CNMI lasses win 2012 Marianas Junior Cup

  Charnessa Lizama and Toni Yamada topped six other women’s teams to win the Northern Mariana Islands Volleyball Association’s 2012 Marianas Junior Cup beach volleyball tournament held on Gun Beach in Tumon By, Guam this past weekend.

In addition, Saipan’s John Nekaifes and Jordan Mariano placed third in the 12-team men’s division. Mariano is originally from Saipan, but now resides in Guam.

Going back to Lizama and Yamada, the 1-2-punch has been making a number of headlines on the local scene as of late, but now has an off-island win under their belts.

The Saipan duo swept Saturday’s pool play and earned a first round bye in Sunday’s elimination matches. The other six teams were comprised of Guam players.

Lizama and Yamada bumped off Alex McCaroll and Kristina Folta in the second round, 21-13, and then advanced past Kendra Bryd and Gemma Datuin, 21-15, to earn a twice-to-beat advantage in the finals.

McCaroll and Folta battled back through three lower bracket matches for a second chance against their northern rivals, but were no match and eventually fell, 21-16.

In addition, Saipan’s Celine Camacho and Josie Santos took fourth place, while Abigail Hudkins and Kristle Obbae brought up the rear.

The men’s field split into two pools of six teams on Saturday to determine the bracket rankings for Sunday’s elimination matches; the Top 4 finishers received first round byes.

Zak and Zed Zacarias came into Sunday as the top seed and was gifted a second round forfeit victory.

Notably, Team Zacarias lost its first actual match on Sunday to Nekaifes and Mariano, 23-21. However, the latter eventually fell to second-ranked Steven Rect and Luis Mesngon, 21-19, in the semifinals.

Team Zacarias climbed up the lower bracket ladder over Saipan’s A.J. Aguilar and Jason Limes, 21-11, and then knocked out fourth placers Peter Aguon and Mark Duenas of Guam, 21-15, to get their first crack at frontrunners Sect and Mesngon.

Although they started slow, Team Zacarias heated up when it counted most and pulled out the upset, 21-12 and 21-15.

Aguilar and Limes tied Misaki Cramer and Nicolas Shepherd of Guam for fifth place, while Saipan’s Clay McCulough-Stearns and Andy Nuttiing came into Sunday ranked third, but dropped two out of three matches with the pressure on for a sixth place finish alongside Guam’s Kevin Movida and Dan Natividad.

All participants received NMIVA T-shirts.

Notably, there was also a professional exhibition match on Saturday featuring American pro Ty Loomis and Guam’s Josh Cruz squaring off against Japan’s Kentaro Ashai and Katsurhiro Shiratori, in which Japan triumphed, 21-17; the crew then put on a clinic for interested spectators afterwards with some top Guam players.

The tourney was sponsored by First Hawaiian Bank, Pacific Islands Club, Matson, Mobil, The Beach, M80 Systems, GHD, DNA Evolution, Pepsi, Hanom and Gatorade.

Organizers debuted this event to kick off the Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Festival. Other events include Friday’s professional exhibition duel to showcase the skills of experts from the U.S., Japan, and New Zealand before they get raffled off and be partnered off with some lucky local amateurs.

Then comes the highly anticipated 20th Annual Marianas Cup Pro-Am main event where Saipan and Guam players step up to the challenge against a mixed bag of tough off-island competition; and finally the festival concludes with the 5th Annual Marianas Kids Cup on March 3.