Netters advance in doubles play

KOROR, Palau—The CNMI tennis players competing in doubles kept their medal hopes alive yesterday while the swimming delegation bid farewell to the 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games early this morning.

Young gun Tim Quan and veteran Jeff Race had an up-and-down match against Papua New Guinea’s Mark Gibbons and Kris Cano before advancing with a three-set victory at the Airai tennis courts.

Quan and Race looked sharp in the opening set and quickly brought momentum to their corner, taking the first two games with ease. With fellow netters Kana Aikawa and Daniel Son, as well as chef de mission Mike White, swimmer David Palacios, and beach volleyball’s Melissa Halaby cheering them on, the CNMI one-two punch continued to pound away and managed to close the set easily, winning the next two games for a 4-0 win.

PNG played better to start the second set and split the first two games with Race and Quan. CNMI, however, managed to get back the advantage, 2-1, but Gibbons and Cano found their rhythm and won the next three games to take the set, 4-2.

PNG controlled the early goings of the decisive third set, going up 3-1 and reaching match point while still ahead, 3-2. Race and Quan, however, weren’t ready to surrender and broke PNG to knot the score. The team then followed up by mustering enough juice to take the next two games for a 5-3 clincher.

Earlier, Quan teamed up with Aikawa and defeated Khay Sung and Rosalie Cao of Guam in the mixed doubles competition. Quan and Aikawa were taken to the limit in both sets, but eventually pulled through and lived to play again with a 5-3, 5-4 (7-4) victory.

All doubles matches were shortened, with officials citing the need to do so due to rain delays.

Both doubles teams were scheduled to take the court again later in the day, however, results were not available as of press time.

Meanwhile, the CNMI swimmers concluded their stay in Palau by touring several sites, as well as visiting a park where they got to enjoy their final day by having fun feeding dolphins.

The team, comprised of coach Mike Stewart, Rezne Wong, Juan Camacho, Michael Camacho, Nina Mosley, Nicole Calvo, Amanda Johnson, Minerva Cabrera, and Myana Welch, was scheduled to return to Saipan early this morning. Swimmers David Palacios and Melissa Coleman remain on Palau, with Coleman scheduled to compete in triathlon tomorrow.

In other news, Nan Inthraluk and Don Dunlop of beach volleyball faltered against New Caledonia brothers Kevin and Jonathan Taoupoulou in straight sets yesterday. The two had several shiny moments, but were hampered by miscues on serves as well as carefully placed hard hits by the New Caledonia tandem, losing 11-21 in the opening set.

The two played better in the second set, and were neck and neck with their opponents courtesy of better court coverage and several mishaps by New Caledonia. Dunlop and Inthraluk, however, were not able to hold their ground and lost 16-21.

Dunlop and Inthraluk were scheduled to battle Palau later in the day; however, results were not available as of press time.

Also, the CNMI softball and baseball teams were scheduled to take the field in the evening as the sun finally shone on the country. What seemed like a sunny day to begin with turned wet early in the morning as heavy showers poured at about 8:30am. Mother Nature’s downpour finally ceased in the afternoon, enabling the field to dry up and officials to call games.

The men’s softball players were expected to battle New Caledonia, and the women softball members and baseball taking on Federated States of Micronesia.

Guam baseball defeated Palau, 4-1, to remain as the only undefeated team in the tournament. As of press time, Guam was battling Solomon Islands.

Outrigger’s paddlers also put up a strong effort in their Mini Games campaign, however, they faltered to powerhouse teams New Caledonia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa in the various team events on Neco Bay.

Also, the triathlon team welcomed member Anneka Sakovich, who arrived Sunday night. The triathlon course was being worked on yesterday, with officials tasking several groups with filling the many potholes featured on the bike course, which according to Dirk Sharer, “is very dangerous and would cause a problem if not taken cared of.”