By John Bryan Ulanday
MAJOY Baron put an icing on the bronze medal win of the Philippine women’s national volleyball team after clinching the Best Middle Blocker citation in the inaugural ASEAN Grand Prix held at the Terminal 21 Mall in Nakhon Ratchisima, Thailand.
The former La Salle stalwart normed 12.33 points on five blocks through three games for the Pinay spikers to be hailed as the best net defender among the region’s finest volleyball players.
Baron, the 5-foot-11 blocker from F2 Logistics in the PSL, chalked up six blocks en route to 13 points to help the Philippines complete a podium finish with a close 25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 15-25, 15-12 win against Vietnam.
A former UAAP MVP for the La Salle Lady Spikers, Baron just came off a Second Best Middle Blocker honor behind Jaja Santiago in the PSL All-Filipino Conference last month.
Baron was joined in the elite ASEAN GP winners cast by MVP Sittirak Onuma of Thailand which drubbed Indonesia in four sets to win the first-ever volleyball tournament in the Southeast Asian region.
Chathu-on Moksri (Thailand) was named Best Spiker, Tri Retno Mutiara (Indonesia) was adjudged Best Receiver while Megawati Hangestri (Indonesia) and Thi Kim Lien Nguyen (Vietnam) bagged the Best Server and Best Libero plums, respectively.
The ASEAN GP troops to the Philippines for its second leg on Oct. 4 — 6 to be hold in Sta. Rosa Laguna that also serves as a test even for the volleyball competition in the upcoming 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) staled Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.
