Honiara, SOLOMON ISLANDS — After the long holiday weekend kicked off in the territory, Team American Samoa registered its second medal in the ongoing 2023 Pacific Games thanks to the efforts of its sole Olympian, swimmer Micah Masei who won bronze in the 100m Breaststroke event of the 2023 Pacific Games swimming competition.

Eight swimmers from eight countries vied for the medals in a closely contested race. Theirs were the top eight times of the 17 swimmers who competed in the Heats held earlier in the morning.

Micah’s 2023 Pacific Games campaign started on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 where he competed in the 50m Breaststroke event in which he secured the silver medal with a time of 19.48 seconds. 

In an interview with Micah, he revealed that he had been conserving his strength from the morning’s heats for the evening’s final, and that he had given it his all.

 “My game plan was to gradually change gears in the speed of my strokes past the halfway mark of the last lap and dig deeper as I entered the last 15 meters to the wall which I did and gave it my all,” Micah explained. “It happened to be just enough to get the bronze medal but I gave it all I had.

 “I just want to thank everyone that’s been reaching out to support me. It definitely means a lot to hear from everyone and to know that they have my back. The ASNOC President Ed Imo and everyone here on island for the tremendous support they have shown and of course my family, coaches and everyone back home for their prayers.”

He stated that he was going to “cool down and look towards the next step, go back to training, hit the pool hard one step a day and hopefully I’ll get faster and faster building up for Paris next year.”

The 24 year-old Olympic swimmer added that he had to get back to work in Hawaii where he is a project manager for a real estate development company in Oahu which focuses on industrial and residential housing development and property management. He returned home this past Saturday.

VOLLEYBALL

Day 3 of the 2023 Pacific Games was a good day for Team American Samoa’s men’s and women’s volleyball teams.

Especially for the men’s team which suffered three consecutive losses at the hands of Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tahiti respectively.

For the women’s team, they started their Pacific Games campaign with a loss to Tahiti, then found their momentum in their next two outings, winning comfortably in three straight sets against Tuvalu and PNG.

The men’s team finally clicked and won their first set, then Tuvalu took the second set. Eager to regain their momentum, American Samoa came back strongly and won the next two straight sets to take the game.

Coach Reno Amisone told Samoa News that he was very happy with the result because his team really needed a morale boost.

 “I knew my boys can do it but it’s just their mental game that’s costing them,” Amisone revealed.

American Samoa women’s team earned their place in the semifinals after the hard fought quarter-final battle with Samoa. The first set was taken by American Samoa, then Samoa regrouped and came back strongly to take the next two sets to lead 2-1.

Stung into action, American Samoa refused to go down without a fight. 

And fight they did, in a thrilling set that would determine their fate if they succumbed to the fired-up Samoan team.

Unfortunately for Samoa, the American Samoa team was determined to stay in the game and with good communication, they moved together like a well-oiled engine, one covering the other with dexterity.

They were rewarded with a 25-23 win, and the game went into a fifth and final 15-point set.

The points went head to head until it was 11-all, then American Samoa in a mighty effort fought their way to match point and won 15-11 to seal their place in the semis, where they faced the powerful New Caledonia team which had defeated the Solomon Islands in three straight sets .

Head Coach Mafutaga Taveuveu was full of praise for his team and how they kept their cool despite being behind in the points table.

With the men’s team out of the completion after losing their last game against Fiji putting them in sixth place in the men’s volleyball competition and they bowed out of medal contention by losing to Samoa in three straight sets.

Coach Amisone in an interview told Samoa News that his team had gone down fighting but a lack of communication and their mental preparation was found wanting.

Meanwhile the women’s team had one last chance to grab the bronze medal, after missing out on the opportunity to play for gold and silver, after they suffered a total shut out at the hands of a strong and determined New Caledonia team in the semifinals going down 3-0.

In the first two sets, American Samoa just could not get their game going and the lack of communication made their predicament even worse, trailing 10-1 at the start of the first set.

The girls looked stunned and disoriented making simple mistakes and New Caledonia enjoyed a comfortable lead easily winning the first set 25-12.

Things went from bad to worse for American Samoa in the second set and they were thrashed 25-9 by their opponents.

In the third set, American Samoa finally got something going and took an early lead, which New Caledonia tried hard to catch.

But for once, American Samoa had found a forward momentum and they worked together to keep their lead.

Toward the end of the third set, American Samoa was in front 23-18 and were looking for the final two points to close out the set.

However, New Caledonia refused to give up and with a mighty effort, came from behind, overtook them and went on to win the set 25-23 and the game 3-0.

In a team talk after the game, Coach Taveuveu told his team not to think about the game again but to go home, relax and regroup and come back stronger for their next game where they will contest the bronze medal.

New Caledonia and Tahiti played for gold and silver, while American Samoa faced off with Fiji for the bronze medal.

The American Samoa national women’s volleyball team narrowly missed out on the bronze medal of the 2023 Pacific Games volleyball competition, going down 3-1 to a fired-up Fiji team.

After a dismal performance the night before against New Caledonia, American Samoa came back with the aim to take home the bronze.

Things looked good in the first set and the team played well with powerful spikes and clever place shots.

The set ended with American Samoa emerging victorious with a 25-20 score.

However in the second set, Fiji regrouped and came back strong to win 26-24 in a very tight game with American Samoa trying in vain to catch up.

With one set apiece, Fiji stepped up their attacks and gained another victory taking the third set with a 25-21 score.

Trailing at one set to two, American Samoa was desperate to equalize.

However, from the beginning of the fourth set, Fiji refused to be left behind and always managed to catch up to their opponents who at one time had a five point lead.

With the score at 21-all, Fiji edged past American Samoa and had the score at 24-21.

American Samoa could only manage to gain one more point to take the score to 24-22, then Fiji scored the final point to seal victory and ultimately the bronze medal.

Coach Taveuveu stated that his team had tried their best but it just wasn’t their day.

 “The girls gave it their all,” Coach Taveuveu said. “We prepared for the game and the girls after our loss last night, and the girls tried their best. That’s all you can ask for from your players. We’ll go home and reassess our performance to figure out what we need to rectify to improve our game.”

And so the American Samoa women’s volleyball team ends their 2023 Pacific Games campaign at 4th place while the men’s team finished at 6th place in their competition.

THIS WEEK

Attention will be on the events at the Lawson Tama Stadium in football [soccer].

The semi-finals in the women's football competition will see PNG will take on Samoa while Fiji battles New Caledonia.

In the men's competition at the SIFF Academy, Monday's matches determine who gets into the semi-finals.

American Samoa faces Northern Mariana Islands, Tonga will take on Tuvalu and Samoa meets Tahiti.

The Pacific Games report is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Paramount Builders, Inc. and ASNOC.

Twenty-four teams representing the region's countries and territories are competing in 346 events across 27 sports disciplines at the 2023 Pacific Games.