Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons in action in the Volleyball World Beach Volley Pro Tour Challenge, October 17, 2025 at the Nuvali Sands Court by Ayala Land in Santa Rosa, Laguna. Handout/PNVF
MANILA -- Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons bowed out of contention in the Volleyball World Beach Volley Pro Tour Challenge after a gutsy three-set loss to Switzerland's Annique Niederhauser and Menia Bentele on Friday night.
The Alas Pilipinas pair displayed their tenacity before absorbing an 18-21, 24-22, 15-12 setback in the round-of-24 at the Nuvali Sands Court by Ayala Land in Santa Rosa, Laguna.
"It was a sorry loss," Rondina said. "They [Swiss] didn't want to give up."
The Filipina pair looked poised to advance after snatching the extended second set which saw the Swiss commit a handful of service and return errors.
But Niederhauser and Bentele showed their composure in the third set to frustrate the top local bets.
"We tried our best to close out the match as hard as we could, but it didn't go that way," Rondina said. "But we'll take this loss as a learning experience and we'll be back stronger especially in the Southeast Asian Games in December."
Rondina and Pons were the last pair standing among the seven Philippine teams—four women and three men—in the event that ends Sunday.
Making the round of 24, however, was already a breakthrough for Philippine beach volleyball—Rondina and Pons' 21-19, 21-9 over the Slovenian tandem earlier in the day was the first victory for any national team, men or women, in a Challenge tournament of the Beach Volleyball Tour.
READ: Rondina, Pons score breakthrough win in Beach Pro Tour series
"We regretted that we couldn't follow up on our victory in the morning [against Slovenia]," Pons said. "But we're thankful for this wonderful experience in the Challenge level."
Kly Orillaneda and Gen Eslapor, however, lost to USA's Teegan Van Gunst and Piper Ferch, 19-21, 11-21, and Sonny Villapando and Dij Rodriguez squandered a 13-8 lead in the second set to yield to Japan's Sakura Ito and Mayu Sawame, 18-21, 25-27, to exit the tournament that ends Sunday.