{"id":353988,"date":"2021-10-19T06:06:02","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T20:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=353988"},"modified":"2021-10-19T06:06:02","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T20:06:02","slug":"lady-eagles-1-complete-five-peat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/lady-eagles-1-complete-five-peat\/","title":{"rendered":"Lady Eagles 1 complete five-peat"},"content":{"rendered":"
Grace Christian Academy 1 players and coach Cesar Libut celebrate an unprecedented fifth straight championship in the 2022 NMIVA-PSS Interscholastic Girls High School Volleyball League after defeating Marianas High School 1 in the title game last Friday at the MHS Gymnasium. (Mark Rabago)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Grace Christian Academy 1 completed an unprecedented fifth straight championship in the 2022 NMIVA-PSS Interscholastic Girls High School Volleyball League by beating Marianas High School 1 in the title game last Friday at the MHS Gymnasium.<\/p>\n

The lasses of coach Cesar Libut faced their biggest challenge the past five years in the championship game, as MHS 1 led early and was 3 points from upsetting GCA 1 in the first set.<\/p>\n

But GCA 1 rallied and managed to take the upper hand 19-18 on an error from MHS 1 power-hitter Fatima Monterubio. Monterubio would atone for her missed set later when she knotted the count at 20-all after tattooing the volleyball on GCA 1\u2019s court. Both teams would be tied twice more before the Lady Eagles 1 took the first set, 24-22.<\/p>\n

The second set started like the first, as MHS 1 had the early lead only to be upended by Katriel Suares\u2019 service game. Behind their setter\u2019s superb service, GCA 1 rattled off five straight points and led 10-7. Monterubio momentarily stopped the bleeding for coach Don Marshall Cabrera\u2019s girls with one of her sharp spikes.<\/p>\n

Another set and spike from Saures and Hye Jin Elliott then made it 11-8 and GCA 1 went to town after that, scoring 10 of the game\u2019s final 12 points to win the set, 21-10, and complete yet another undefeated season to take home the high school volleyball championship trophy to Navy Hill.<\/p>\n

In all, the Lady Eagles 1 didn\u2019t drop a set in the first round, but the Lady Dolphins 1 gave them all they could handle not only in the finals but also in the semifinals. Led by Monterubio and other power-hitters, MHS 1 managed to extend GCA 1 to a surprising third set in the semifinals before falling. It marked the only time GCA 1 dropped a set the entire season.<\/p>\n

MHS 1 bounced back after the semis loss, arranging its championship showdown against GCA 1 after discarding Saipan International School 1 in a one set, race to 15. <\/p>\n

GCA 1 started its playoff campaign by beating Saipan Southern High School 2 before defeating Tinian High School 1. It then triumphed against Mt. Carmel School 1 in the quarterfinals to move to the semifinals opposite MHS 1.<\/p>\n

Libut later admitted that this year\u2019s championship is probably the best GCA 1 has ever won in his years coaching there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is the best championship I\u2019ve ever won. For one, MHS 1 is really good. There\u2019s competition [this year]. A lot of our past championships were one-sided. We didn\u2019t have this [kind of competition]. But against MHS 1 and in their house and all the cheering thing\u2026 it\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The GCA 1 coach said prior to the start of the season, he had some trepidations about leading the Lady Eagles 1 to the Promised Land.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s so tiring and the pressure of winning and winning. I asked Kat [Saures] if she\u2019s tired of trying to prove we\u2019re still No. 1. Kat said \u2018I\u2019m not tired of winning Mr. C.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about his thoughts on narrowly winning the first set, Libut said he just reminded his players that they\u2019re the league\u2019s best team for a reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told them they have to know who they are because they\u2019re the best team. I think the only reason they (MHS 1) scored was we put pressure on ourselves and that\u2019s why we made those mistakes. The No. 1 thing I told them is \u2018you have to know who you are and what you were able to accomplish and hold on to that. Just relax and you will win the game.\u2019 And that\u2019s what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also commended MHS 1 and coach Cabrera for a well-played finals game.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir spikers are probably the best. But we were able to counter that. It was really tough and I was surprised with the girls. Karina (Dilse) practiced how to spike but not to receive. She stepped up and said \u2018I\u2019m gonna take this ball!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Libut also heaped praises on GCA for supporting the school\u2019s volleyball program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank the whole GCA. When it comes to practices, boys [volleyball players] were staying after school just to practice with us. They also allowed us to practice there Saturday and even holidays. The administration really worked with us or else we wouldn\u2019t be able to practice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Aside from Elliott, Dilse, and Suares, who has been part of the Lady Eagles\u2019 varsity squad since sixth grade, the rest of the GCA 1 roster includes Clerrise Dacumos, Soleil Lamar, Vicky Wang, Mint Karsuaythong, Eunice Pagaduan, and Allyssa Omampo. Of the nine, Dilse and Dacumos are graduating this school year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grace Christian Academy 1 completed an unprecedented fifth straight championship in the 2022 NMIVA-PSS Interscholastic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":354010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[21248],"class_list":["post-353988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-lady-eagles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353988","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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}