MBA stuns Mt. Carmel in finals

A Marianas Baptist Academy player uses his fingers to tap the ball, while a Mt. Carmel School player attempts to block it during the first set of their title game in the boys division of the 2016-2017 Coalition of Private Schools Sports Association Volleyball League last Thursday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Marianas Baptist Academy played the spoiler’s role in the boys high school division finals of the 2016-2017 Coalition of Private Schools Sports Association Volleyball League after outlasting Mt. Carmel School last Thursday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

The MBA Tigers lost the opening set of the title duel, 23-25, but recovered in the last two sets, 25-22, 15-12, to steal the victory from the heavily favored Knights. MBA’s victory foiled Mt. Carmel’s double celebration after the latter’s girls team earlier defeated Saipan International School in their finals rematch.

The Brendon Perez-coached MBA denied the Knights’ bid for a sweep in the high school volleyball league despite having a 0-2 record against Mt. Carmel in the regular season.

“We lost both of our games against Mt. Carmel before the finals and we only finished third in the regular season with our 5-3 record,” said Perez, whose Tigers dethroned Saipan International School last Wednesday following a 25-22, 25-18 win in their semis game to set up a finals showdown against the top-ranked Knights.

Mt. Carmel, with majority of the crowd cheering for the team, moved a set away from getting the championship it missed in the 2015-2016 season after drawing first blood in the finals. However, MBA battled back in the second set and pulled off a similar close win before completing the come-from-behind triumph with a 3-point victory in the deciding third set.

“After we lost the first set, I told our players that the game is not yet over. We can still come back as long as we give our best and play to our full potential. We did not expect the finals will be played that close,” said Perez, adding that his players got their acts together to upset the Knights.

“Teamwork was the biggest factor that helped the team win in the finals,” the MBA coach said.

The champion squad is made up of Stephen Joon Eo, Minsu Park, Paul Heo, Fritz Trinidad, Junsik Kim, Kevin Song, Gun Lee, Alex Hwang, Samuel Jin Park, Stephen Bartolo, Minseong Shin, Haesu Yeo, Hyun Jun Roh, Sungjun An, and Ensik Choi.

Eo was later named to the Boys All-League for his notable performance this season and was joined on the select group by Agape Christian School’s Tychicus Xu, Grace Christian Academy’s Matthew Mamaril, SIS’ Colin Ramsey, and MCS’ Seok Jun Yun.

The Girls All-League, on the other hand, had Agape’s Claire Song, MBA’s Katrina Reyes, SIS 2’s Anna Qian, MCS 2’s Rosalia Pangelinan, GCA’s Cyril Salcedo, SIS 1’s Julia Ishikawa, and MCS 1’s Karleen Reyes as members.