ACS halts GCA’s undefeated run in girls v-ball

In a whirlwind night of great upsets, Agape Christian School Torchbearers labored mightily to land a comeback win after a spectacular, three-set showdown against the erstwhile undefeated Grace Christian Academy Lady Eagles in the continuation of the NMIVA-PSS Interscholastic Girls High School Volleyball League 2023-2024.

The Marianas High School Gymnasium was shaken to its core Tuesday night when the Torchbearers handed the six-time defending champion Lady Eagles their first loss in the regular season that predates the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many teams came close to toppling the perch the Lady Eagles firmly stood on, but it was ACS’ rotation of Jessica Chen, Lucy Hong, Elim Huang, Emma Pang, Barbara Wang, Sunny Wang, Esther Zhao, and Mary Zhu that dealt the knockout blow.

After a disastrous first set, 7-21, morale was understandably low for the En Yang Pang-coached ACS team. Although they had practiced a strategy to try and stop GCA star player Azriel Fatailofa, it came down to ACS’ execution. ACS focused on trying to soften her attacks so they could return her spikes—because they knew that if they could neutralize her, GCA’s main threat was gone.

About their first set, Pang said “We couldn’t stop any of her spikes, and our serves and receives were horrible. However, I told the girls after the first set that the first set was their loss, not GCA’s win because they were the ones making the errors to give GCA the points. I told them to focus and clean up their play and also to make better decisions. The result of that is clear from the play in the second and third sets.”

However, “the next two sets can only be described as nothing short of a miracle,” said Pang. ACS positioned themselves perfectly against a barrage of kills and spikes from Fatialofa—and it paid off. After they had neutralized GCA’s mainstay, the rest fell into place for ACS.

Although the Lady Eagles tried to fend off ACS’ run for a tie-breaking third set, ACS slipped two crucial points in to take the second set, 21-19.

As ACS finally took the game in the longest tie-breaking third set of the season, 18-16, Pang said “It is a really great feeling. GCA is the most decorated team in high school girls’ volleyball, and taking even a set, much less the entire game, off of them is extremely difficult.”

He added that the girls and their supporters largely had already given up much hope after the first set, but “The girls especially began to pray to God saying that they cannot beat GCA on their own and that they needed His help… I definitely feel relief that we have a chance this year. It is anybody’s championship to win, and that alone makes it worthwhile to play well.”

He said of the game, it “really taught the girls that they are capable of mounting comeback wins and that as long the game is not yet over, they still have a chance.”

Pang gave a nod to GCA head coach Cesar Libut and said although their core group of super volleyball players had graduated, “I dared not underestimate GCA because coach Cesar is a great coach, and I knew he would have the ability to train his newer girls to be great players as well. I told my girls that no matter the result, we will have to fight for every point. But I told them that if we are to lose, we must make GCA work for every point as well. I also told them that their desire to win will play a huge factor in the results of the game.”

In other games, Mount Carmel School fought a tough three-set game and pulled the second upset of the night against Saipan International School, 25-23, 14-21, 15-11.

SIS II fell to ACS II, 21-9, 4-21, 15-11; Saipan Southern High School won their first game of the season against Kagman High School, 16-21, 21-10, 15-8; and KHS II won over MHS III, 21-7, 16-21, 16-14.

The only two-set game was between MCS II and SSHS II, with the former taking the win, 21-17, 21-19.