Mt. Carmel, Agape name lineup for beach v-ball

Richard Steele, seen here in this 2018 file photo serving during a youth tournament at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan sand court, will suit up for Mt. Carmel School 1 in the interscholastic beach volleyball league that will kick off this Saturday. (Saipan Tribune)

Mt. Carmel School and Agape Christian School were the first teams to submit their rosters for the 2020-2021 Public School System Interscholastic 4v4 Beach Volleyball League that will kick off this Saturday.

The Knights will be fielding two teams each in the girls and boys high school divisions, while the Torchbearers will have two entries in the boys competition.

Fiona Bucalig, Puti’on Palacios-Camacho, Victoria Ancheta, Theresa Rose Schweiger, Kaia Travilla, and Gayle Noreen Vidal will make up MCS 1, which will be coached by Francis San Nicolas. MCS 2, on the other hand, will be handled by coach Randy Steele and has Iver Jude and Izea Dimaun, Tiana Torres, Krissy Rease Cepeda, and Camille Sablan as members.

In the boys division, the Knights will have the same coaches with Steele calling the shots for MCS 1, which is composed of Sam Ryu, Jun Beom Kim, Merrick Toves, Jeremiah Diaz, Richard Steele, and Brandon Lee. James Patrick San Nicolas, Earl Gabriel San Nicolas, Skyler Poon, Kevin Kang, Brian Youn, and Vince Philip Salvador will suit up for MCS 2 of coach Francis San Nicolas.

Agape coach En Yang Pang will handle the Torchbearers’ two teams in the boys division. Tychicus Xu wil be on Agape 1 along with David Zheng, Simon Shan, Alex Liang, and Eason Tang, while Kevin Tang, Bobby Bao, Antonio Li, Solomon Hu, and Martin Song will compete for Agape 2.

Besides Agape and Mt. Carmel, other teams that will participate in the inaugural interscholastic beach volleyball league are Grace Christian Academy, Marianas High School, Saipan International School, Tinian Junior Senior High School, and Rota’s Dr. Rita Hocog Inos Junior Senior High School. Rosters from each squad are due today.

The Saipan teams will compete in the round-robin play for the rankings, while Rota and Tinian squads will go straight to the double-elimination playoffs.

The girls division, which has 10 teams, will play first this Saturday at the Hyatt Regency Saipan and Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan sand courts, while the boys competition will kick off on Jan. 30. Sixteen games are scheduled in the opening weekend of the girls division and the same set of matches are slated for Feb. 6, while the playoffs will be held on Feb. 19 and 20.

For the boys division, which will also feature 10 squads, the second round of matches will take place on Feb 13, while the playoff round is slated for Feb. 26 and 27.

The interscholastic beach volleyball league will be held in place of the regular indoor 6v6 volleyball, as the PSS Student Support Services Athletic Department is opting for low-risk sports (limited number of participants and in an outdoor setting) at this time of the COVID-19 pandemic.