NMIVA race heats up on beach

The Northern Mariana Islands Volleyball Association released its list of frontrunners to represent the CNMI on the beach in this summer’s Micronesian Games, and there were few surprises as the top finishers who maintained a level of consistency rank a step above the pack.

With a first and third place finish, the tandem of Quincy Johnson and Kaycee Rengaelur holds an overall lead in the team standings with 52 points, but the duo of Dan Westphal and Nick Castro is a close second with 48 points.

Both teams hold an advantage over the rest of the pack after having competed in two of the three qualifiers, while the rest have only one to their credit. Marino Pungilug is on two of those teams—posting first place wins with Bruce Berline and Jess Palacios.

After Saturday’s tournament at the Fiesta Resort & Spa, NMIVA vice president Taula Peter said that he was pleased with the turnout for the third men’s qualifier.

“It was pretty good. Most of the players that were in the top for and in the running were here with the exception of Jess Palacios,” he said.

Palacios was part of the duo that won the first qualifier last October, but teammate Marino Pungilug was forced to partner up with someone else over the weekend when he showed up to the beach stag. The face of fortune shined upon Pungilug as he found a more than worthy counterpart in Berline, and they won the latest round of hand-to-hand in the sand.

Originally the plan was to have the top team from all of the qualifiers march behind the CNMI flag this summer, but NMIVA president Jon Cramer announced that there is a much more interesting route to representation.

“We will be taking the top four teams after the next qualifier and having a double elimination style playoff. You’ll notice that this puts people like Jess and Marino in a position where they have to decide who they will try to make it with as they have played with multiple partners and done well,” he said.

After Saturday’s competition, Pungilug said that he was planning to wait and see if Palacios would show up to the sand during the next qualifier before taking on another partner, which leaves plenty of room for challengers in the men’s tournament.

“Since Taula [Peter] and Nan [Intharaluk] aren’t playing beach since they are involved with the indoor team, it is wide open for the fourth team for the playoffs,” said Cramer.

The NMIVA president also noted that several teams who competed in the previous qualifiers aren’t eligible because of the seven-year residency requirement.

“This means that a team with two eligible players that does well in the final qualifier can make it to the final four, which puts a lot of weight on that qualifier and makes this all so exciting—don’t you think?”

Johnson is currently tied with Berline as the top individuals in the standings with 33 points apiece, while Pungilug is in third with 30. Rengaelur is one point behind with 29, followed by Palacios (28), Westphal (24), Castro (24), and Peter (22) to round out the Top 10.

NMIVA already adopted the same format for the women’s tournaments, and will pick from the top four teams following the completion of their next two qualifiers at the Pacific Islands Club on Jan. 21 and Feb. 4.

As a reminder to the women, registration for this weekend’s tournament starts at 9am followed by the first games at 9:45am.