Action grips 9th Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Meet

Pacific Islands Club-Saipan hosted last week one of the best beach volleyball tournaments ever to hit the Marianas Islands.

Thirty-seven teams participated in the 9th Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Tournament, including fifteen women’s and 22 men’s teams. Of the seventy-four players, twenty came from Japan and two came over from Guam to join in the fun.

Previous tournaments have had more players from Japan and Guam, but the huge response from local community pushed the numbers to an all-time high. This included a record number of high school players, 13.

The action started Saturday morning with a pool play format. Teams were split into groups of five or six. Each team played all of the other teams in their pool to determine who would advance to Sunday’s double elimination brackets.

There were several great games in the pool play. The Japanese teams looked especially strong winning all of the women’s pool and all but one of the men’s pools. The team of Doug Mauro playing with Yoshihiro Atsumi from Japan won the only pool that they did not win.

Doug has won the Cup twice, while his partner is a three-time champion. Despite their undefeated day on Saturday they ended up as the third seed of sixteen teams for Sunday’s double elimination bracket.

The top seed was Katsihiro Shiratori and Tomohisa Yamamoto. Both players’ best finish in previous Marianas Cup tournaments was second, but they were looking strong to win this one from the beginning. The most points they gave up in any game on Saturday were three.

As for all Saipan teams, Russ Quinn and Tyce Mister played strong enough to earn a fifth seed going into Sunday’s action.

On the women’s side, Maki Kato and newcomer Miwako Suzuki dominated their pool giving up seven points in four games. Kato won last year’s tournament with a different partner. The change didn’t seem to affect her play as she defenses all weekend long.

Mistiza Colebank and Kari MacKay were the highest seeded Saipan team from the women’s bracket coming in at seven. Also making it out of the pool play were two high school teams.

The only high school player to make it through on the men’s side was Marino Piungiulug playing with Josh Carpenter.

The play was pushed to a higher level on Sunday as the players tried to reach the top for spots and the prizes. As teams dropped out of the volleyball portion of the tournament, they were able to join in the horseshoe tournament.

This side activity was organized to give fans and players a chance to do something also besides volleyball. The results were tremendous as sixteen teams signed up. The winners, Julie Omar and Sia Maui, defeated Mike Walsh and Bill Owens in the final 15-3.

Meanwhile, things heated up in the volleyball portion as Mister and Quinn clawed their way through the loser’s bracket to a fourth place finish in the men’s division. They lost to Takuya Horiuchi and Takeshi Mochizuki in a thriller 11-8 match.

By winning, the Japanese teams won a chance to play against Mauro. Atsumi for the chance to advance to the finals. Mauro/Atsumi had lost to Shiratori/Yamamoto in the winner’s bracket final, 15-4, to send them to the loser’s final.

Horiuchi/Mochizuki had also received their only loss on Sunday at the hands of Shiratori/Yamamoto, 15-7. These were the most points scored on Shiratori/Yamamoto. Atsumi/Mauro overcame some powerful serving and great some hammering spikes from Horiuchi/Mochizuki to win 11-7.

The next challenge was to beat Shiratori/Yamamoto two times to claim the title. This was not the case as the teams from Japan crushed Mauro/Atsumi 15-3 to earn their first Marianas Cup championship.

The women’s final pitted two Japanese teams against each other. Defending champion Kato with her first time beach volleyball playing partner Suzuki took on Hiromi Sekeguchi and Yasuko Mitsuhashi.

Sekeguchi/Mitsuhashi had played a grueling 11-9 game to get to the final after being beaten by Kato/Suzuki earlier in the day to send them to the loser’s bracket.

Their chance for revenged seemed true as they served at 14-11, but the dream came to a crushing halt as Kato/Suzuki mounted an awesome come back and pushed the game to a 14-14 tie. The lead then changed hands two more times before Kato/Suzuki pulled away for an 18-16 victory.

The top finishing Saipan teams were Sia Maui/Jovi Omar and the Colebank/MacKay team tying for fifth place.

First place in the men’s division received $1,000 cash, tickets to next year’s event, room stay at PIC for next year’s event, Saipandas, and other donations.

The women’s champions got $700 cash tickets to next year’s events, room stay at PIC for next year’s event, Saipandas, and other donations. Second through fourth places in both divisions also received prizes.

The event was made possible by donations from: Pacific Development Inc., Marianas Visitors Authority, Duty Free Shoppers, Shell Marianas, Pacific Islands Club, Verizon, Coffee Care, Pacific Subsea, Tandem Skydive, Hyatt Regency, Diamond Hotel, Pacific Gardenia, Marianas Cablevision, Len’s Bar, Thai House Restaurant, Saipan Photo Lab, JC Tenorio Ent., Pacific Trading (Miller Lite), Big Dipper, Chong’s Corp., Aquarius Beach Tower, B-Sea Sunsports, and Sunny Wholesale.