After a long discussion with the board of Belau Island Inter-Scholastic Athlete Association (BIIAA) to host a beach volleyball competition in the high school level, all five (5) high schools in Palau, namely, Palau High School, Mindszenty High School, Palau Mission Academy,Emmaus-Bethania High School, and Modekngei High School agreed to participate in the competition.
Each school registered 3 teams. The teams were divided into 3 pools where they played round robin with the top two (2) advancing to quarter finals. The team that ranked third in their pool played King of the Court with the top two advancing to quarterfinals.
With a total of six (6) days competition, the top four (4) teams advanced to semifinals and battled it out to make it to the gold and bronze medal match. The two teams from EBHS competed in the bronze medal match, Tristian Ngiraikelau and Omtab Lorenzo and came short to LaCroix Tmetuchl and Horry Madlutk. The top two teams that competed for the Gold was between Minor Gibson & Telmetang Henry of MHS and Karby Esquivel & Soji Blelas of PHS. MHS claimed Gold medal after winning the 3rd set with a score of 15 to 8.
Congratulations to all teams that participated in the 2022 BIIAA Boys’ Beach Volleyball Championship:
Mindszenty High School: Minor Gibson & Telmetang Henry, Luis Ngirkelau & Yashiro Smau, and Imrur Remengsau & Ngarmaad Kanai
Palau High School: Karby Esquivel & Soji Blelas, Travis Clap & Haim Hasinto and Katotau Ulengchong & Andrew Peralta
Emmaus-Bethania High School: LaCroix Tmetuchl & Horry Madlutk, Tristian Ngiraikelau & Omtab Lorenzo and Mers Malsol & Chance Olegeriil
Palau Mission Academy: Lomisang Perez & Khol Sugiyama Laguana, David Cristobal & Ziegler Shiro Silas and Dionas Baldeo & Daniel Baldeo.
Belau Modekngei School: Mayse Iyechad & Thomas Marino, Alister August & Austhen Pedro, and Ethan Riosang & Geno Larsen.
The Chelechad ra Barebor dba Volleyball Federation of Palau would like to acknowledge BIIAA for promoting the sport of Volleyball especially Beach Volleyball in the school campuses. The Federation would also like to thank Palau National Olympic Committee (PNOC) and PacificAus Sports through the Australian Embassy with supporting sporting excellence in the Pacific especially in Palau for creating new opportunities for young athletes to train, play and grow together. Through collaborative and ambitious partnerships with PacificAus Sports, Schools and Volleyball Federation, the program will drive successfully in Palau, unlocking the potential of new generation of sporting champions.