MANILA – Alas Pilipinas standouts Kat Epa and Honey Grace Cordero conquered their rivals in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour (BPT) Futures Nuvali on Saturday, advancing to the round-of-12 with Khylem Progella and Sofia Paraga at Nuvali Sand Courts in Santa Rosa City, Laguna.

Epa and Cordero, members of University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) champion National University, outlasted Israel’s Ronni Rivka Lavie and Anita Dave, 21-15, 14-21, 15-9.

“It was pretty difficult in the second…I had trouble passing, I was unable to find the right shots. I told myself in the third, I should make up for the misses,” Cordero said after the 51-minute match.

Progella and Paraga, representing UAAP runner-up University of Santo Tomas, pulled off a 23-25, 21-11, 15-10 win against the Netherlands' Danieke Prins and Annemieke Driessen.

“They were quite intimidating in the first place,” the 19-year-old Progella said, describing the Dutch spikers. “But the pace of play was a big factor.”

In the men’s division, James Buytrago and Rancel Varga delivered a stunning 21-15, 21-19 upset win over Hungary’s Domonkos Doczi and Bence Attila Streli, champions of the BPT Futures in Qingdao.

The victory sent the Filipino pair into the next round as well.

Buytrago and Varga, silver medalists in last year’s edition, had previously faced the Hungarian pair in a tune-up match.

“There was pressure, of course,” Buytrago admitted. “But we didn’t let it get to us.”

Other Filipino teams, however, suffered early exits.

Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists Jaron Requinton and Jude Garcia were eliminated by Americans David Wieczorek and John Schwengel, 11-21, 21-16, 10-15.

Also bowing out were Lerry John Francisco and Edwin Tolentino, who lost to Latvia’s Ralfs Andrejevs and Eduards Dūdens (21-13, 21-17); Sunnie Kalani Villapando and Jen Gaviola, who fell to Japan’s Nozomi Sekiguchi and Yu Okuno (21-16, 21-18); and Alexa Polidario and Dix Rodriguez, who succumbed to Latvia’s Monika Mamaja and Alise Aleksane (21-12, 11-21, 10-15). (PNA)