{"id":28088,"date":"2014-02-20T13:33:32","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T05:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tribune.ctsi-logistics.com\/?p=28088"},"modified":"2014-02-20T13:33:32","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T05:33:32","slug":"pros-set-marianas-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/pros-set-marianas-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Pros all set for Marianas Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"From<\/a>
From left, Jeff Carlucci, Jacklyne Jones, Kaui Salzman, and Evan Silberstein pose for a photo before conducting a clinic yesterday at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan sandcourt. (ROSELYN B. MONROYO)200<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eight visiting beach volleyball pros are in town, as the Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Festival returns to Saipan this weekend at the Fiesta Resort & Spa sand courts.<\/p>\n

The group of pros is composed of returnees Jacklyne Jones and Jeff Carlucci of the U.S. and Japan\u2019s Megumi Murakami, Shinako Tanaka, and Yasuo Nakaya, and newcomers Kaui Salzman, Evan Silberstein, and Hotoshi Murakami.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice play again in the Marianas Cup and have fun with amateur players,\u201d said Jones, who joined last year\u2019s tournament in Guam and finished in the Top 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, I don\u2019t know how I am going to finish in the tournament, as it will depend on who my partner will be. But, whoever I am paired with, I will make sure we will have a lot of fun and help her get better. I just hope a lot of girls will show up and compete this weekend,\u201d Jones added.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 pro partner, Salzman, shared the former\u2019s sentiments on enjoying every game with an amateur teammate and teaching her a thing or two.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as my teammate is open to communication and willing to learn, we will do good,\u201d Salzman said.
\nAs for their exhibition game against Tanaka and Murakami tomorrow, Salzman and Jones said they are taking the game seriously and do not want to disappoint the locals fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (Japanese) have a reputation for winning, but we want to win, too, that\u2019s why we are here and trying to get the feel of the court,\u201d said Salzman, who believed her seven-year partnership with Jones will be a big factor in their exhibition game against the Japanese pair.<\/p>\n

Silberstein is also concerned with his and Carlussi\u2019s exhibition match with Nakaya and Murakami since Friday\u2019s game will be the former\u2019s first time to show his wares on Saipan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first order of business is to get the job done in the exhibition game. We have to be prepared as a team first before worrying about the pro-am competition,\u201d said Silberstein, who loves to set and would be a perfect fit for a player who can hit the ball down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a little smaller and will need a partner with good offense. I have good ball control, so it will be great to have someone who can side out and put the ball down,\u201d the 5\u20198\u201d pro said. \u201cI wish I could still play with Jeff, but I can\u2019t because we will be raffled off and be paired with the amateurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlucci said Saipan has a deep pool of quality players and it will be hard to choose a partner, if given a chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a tough choice, as I know a lot of good players here. There are a lot of people I would love to play with. Though I will not be able to choose from the pool, it gives me a bit of advantage knowing these players and their strengths and weakness, which I and my eventual partner could exploit come game time,\u201d said Carlucci, who debuted in the Marianas Cup with Chris Nelson four or five years ago before playing with Misaki Cramer in 2012.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Carlucci and the seven other pros conducted a two-hour clinic at Fiesta yesterday with over 100 joining the afternoon session, according to Northern Mariana Islands Volleyball Association\u2019s Amie McRoberts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eight visiting beach volleyball pros are in town, as the Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Festival…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":28090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[143,51,742,121],"class_list":["post-28088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-ball","tag-guam","tag-marianas-cup","tag-northern-mariana-islands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}