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Girls HS volleyball season starts Sept. 17
A Grace Christian Academy player bends down to receive a serve from Saipan International School during their title game in the PSS Girls High School Volleyball League last season at the Marianas High School Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Ten teams will play in the regular season of the 2019-2020 PSS Girls High School Volleyball League, which will kick off on Sept. 17 at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.
Defending champion Grace Christian Academy leads the competitors list this season and the Lady Eagles will be challenged by Saipan International School 1 and 2, Mt. Carmel School 1 and 2, MHS 1 and 2, Saipan Southern High School, Agape Christian School, and Kagman High School.
The Lady Eagles clinched the girls high school championship last season after beating SIS in the finale, 25-21, 25-16. GCA was also the top finisher in the elimination round last year after posting an 8-1 record, while Mt. Carmel was seeded second with its 7-2 mark and Saipan Sourthern came in at No. 3 with its 7-3 slate. SIS made it all the way to the finale despite being seeded at No. 14, as the Lady Geckos logged a 6-4 record in the regular season in 2018.
GCA will start its title defense next week against Saipan Southern as they square off on the north court at 4:30pm. Five more matches are scheduled in the opening day of the league with MHS 1 and 2 colliding on the north court at 5:30pm and Agape and SIS 1 battling at 6:30pm. On the southern end of the court, SIS 1 will take on Kagman at 4:30pm, while Mt. Carmel 1 will duel MHS 2 at 5:30pm, and MHS 1 will face SIS 2 at 6:30pm.
Each match will be played in a best-of-three set format with a race to 25 per set and 30 cap in the first two and race to 15 in the deciding third with no cap.
The regular season will have a round-robin format with each Saipan team playing nine games to determine the seeding in the double-elimination playoffs. Rota and Tinian teams will join the Top 6 Saipan squads in the playoff round with the visiting groups getting the middle seeding.
