bragging rights with a thrilling 4-2 victory.

Asuncion first teamed with Mr. Heo and had their way to beat Jagged Ice captain Jorge Olanda and Roy Pangelinan in the men’s doubles, 8-2.

Strawberry-Melon continued to make a strong charge in the men’s doubles competition as Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s Tim Quan put his mind and skills together with Gerald Narciso to cruise past Phil Kalen and Romy Sotto, 8-1.

The team then went into a comfort zone after Sam Apostol bagged Strawberry-Melon’s third win courtesy of an 8-4 trouncing of Mario Buensuceso.

Jagged Ice was not about to throw in the towel and finally broke their cold streak when Pangelinan and Buddy Garote doubled up Asuncion and Hiob Ngirachemoi, 8-4.

The deficit was cut to just one game when youth standout Vivian Lee and Cleofe Santos won by default in the women’s doubles, but the favor was soon returned to Strawberry-Melon as Sally Wong and Boy Cruz won by the same fate.

Asuncion, who was also awarded the best captain medal during the ceremony, indicated that he had observed and studied Jagged Ice’s play during their first three nights of play, which played a big part in his team capturing the crown.

“I watched their game on the first three nights and I learned about their strategy…they try to be strong in their doubles. So in the finals, I changed our strategy and I put our strong players in the doubles.”

Asuncion also credited his team’s hard work and effort on the court, as well as their cooperation and dedication to move as a team as the main keys to their successful charge.

“We all did our very best,” Asuncion said. “It’s good because our team is very good and they try their best and they’re very cooperative. That made it good for me as captain because it was easy to work together and I’m happy that we got the championship.”

Taking third place was Gold Rush, which also finished with a 10-8 record after the elimination round, but missed their shot at the finals by just a point after trailing Strawberry-Melon, 107-108, in the total points. Gold Rush was captained by Alex Martin.

Peter Loyola and his Lemon Lime team finished in fourth place with a 9-9 record.

Other teams that participated were Mountain Blast, Fruit Punch, Green Squale, and Mango-Orange.

In all, almost 100 players put their skills to the test in the nine-day team competition.

The Powerade Team Tennis Tournament is sponsored by Coca Cola Beverage Co. and is organized by the Fil-American Tennis Association.

Gracing the awards banquet immediately following the matches were Coca Cola sales and marketing director Kathryn Barry and operations manager Rusty Loyola.