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MCS 2 eliminates Whispering Palms
Mt. Carmel School 2’s Devin Muna makes a return to Whispering Palms School during the second set of their middle school division playoff game in the COPSSA volleyball league yesterday at the WPS court. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Mt. Carmel School 2 pulled off an upset over Whispering Palms at the start of the playoff round in the middle school division of the 2016-2017 Coalition of Private Schools Sports Association Volleyball League.
The Knights swept Whispering Palms, 25-14, 25-14, at the latter’s court in Navy Hill yesterday to advance to the quarterfinals. MCS 2 was ranked last after the double-round robin regular season with its dismal 1-17 record, making the team the underdog in its playoff showdown against Whispering Palms. The host, on the other hand, finished the elimination round with an 8-9 mark to place No. 6 in the team standings.
“We won only once in the regular season against Agape. Today (yesterday), we managed to get another victory and it’s the playoff round so this matters a lot,” said coach John Hernandez yesterday after their two-set triumph over the favored Whispering Palms.
Next up for the Knights are Grace Christian Academy 2, which drew a bye in the first round and automatically moved into the quarterfinals after placing third in the regular season.
Also earning outright Round of 8 berths were top finisher Grace Christian Academy, second-ranked and defending champion Saipan International School 1, No. 4 Saipan Community School, and No. 5 Mt. Carmel School 1.
Agape Christian School, Marianas Baptist Academy, Seventh Day Adventist, and SIS 2, on the other hand, were the other teams scheduled to play in the first round of the playoffs. Agape went on to receive a free ticket to the quarterfinals after winning via forfeiture against MBA yesterday, while results of the SDA-SIS 2 match were unavailable at press time.
With its victory, Agape set up a quarterfinal duel against GCA 1 today at the Eagles court in Navy Hill. Also slated today are two more playoff matches with SCS hosting MCS 1 and SIS 1 meeting the winner between the SDA-SIS 2 tiff at the Geckos turf in As Lito. All matches will start at 3:30pm.
The playoff round will continue next week with the two semis games set for Monday and the winner-take-all finale on Tuesday. Venues of the semis and championship matches will be announced later.
