Mighty Deez, 4 Starz lead SVSA v-ball tourney

Mighty Deez player Denri Fiden spikes the ball over the net during their game in the Saipan Volleyball Statistics Association Volleyball Tournament last March 11 at the Agape Gymnasium.(LEIGH GASES)

Team Mighty Deez and 4 Starz currently lead the Saipan Volleyball Statistics Association Spring Volleyball Tournament.
The tournament, held at the Agape Gymnasium, began last March 4 and is played every Saturday of March, with the championship rounds this Saturday, March 25 from 10am to 6pm.

As of March 18, Mighty Deez of Pool A has had an almost immaculate run with seven wins and one loss, while 4 Starz of Pool B have five wins and two losses.

Mighty Deez, consisting of Jerome Manzon, William Arriola, Lowell Lumauag, John Justo, Raiki Tababa, Dylan Mister, and Mokyang Kim, swept their competition last Saturday, beating Chura 25-20 and outpacing 10 Bugs in a close 25-21 game. 

4 Starz were the stars against Lil’ Bug, winning 25-18. 4 Starz include Nak Nakashima, Yohei Iwashita, Denri Fiden, Kaystone Norech, Gino Asauo, Nahson Padahk, and Marc Danga.

Behind Mighty Deez in Pool A is Team Wettz also with a 7-1 record, Chura and Amigos are third and fourth respectively with a 3-5 card, and The 10 Bugs are at the bottom with two wins and six losses.

In Pool B after 4 Starz is Agape + with four wins and three losses; third is team Lil’ Big from the island of Tinian with a  2-2 record; team Awesome with a 4-3 card; and Aceholes with a 1-6 record.

According to SVSA board president Jerome Manzon, Lil’ Big of Tinian is given a special accommodation of being the third seed in their pool no matter their win/loss record. They are an out-of-island team so the SVSA board accommodated them as the Tinian Volleyball Association also accommodates them when a Saipan team plays in Tinian.

The SVSA is a new volleyball organization that aims to have frequent volleyball tournaments throughout the year.

SVSA board president Jerome Manzon, a 16-year-old sophomore and volleyball player at Marianas High School, said that it was a crazy idea to start the organization. “I’ve noticed that there was only one main organizer here, which was Agape but it’s usually only during Christmas. I wanted more volleyball players to be able to play throughout the year, so I said someone needs to step up.”

As to why they named their organization SVSA, he said that “this is a service organization. We wanted to give service to Agape on making stats—basically keeping track of each player’s scores or whatever it is.”

He said that they will start a new league after this tournament. “We have many plans for this year but our main one is probably this summer or summer 2024 to have our very first NMI Volleyball Cup League.”