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By Errol Alegre, Jr.

SHS Ciera Aguon goes up for the spike against FA defender Juliana Spicer. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Schools from Guam, Japan, the Philippines, and Korea are playing hard down at the Charles King Gym on the Naval Base Guam as teams vie for the 2012 Girls Far East Volleyball Tournament title. Pool play consists of three two set games, and teams with the most set wins will stay atop their pool.

The Southern High Dolphins are off to a good start in the tournament after winning both sets in their second pool-play game of the day against the Faith Academy Vanguards. After only winning one set in their first game against the Kinnick Red Devils, the IIAAG high school champs were able to bounce back and win both sets in their second match against the Vanguards, 25-14, 25-19.

Both teams got off to a slow start to begin the game as each found difficulty stringing together effective offensive plays. With the lead seesawing back and forth, Faith Academy was able to maintain a one-to-two point lead until the score read 12-11. Dolphins coach Jaret Sanchez called a timeout to get his championship squad back into rhythm.

The Dolphins came out of the timeout with some ember under their feet; they quickly took back the lead with a monstrous kill by Lorriaina Sanchez on an over pass followed by two aces from teammates Tianna Sakaba and Paige Surber. Faith Academy took a timeout of their own in an attempt to cool down the Southern home team, but to no avail. Dolphins’ April Talledo slammed down two kills of her own followed by another kill by Sanchez to put their team up 21-14. After two unforced errors by Faith Academy and two straight aces by Brittany Quinata, the Dolphins ended the set with the score at 25-14.

SHS April Talledo receives the serve with a bump pass. (photo by Jesse Castro)

The Dolphins only allowed two points following their timeout.

“I basically told them to play their game, play how they always play and control the sets,” explained Jaret Sanchez of what he told his team during the timeout.

The Dolphins girls picked up right where they left off to begin the second set with kills from Quinata and Tanya Flores and five straight unforced errors by Faith Academy, putting the score at 7-1. The Dolphins seemed to have found their offensive groove as they jumped on a 6-0 run that featured three straight aces from Zoie Surber midway through the set. However, the Vanguards collected themselves after a timeout and went on a 6-0 run of their own that brought them within just four points of Southern, 21-17. In danger of losing the set, the Dolphins called a timeout in hopes of slowing down the Vanguards’ momentum.

Sanchez told his squad to, “communicate as a team. A team cannot go anywhere without any communication.”

After the timeout, the Vanguards recorded three more errors and Dolphins Ciera Aguon ended the set and the game with an ace.

When asked how he feels with his team’s performance throughout the first two games of the tournament, Sanchez said, “So far they haven’t shown what they can do. When they catch fire, you can’t stop it. When they finally catch fire, they’ll be unstoppable.”

“Mentality and communication is a crucial part of our team. If we don’t have that, then we don’t have a win. [And so far] they haven’t been doing that,” stated a disappointed Sanchez.

PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

SHS Brittany Quinata spikes the ball. (photo by Jesse Castro)

FA Alexa Tan receives the serve with a bump pass to her setter. (photo by Jesse Castro)

FA and SHS gather around their respective coaches during a time out. (photo by Jesse Castro)

SHS and FA gather around their respective coaches during a time out. (photo by Jesse Castro)

FA Alyssa Tan bump passes the ball to her teammate. (photo by Jesse Castro)

SHS Elena Escalona sets the ball up for her teammate. (photo by Jesse Castro)

SHS Paige Surber goes for the spike unopposed. (photo by Jesse Castro)

SHS Lorraina Sanchez spikes the ball unopposed. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Pool Play Monday

Southern High vs. Kinnick (defending runner-up) split 15-25, 25-20

Sanchez def. Yokota 25-12, 25-24

Academy vs. Kubasaki split 25-13, 23-25

GW def. Kadena 25-19, 25-10

CAJ def. Notre Dame 25-7, 25-15

ASIJ (defending champions) def. JFK 25-13, 25-10

Seisen def. Guam High 25-14, 25-8

Kadena def. JFK 25-19, 25-23

Southern High def. Faith Academy 25-14, 25-19

Academy def. Notre Dame 25-19, 25-23

ASIJ def. GW 25-10, 25-5

Academy vs. CAJ split, 25-18, 17-25

Sanchez def. Guam High 25-19, 25-20

Southern High def. Seoul American 25-16, 25-23

Gold: Seisen, Kinnick, CAJ, ASIJ
Silver:  Sanchez, Southern, Academy, GW
Bronze: Guam High, Seoul American, Kubasaki and Kadena
Copper: Yokota, Faith, Notre Dame and JFK

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