Volleyball titles at stake

A Saipan International School player returns to Tanapag Middle School during their regular season game in the 2019-2020 Public School System Interscholastic Girls Volleyball League at the Marianas High School Gymnasium. (Kimberly A. Bautista)

Elementary and middle school crowns will be at stake this weekend, as the 2019-2020 Public School System Interscholastic Volleyball League holds its playoff round at the Oleai Sports Complex and Marianas High School Gymnasium.

The girls middle school division will start the battle for all the marbles today at 3pm at the Oleai field with the No. 3 to 14 seeded teams playing in the opening round of the double-elimination competition and the Top 2 finishers in the elimination automatically advancing to the second round of the winners bracket.

Grace Christian Academy is the No. 1 seed team in the playoffs as it was undefeated in the elimination. The Lady Eagles downed Dandan Middle School 1, 21-17, 21-11, in their final game in the regular season last Wednesday for a perfect 6-0 record.

Hopwood Middle School 3 will join GCA in the second round, as the Hilitais finished second in the elimination after earning a 5-1 mark and beating Dandan 1 and Hopwood 1 in the tiebreak for the No. 2 spot. Dandan 1 slid to No. 3, while Hopwood 1 fell to No. 4.

Dandan 1 will take on No. 14 Chacha Oceanview Middle School 1 (0-6) in the 3:45pm game in the first round today, while Hopwood 1 will face Tanapag Middle School (1-5) at the same time. Tanapag also played in the last game in the regular season and was beaten by Mt. Carmel School 2, 13-21, 21-4, 15-9.

Mt. Carmel 2 (3-3) is seeded No. 6 and will square off against No. 11 Chacha 2 (1-5) in the 4:30pm today. Chacha 2 broke into the win column in the elimination after slipping past Hopwood 2 last Wednesday, 21-23, 21-19, 15-13.

In other first round playoff pairings, No. 8 Hopwood 2 (3-3) will duel No. 9 Francisco M. Sablan Middle School (3-3) at 3pm; No.5 Mt. Carmel 1 (4-2) will challenge No. 12 Dandan 2 (1-5) also at 3pm; and No. 7 Agape (3-3) will meet No. 10 Saipan International School (2-4) at 4:30pm.

Playoff games in the girls middle school will continue tomorrow with the first set of matches to begin at 9am.

In the co-ed elementary division (fourth to fifth grades), Garapan Elementary School topped the preliminaries and will be seeded first in the single-elimination tournament tomorrow.

The Mallards are unbeaten in regular season with their 9-0 record to finish on top of the nine-team field. Koblerville Elementary School, with its 6-1 mark, is ranked second and followed by GCA 1 (6-3), William S. Reyes Elementary School (6-1), GCA 2 (4-5), Oleai Elementary School (4-5), Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School, (3-6), Kagman Elementary School (3-6), and Saipan Community School (1-6).

The single-elimination playoff round will start at 9am with Kagman battling Saipan Community, Koblerville meeting GTC, and GCA 1 taking on Oleai. In the 10am match, Garapan will play against the winner in the Kagman-Saipan Community tiff, while GCA 2 and WSR will collide in the other 10am game.

Each match will be a best-of-three format and raise to 21 in the first two sets and 15 in the deciding third.