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By Colin Leon Guerrero

On paper, the defending champion GW Geckos are locked and loaded and ready to run through the rest of the field.

St. Paul hitter Tito Canovas hits off the block off Gecko defenders Matthew Soto & Allen Camacho. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Tuesday night, the Geckos sat down their second opponent of the season with a straight set victory over the visiting St. Paul Warriors  25-22, 25-16 in the IIAAG Boys Volleyball League.

Both teams started off the game aggressively, looking for the early spark in their offenses, which led to several lead changes within the first couple of minutes in the game. The Geckos committed careless errors giving the Warriors enough room to build a comfortable 14-9 lead midway through the first set. GW’’s Devin Maluwelmeng came up with two big kills to keep the Geckos within three points behind the Warriors.

As the Geckos started to heat up, the Warriors began to buckle under the pressure committing several errors, which enabled the Geckos to tie things up 20-20. Maluwelmeng would give GW the 21-20 lead after a highlight-reel kill. A couple of service errors made by St. Paul gave GW the lead 23-21. Maluwelmeng would finish strong for the Geckos serving up two straight monstrous aces off his high-flying jump serve.

McDonald’s player of the game: Geckos’ Devin Maluwelmeng

In the second set, Maluwelmeng continued his relentless attack on the Warriors racking up two quick kills and an ace to give the Geckos the early 3-1 lead. The Geckos remained in control from that point forward, overwhelming St. Paul with their high-octane offense, which took some time to get in the groove of things.

“We had a lot of nerves in the first set, but we were able to pull it together tonight,” said Maluwelmeng who was not pleased with his team’s performance Tuesday, but glad that the Geckos are able to win when put in a tough situation.

After a hot start, the Warriors began making careless errors including a carry late in the game giving GW the match point at 24-16. On the very next play Maluwelmeng, like he did in the first set, ended the game emphatically with a thunderous ace winning it for the defending champion Geckos.

Maluwelmeng led the Geckos with ten kills and five aces.

OTHER GAMES

FD def. Guam High 25-13, 25-8

GAA def. Notre Dame 0-25 (forfeit, late arrival), 25-22, 25-15

Sanchez def. Harvest 15-25, 25-21, 25-21

PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

GW senior Devin Maluwelmeng with the jump serve to St. Paul. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Warriors senior Tito Canovas tries to fo through the block of GW’s Allander Ebeo and Allen Camacho. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Another angle of Devin Maluwelmeng’s jump serve. (photo by Jesse Castro)

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