Winkfield hailed Queen of the Court

Kathleen Winkfield won 6 out of 7 games en route to winning the women’s division of the King and Queen of the Court tryouts held last Saturday at the sand courts of the Crowne Plaza Resort. (MARK RABAGO)

Kathleen Winkfield came a win short of a perfect score, but nonetheless topped the women’s division of the King and Queen of the Court tryouts held by the Northern Mariana Islands Volleyball Association last Saturday at the sand courts of the Crowne Plaza Resort.

The math instructor at Northern Marianas College came 9 points shy of scoring a perfect 147 points after winning six of her seven matches.

Winkfield first paired with Alyssa Mahin and they defeated Toni Yamada and Chamessa Lizama, 21-14. She followed that up with a 21-5 victory while playing with Yamada opposite Naomi Billimon and Julia Espino.

Win No. 3 came while playing with Espino against Mahin and Stephanie Borja, 21-7. Suiting up with Borja the next game, Winkfield defeated Yamada and Savannah Delos Santos, 21-8.

She then partnered with Delos Santos and the duo triumphed over Lizama and Espino, 21-14. Winkfield followed that up with a 21-9 victory playing with Lizama over Billimon and Borja. Her lone defeat came against Mahin and Delos Santos while playing with Billimon, 12-21.

Finishing second to Winkfield’s 138 points in the Queen of the Court was Lizama with 133 points followed by Delos Santos with 127 points. Mahin came next with 126 points followed by Yamada (115), Espino (108), Borja (102), and Billimon (91).

The King and Queen of the Court tryouts was the second tryout held by NMIVA to select members of the CNMI National Beach Volleyball Team for next year’s Pacific Mini Games the islands will be hosting for the first time.

NMIVA president Somia Quan was very happy with turnout and the successful staging of the second tryouts.

“We had a total of 21 participants—eight women and 13 men—who competed in about five hours of beach volleyball competition. Last Saturday was our second tryout tournament, which was postponed from Nov. 6 due to the COVID-19 outbreak in our community. We are fortunate that our sport is outdoors, but we still take extra precaution by practicing the 3Ws, sanitizing the volleyballs between games, and enforcing a mask-on rule when not playing,” she said.

As the countdown to the 2022 Mini Games continues, NMIVA just hopes future tryouts won’t be postponed by another flareup of local COVID-19 cases.

“We only have so much time left so as a federation we are trying to continue to make progress in selecting our national team as safely as reasonable. We are excited with the numbers we have and we hope to continue this momentum as we get closer to the Pacific Mini Games,” she said.

Organizing the tryouts also prepares NMIVA to hosting the beach volleyball competition of the Mini Games where 64 athletes have so far confirmed participation.

Results of the men’s division of the King and Queen of the Court will be published in tomorrow’s issue of the Saipan Tribune.