Winkfield has high hopes for NMI girls U19 team

Kathy Winkfield believes on the talent and full potential of the nine-member CNMI U19 girls volleyball team.

Coach Kathy Winkfield, second from left, gives some instructions to her players during a timeout in one of their games in the Guam Volleyball Federation-organized U19 Girls High School Volleyball Festival Tournament held over the weekend at St. John’s School in Tumon. (GVF Facebook Page)

The NMI All-Stars saw action in the Guam Volleyball Federation-organized U19 Girls High School Volleyball Festival Tournament, which was held over the weekend at St. John’s School in Tumon.

Winkfield said the girls performed pretty well against four tough Guam high school teams—John F. Kennedy, Notre Dame, Sanchez, and St. John’s—and one squad from Yap.

She added that even though the girls showed great fighting spirit they also need better preparation if ever they plan to go deeper in other off-island tournaments.

“Lessons learned, never give up. We know the girls have the potential with the close scores of the matches but need to prepare themselves physically as well as mentally to make it to the end,” said Winkfield.

She said that the four graduating members—led by team captain Knohlynn Gechig, Marcy Ann Ermitanio, Emily Jones, and Zarinae Sapong—now plan to form a team and train for next year’s Marianas Junior Cup in Guam.

Danica Camacho, Adele Hudkins, Julia Ishikawa, Sabrina Pangelinan, and Jennifer Tan are the other members of the team. Toni Yamada worked as Winkfield’s assistant coach.

Team CNMI finished third after round-robin play but dropped to fifth after losing in the first round of the playoffs on Sunday.

They opened their campaign with a 25-30 loss to Notre Dame but bounced back with a touch 30-27 triumph over St. John’s before dropping a 24-30 match against Team Yap in Friday’s action.

On Saturday, the CNMI U19 All-Stars pulled off a 30-27 win against JFK but dropped a 23-30 decision over Sanchez to finish with a 2-3 mark and fourth place heading into a quarterfinals.

Yap swept all of its five games followed by Notre Dame’s 4-1 slate, while Team CNMI ended up tied with St. John’s (2-3) but the former clinched third place after winning their round-robin match. JFK and Sanchez ended up with similar 1-4 cards.

Matches in the round robin play are only one set with no deuce. Teams are also given one time out the entire game.

It was a best-of-three race to 21 games in the playoffs—quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals—with deuce, and one time out per set.

They faced Sanchez in Sunday morning’s quarterfinals match and succumbed to a 21-15, 21-15 setback. Sanchez’s two wins were against the CNMI, the first one in the round robin.

St. John’s overcame an opening set loss in completing a 19-21, 21-16, 15-9 victory over JFK. The CNMI placed fifth overall after they defeated JFK in the first round.

Top seed Yap then faced Sanchez in the first semis match where they coasted to a 21-10, 21-15 win, while Notre Dame downed St. John’s, 21-15, 21-16 to arrange a finals showdown.

Yap ruled the tournament following a hard-earned 16-21, 21-16, 17-15 decision over Notre Dame while Sanchez finished third overall following a 21-18, 19-21, 15-10 victory over St. John’s.