Various competitions keep athletes busy

A bunch of competitions took place on Saipan last week.

The list includes the opening of the 2014 NMIFA Spring Youth League, the 2014 White Coconut Classic Tennis Tournament, the 2014 NMIVA For the Love of Volleyball Tournament, and the 2014 MDX Amateur Radio Club Basketball League.

The Northern Mariana Islands Football Association held its season-opening league at the various pitches on the island with the Hopwood Junior High School Field hosting one boys U18 game and two girls U15 matches. The other boys U18 tiff was scheduled at the Oleai Sports Complex Field, which was also the venue for the two boys U15 games. The opening of non-competitive games in the U6, U18, U10, and U12 age groups were also played last week at the different school pitches on Saipan.

In the Coconut Classic, Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association hosted a tournament for the boys and girls U10, U12, and U14 singles, co-ed U18, men’s singles open, and the mixed-up doubles. Top-ranked players went on to survive the opening week of the two-weekend competition and are vying for championships in their respective divisions today.

In the Northern Mariana Islands Volleyball Association tournament at the Hyatt Regency Saipan, the pairs of Tyce Mister and Russ Quinn and Jennifer Douglas and Christen Steinkuller took the men’s and women’s crowns in the two-player beach volleyball event. Sixteen teams joined the annual competition.

In the MDX caging, 10 teams joined with Docomo and San Antonio winning the opening day games at the Gualo Rai Basketball Court.

Meanwhile, other on-going competitions on Saipan continued last week.
In the Marianas Interscholastic Sports Organization, Marianas High School remained unbeaten in the boys basketball league and girls volleyball and soccer competitions.

In the Saipan Little League Baseball, ITE, Comets I, and the Hustlers shared the Major division lead, while the JPO Enforcers took the solo top spot in the Junior League. In the Senior League, the Braves and Red Sox are the co-leaders, pending results of last weekend’s matches.

Still in baseball, defending champions Brewers are alone at the top spot with their 3-0 record, following a 9-7 victory over the Yankees in the 2014 Saipan Baseball League. Also winning last week were the Fielders, who downed the D-9ers, 11-9, at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield.

Over at the Koblerville Elementary School Field, NMIFA continued with its women’s recreational 7 v 7 league.