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Local teams take all four divisions in Inaugural Pacific Cup Volleyball Challenge

The first Pacific Cup Volleyball Challenge hosted by the American Samoa Volleyball Association (ASVBA) took place at the Tafuna High School gymnasium, with teams from American Samoa, Samoa, Australia and Tonga as part of this year’s 2012 Flag Day Celebrations; and, concluded this past Wednesday evening, with teams from American Samoa taking the ‘Cup’ in all 4 Divisions.

The Challenge took place from Monday, April 16 to Wednesday, April 18.

“I want to thank everyone that helped make this Pacific Cup Volleyball Challenge successful. Every team played well and everything went great. The teams were competitive and the action was exciting. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all of you who made this all possible, thank you very much,” said ASVBA Secretary and Coordinator Josie Afu

In the Men’s Open Division semi-finals, Laumua o Tumua (Samoa) defeated team Tausala in three sets, 13-15, 15-10, 15-11 to move on to the finals, where they faced off against the team of Side Out. Side Out made it to the finals after they downed Puatausaga (Samoa) in two straight sets 15-9, 15-10.

In the finals, these two highly favored teams of Laumua o Tumua from Samoa and Side Out from American Samoa did not let the crowd down, as they battled it out in three sets that will be talked about for a long time.

The crowd that numbered approximately 300, witnessed the two highly favored teams — Side Out team from American Samoa and Laumua o Tumua from Samoa — play, with Side Out defeating their Samoa opponents, 15-13, (14-15), 15-9, to take the inaugural Pacific Cup Volleyball Challenge in the Men’s Open division.

American Samoa was able to do it once again, this time in the Under 19 Division, as the team of Under 19, Side Out, defeated the team of Filemu in two sets, 15-13, 15-13 in the Cup Finals. This was also a special win for Side Out, as they were without teammate Dominic Andrew Tautunuafatasi who passed away last week at the young age of 15 and was the youngest member of their Under 19 team.

In the Queens Division finals, the American Samoa’s All Star Queens from the Eastern Side of the island was able to out last the All Star Queens from Samoa, by defeating them in two sets, 15-9, 15-14 in the Cup Finals.

The Women’s Division saw an American Samoa team make it to the top, as the team from Amouli defeated the team from ‘Down Under,’ the Sonyx Girls from Brisbane, Australia in the finals.

Amouli was able to make it to the finals by downing Taumafai in a back and forth battle that saw both teams take the lead at different times in each set in the seim-finals. But in the end it was Amouli that took the match in three sets, 9-15, 15-12, 15-13 to make it to the finals.

In other semi-finals match-up, it was the Sonyx Girls against the team of Puatausaga (Samoa). The Sonyx Girls team was able to take the match, despite being caught off guard in the first set and appeared to struggle at the beginning of the match.

The girls from Down Under shrugged off the first set loss and took the next two sets to take the match, 13-15, 15-12, 15-13 to reach the Cup Finals.

In the Cup Finals in the Women’s Division, the Amouli Girls kept their ways alive by defeating the Girls from Brisbane, in two sets 15-12, 15-13 to earn the Cup.