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It was a day of movement and of honoring those who served as the 3rd Annual NMC Volleyball Club Veterans Day Beach Volleyball Tournament took to the sands of Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.
After a full day of action under the hot sun, Mokyang Kim’s team made up of himself, Jermaine Salas, Erica Zandueta, and Ella Hall took the title over second place team of Seth Hong, K.C. Nuyles, and Charlotte Amano. In championship play, the game point is 28, with Kim’s team winning 28-23.
Kim, president of the Northern Marianas College Volleyball Club, led by example with unhittable serves and acrobatic saves to secure their title, with national beach volleyball player Salas and girls high school volleyball champions Zandueta and Hall adding to their prowess in the sand.
After the whole day of play, Salas and Zandueta were named the MVPs and were awarded with beach volleyballs courtesy of FISU.
In pool play, the game point was 21, with the quarterfinals and semifinals game point at 25.
As a participant of the tournament when he was in high school, Kim said he loved how the community came out to participate and also celebrate Veterans Day, so when he became president of the club, he kept the tournament going.
The tournament, Kim said, had a good turnout with 10 co-ed teams and 44 players. The format was 10 teams were divided into two pools with five teams in each, with pool play in the morning and playoffs in the afternoon.
When asked how the beach volleyball level on the island is, he said, “honestly, the beach volleyball level right now, is developing. We are not really advanced in beach volleyball but since hosting this tournament, giving them exposure to beach volleyball, I think the level will slowly rise, and maybe one day we can compete more higher beach volleyball levels.”
The tournament was open to 13 year olds and up. “We just wanted to let the younger players also experience beach volleyball instead of just 16 or 18 year olds.”
Their sponsors were FISU, or International University Sports Federation for the volleyball prizes, NMC, Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan for the use of the beach, and the NMI Volleyball Association for the balls and volleyball nets.
By Leigh Gases
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