GADAO TEAMS SWEEP QUARTERFINALS

DOLPHINS SWEEP SHARKS IN THREE

By Asha Marie Robles

It was a battle between the north and the south to see who would advance to the IIAAG Girls High School Volleyball semifinals Friday night at the Sanchez Gym in Yigo. Unfortunately, for the home team, it was Southern Dolphins who took the win in a perfect three-set game.

Southern will now visit the league-leading Academy Cougars in the semis on Tuesday at 6 pm. Academy took care of the Harvest Eagles 25-14, 25-17, 25-18 in their quarterfinals match Friday night as well.

“We played a good game and everyone’s hits were on point, our serves were great, and our defense was tight tonight,” said Dolphin hitter April Talledo.

Talledo was instrumental in the win as she started the first set off with numerous aces and kills, giving her team the momentum to annihilate the Sharks in a 25-9 win. Talledo states that faith and teamwork is what motivates her to play strong, “I feel great that my team was never down, everyone stayed humble and we finished the set happy.”

The Dolphins led the way throughout the entire set. At 17-9, after a few back and forth points between the Sharks, Dolphins’ Darianna Lujan would stop the Sharks from gaining anymore points as she put in eight serves, five of which were aces, to end the set and secure the win.

Talledo also commends her teammates for using what they learned during practice and making it count during game days, “We practice on our defense all the time because it’s a main factor in winning these games and in the first set our defense was just there.”

During the second set of the night, the Dolphins saw a little more competitiveness by the Sharks as they stayed neck-and-neck until the end of the match, which the Dolphins won 25-21.

Though the Dolphins started off strong leading 3-0 behind serves by Myah Quenga, the Sharks picked up their game by knocking in a few points of their own off of serves by Tayler Naputi.

Tied at 4-4, Dolphin’s Leona King slammed one into Shark territory breaking the tie before serving a couple of aces and gaining the lead back at 8-4.

The Sharks put up a fight as they continued to trail the Dolphins throughout the set by no more than one point. However, tied at 21, Dolphins’ Ciera Aguon would make a quick kill giving her team possession of the ball. With that, Quenga was up to serve and with an ace and two mistakes by the Sharks, the Dolphins ended the match at 25-21.

Brittany Quinata of the Dolphins rips a spike right past the block of Lianey De Leo Guerrero. (photo by Kyle Twardowski)

Much like the second set, the Sharks continued so show determination during the third set as they kept up with the Dolphins throughout majority of the match until the very end where the Dolphins captured the win at 25-21.

Dolphins head coach Jaret Sanchez applauds the Sharks for an exciting second and third set match. ”The difference between the first set to the second and third set is that Sanchez shook their loss off and held us down. However, this game was all about who wanted it most and I’m glad my team came out on top and took the win,” he mentioned.

The third set begun with the Sharks getting the first point due to an error by the Dolphins. However, with seven consecutive hard serves by Leona King, the Dolphins were back on top 9-3.

The Sharks would answer back behind Skyyler Johnson’s strong serves, which the Dolphins could not capitalize on, as well as kills from powerhouse hitter Zhanissa Mendiola that put the Sharks trailing 10-9.

Minor errors made by the Sharks would cost them a couple more points as the Dolphins continued to play with better ball control and a tighter defense, giving them a 19-12 lead.

Patience Artero of the Sharks fakes out the block with a tip over the net for a point, but the Sharks would stay behind and go on to lose the first match. (photo by Kyle Twardowski)

The Sharks didn’t let down just yet. With more tough serves by Naputi and Kiara Camacho, the Sharks trailed by four points at 21-18. However, from there on out, the Dolphins continued to play better volleyball and with a killer spike by Brittany Quinata at 24-21 the southern team secured the set and the win.

Dolphins head coach Sanchez stated, “Sanchez is always a strong team. They always have great key players and they always gel really well. I really like the fact that they are family strong as their motto states.”

With the loss, the Sharks’ season has come to an end and head coach Art Stanley commends his girls for a job well done. “As a coach, you always have to be proud, through the good and bad. This was the first time we’ve been out in the first round so it’s new to the girls and to myself but Southern played all out. Overall, I’m just proud.”

GECKOS MOVE ON TO SEMIS

By Patrick Lujan

Sophomore middle blocker Samantha Quinata and the GW Geckos moved on to the semifinals with an up-and-down 25-23, 25-6, 25-20 sweep over the visiting St. John’s Knights.

Quinata had a total of 10 kills and junior Sia Duenas added six kills for the Geckos, who will host the Notre Dame Royals in Tuesday’s semifinals.

In the opening set, it was a back-and-forth affair as the 8-8 Knights played up to par with the 12-4 Geckos.

St. John’s actually led 16-10 off a Catherine Chung ace and held a 17-13 edge before GW made its comeback.

All-Island middle blocker Jasmine Almoguera served up three straight aces to tie the game at 21-21. Knights Kristina Folta dropped a kill to tie the game again at 23-23 before the Geckos closed it out off a hit into the net by Adriana Chang.

The second set wasn’t friendly to St. John’s as 14 unforced errors proved costly to the Knights.. It got out of control so bad that coach Chris Shepherd freely substituted toward the end.

It looked like the third set would be the same as the Geckos jumped out to a 4-0 lead on an emphatic cross-court kill by Quinata. But GW turned into gracious hosts, giving away free points off errors as the Knights took an 11-9 lead on the Geckos’ eighth error of the set.

GW tightened up from there and roared to a 21-16 lead on a Sia Duenas kill and never looked back to take it 25-20.

They will now face the Notre Dame Royals, who upset the Taga top seed Okkodo Bulldogs 16-25, 26-24,15-25, 25-21,15-9.

Geckos def. Knights 25-23, 25-6, 25-20
1st set
Service errors: GW 1, SJ 3; Unforced errors: GW 8, SJ 7; Aces: GW 6 (Almoguera 3, Sia Duenas 2, S. Quinata), SJ 6 (Chung 3, Folta 2, Chang); Kills: GW 8 (S. Quinata 4, Sia Duenas 3, Almoguera), SJ 7 (Folta 2, Chang 2, Cooper 2, Hong); Blocks: GW 1 (S. Quinata); SJ 1 (Cooper)
2nd set
Service errors: GW 1, SJ 0; Unforced errors: GW 3, SJ 14; Aces: GW 4 (Sia Duenas 4, Leon Guerrero), SJ 0; Kills: GW 6 (S. Quinata 3, Leon Guerrero 2, Muna), SJ 3 (Folta 2, Chang); Blocks: GW 0; SJ 0
3rd set
Service errors: GW 1, SJ 5; Unforced errors: GW 10, SJ 8; Aces: GW 5 (S. Quinata 4, Muna), SJ 2 (Chung, Cooper); Kills: GW 7 (S. Quinata 3, Sia Duenas 3, Leon Guerrero), SJ 5 (Folta, Chang, Cooper, Chung, Xuer); Blocks: GW 0; SJ 2 (Cooper 2)

Complete Quarterfinal Scores

GW def. St. John’s 25-23, 25-6, 25-20

Southern def. Sanchez 25-9, 25-21, 25-21

Academy def. Harvest 25-14, 25-17, 25-18

Notre Dame def Okkodo 16-25, 26-24, 15-25, 25-21, 15-9

Semifinals Tuesday night 6 pm

Notre Dame at GW

Southern at Academy

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME LIVE ON DOCOMO CHANNEL 2 on THURSDAY at 7 pm

PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Darianna Lujan pounds a spike past the block of Lianey De Leon Guerrero. (photo by Kyle Twardowski)

April Talledo of the Dolphins blasts a spike during the second game of play. (photo by Kyle Twardowski)

Leona King of the Dolphins hits a cross court spike to throw off the block from the Sharks. (photo by Kyle Twardowski)

Brittany Quinata finds a hole in the block of a Shark to fit in a spike for the game point, winning the match for the Dolphins 25-21. (photo by Kyle Twardowski)

Lianey De Leon Guerrero stops a spike from Brittany Quinata during the third match. (photo by Kyle Twardowski)