Agape 1, GCA 1 share lead

An Agape Christian School 1 player releases the ball to serve against Saipan International School during the opening day in the CCOPSA middle school volleyball league last Tuesday. Agape 1 won and also defeated SDA last Wednesday to share the early lead with Grace Christian Academy 1. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Agape Christian School 1 and Grace Christian Academy 1 took the early lead in the middle school division of the 2018-2019 Commonwealth Coalition of Private Schools Association Volleyball League after prevailing in their respective matches.

Agape 1 notched its second victory in as many games last Wednesday after defeating Seventh Day Adventist School at the latter’s court in Chalan Kiya. Agape 1, which won its season debut last Tuesday against Saipan International School, 25-14, 23-25, 15-9, this time bagged the outright victory when it topped SDA in the first two sets, 25-20, 25-5. In the third set, SDA, which fell to a 1-1 record, avoided a shutout loss after recording a 15-5 win.

In its second triumph, Agape 1 again banked on David Zheng’s impressive service game. He scored 14 points off his serves and added two more from spikes. Zheng teamed up with Bobby Bao in delivering the goods for the Torchbearers, as the latter recorded five aces. Jenny Lin, Meihui Ou, and Elvira Zhang also contributed aces in Agape 1’s triumph over SDA, which failed to make a follow-up of their season-opening win over Agape 2.

Agape 1 held the solo lead in the eight-team field for just a day, as GCA 1 joined the Torchbearers on top yesterday following a victory over GCA 2. GCA 1, which is made up of the core of the team that defeated Mt. Carmel School in the finals last season, gained win No. 2 early after sweeping GCA 2, 25-17, 25-9. GCA 1 and 2 played the third set of yesterday’s game at the Eagles court in Navy Hill, but scores were not officially recorded.

In other results yesterday, SIS beat Saipan Community to bounce back from its loss to Agape 1 during the league’s opening day.

One more match was scheduled yesterday, but results of Mt. Carmel School’s duel against Agape 2 at the Knights court in Chalan Kanoa were unavailable at press time. MCS was gunning for a win over Agape 2 to recover from its loss to GCA 2 last Tuesday. Agape 1 also aimed to break into the win column after bowing to SDA.

Meanwhile, Agape 1 and GCA 1 will try to keep their unbeaten records when they take on separate opponents on Tuesday, Sept. 4. The Torchbearers will square off against the winless SCS at Agape’s court in Middle Road, which will also host the GCA 1 versus Agape 2 tiff at 4:30pm. Over at the SDA turf, the host squad will go for win No. 2 when it collides with MCS.

The Knights will have back-to-back games, as they return to their court on Wednesday, Sept. 5, to face Agape 1. Also slated for Wednesday is the game between host SIS and GCA 2. To complete the Week 2 schedule, GCA 1 will host SDA on Sept. 6, and SIS and GCA 2 will do the same in their matches against Agape 2 and SCS, respectively.