[sixcol_five_last]
By Rob Leon Guerrero

Geckos’ Tisha-Renee Aguigui looks calm and focused as she goes up for the spike. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
Coming off a loss earlier this week to the Simon Sanchez Sharks, the George Washington Geckos bounced back with a home win against the St. John’s Knights. The Mangilao gym enjoyed heavy crowd support for the home team as they came out on top, beating the Knights 25-15, 25-21 in IIAAG high school girls volleyball action. With the victory, the Geckos looked to regain top form, showing an all-around display of technical skills and superior teamwork to hold off the late challenge from the Knights.
The first set began shakily with both teams making errors in their attempts to get comfortable. With good assists from Elayne Padyao, the Geckos used effective placement to take the upper hand going up 18-10, forcing St. John’s coach Chris Sheperd to call a timeout to regather his squad. GW took advantage of the Knights’ errors en route to closing out the first set behind strong performances from Maricia Mariano and Geana Leon Guerrero, both of whom recorded multiple kills and aces.
The second set started off with service errors from both squads, although the Knights showcased a strong performance led by freshman Destiny Castro. However, the Knights failed to build on the momentum due to passing errors, which the Geckos were more than happy to capitalize on, taking the lead at 11-8. Following a red card issued to Coach Sheperd, the Knights put on a clinic of serving behind the performance of junior setter Alex McCarroll. McCarroll served four straight aces, perplexing the Geckos defense and forcing GW Coach Bobbi Quinata to call timeout with the Knights having retaken the lead 13-11.
Excellent patterns of attack and brilliant defense saw the Knights maintain their lead, until junior Zea Nauta put away two thunderous aces to tie the game 18-18. Although Castro showed great athleticism and skill, the overall play from GW saw them pull away in the end. A service error by the Knights, and a game-ending kill from the Geckos ended the set 25-21, and sealed the victory.
Local volleyball icon and GW Coach Bobbi Quinata commented on the Geckos’ recovery from their loss to the Sharks earlier this week saying, “We took the same approach for this game.” Quinata explained, “These girls had to come in with the right attitude. This particular group is very emotional, they want to get out there and play. I have to try and explain to them that we need a strategy.”
With the win, one can be sure the Geckos are looking to build on their recent success, just in time for the annual Far East Tournament to be held in Guam in a month’s time.
“I’m looking forward to trying to get back to that championship. I’ve been there a lot of times, and it’s been eluding me,” Coach Quinata joked.

Geckos’ Geana Leon Guerrero tries to get passed the double block of Knights’ Alex McCarroll and Destiny Castro. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)
The Geckos saw a well-rounded game from their side with Mariano and Leon Guerrero recording three kills each. Nauta added three blocks, two kills and five aces and Tisha-Renee Aguigui came through with three kills, a tip and three aces. Castro finished the game with four kills, three blocks, a tip and an ace for the Knights, while McCarroll had a solid performance at the service line, notching five aces.
In other games:
Okkodo def. Guam High 25-16, 25-13
[/sixcol_five_last][ubm_premium_banner_rotation banners=16, 38, 14 interval=8 width=120 height=600 orderby=rand]
[fbshare url=” http://www.gspnlive.com/?p= 16230″ type=”button”][fblike url=” http://www.gspnlive.com/?p= 16230″ style=”standard” showfaces=”false” width=”450″ verb=”like” font=”arial”]


GPS Sports Calendar
February 2023
- SU
- MO
- TU
- WE
- TH
- FR
- SA
Events for January
1st
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
2nd
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
Events for February
3rd
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
TRITONS BASEBALL INVITATIONAL PLAYOFFS
Events for February
4th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Events for February
6th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
7th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
8th
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
9th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
Events for February
10th
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
TRITONS BASEBALL INVITATIONAL FINALS
Events for February
12th
MONSTER ENERGY MOTOCROSS ROUND 2
Events for February
13th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
14th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
15th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
Events for February
16th
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
Events for February
17th
ISA TRACK & FIELD MEET
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
Events for February
18th
BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2K/5K
World Athletics Cross Country Championships
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
Events for February
20th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
21st
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
22nd
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL
Events for February
23rd
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
Events for February
24th
ISA GIRLS SOCCER
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL QUARTERFINALS
Events for February
24th
Events for February
25th
Events for February
27th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS
ISA BOYS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
ISA GIRLS SOCCER SEMIFINALS
Events for February
28th
IIAAG BEACH VOLLEYBALL FINALS
ISA BASEBALL LEAGUE SEMIFINALS
IIAAG TENNIS LEAGUE
IIAAG BOYS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS

Basketball
BULLDOGS WIN BATTLE OF 4-0 TEAMS

Baseball
MUNA LEADS DODGERS TO TOURNEY FINALS

MMA/Boxing
JONES TO FACE FORMER UFC CHAMPION

Baseball
GECKOS SWING BIG IN SEASON OPENER

Baseball
FRIARS EDGE ROYALS IN PITCHER’S DUEL

Basketball
FRIARS TAKE DOWN PANTHERS 74-68

Running/Track
GECKOS, SHARKS BUILDING TRACK CONFIDENCE

Basketball
BULLDOGS WIN BATTLE OF 4-0 TEAMS
COMING SOON …
- Trevin Jones vs. Cody Garbrandt
- Ricky Camp vs. WIlson Reis