The Letran beach volleyball team of Eden Canlas and Joseph Eric Ramos, 2009 National Collegiate Athletic Association champion, qualified to the national finals of the men’s division of the 13th Nestea Fit Beach Volleyball Championships.

A total of 72 teams from 43 universities and colleges competed in the nationwide elimination rounds.

The Luzon leg of the national tournament was held at the SM Mall of Asia Bay area where teams from 18 universities and colleges vied for the top spot for the qualifying rounds.

Defending champion Far Eastern University Tamarraws beat the Knights in a thrilling final. San Beda College landed on third place over-all. Prior to this, FEU defeated Lyceum of the Philippines-Batangas while the Knights beat Philippine Christian University in the semifinals.

Top three winning pairs in the men’s and women’s divisions of the eliminations advance to the national finals slated from May 6 to 9 in Boracay. Luzon will be represented by FEU, Letran and San Beda.

The Visayas elimination round was from April 16 to 18 at the Park Mall in Mandaue while the Mindanao leg is from April 26 to 28 at the Tagum Beach Volley Drome.

Coach Brian Esquibel is looking forward for the Knight-spikers to perform well in the finals. He said that “with the NCAA title in their hands, I believe this will boost the level of confidence and competitiveness of Ramos and Canlas”.

A cash prize of P100,000 is at stake.

In 2000, Letran captured the Nestea national title with the impressive performance of Gino Macailan and Marvin Gotanggogan when they beat the team from Foundation University-Dumaguete in the finals.

The Nestea beach volley championships is sanctioned by the Philippine Volleyball Federation as the county’s official beach volleyball tournament. All games comply with the rules of the Federacion Internationale de Volleyball (FIVR).