[sixcol_five_last]
By Patrick Lujan

Geckos Luis Mesngon goes up for a kill between St. John’s blockers Dung Tran & Reed Reyer. (photo by Jesse Castro)
Because of a different spring break schedule, the St. John’s Knights played their first IIAAG Boys Volleyball League game Saturday night, one week after the rest of the league got their feat wet.
Starting against the two-time defending champion and highly-favored GW Geckos wasn’t in the Knights’ favor and it showed.
The Geckos’ smooth transitions as compared to the Knights offensive struggles resulted in an easy 25-17, 25-17 win for the mighty Geckos.
“We’re progressing every game,” first year GW head coach and Gecko volleyball legend Ed Duenas said. “We’re coming around fixing all the little mistakes from games and practices so we’re doing great.”
A scary thought for the rest of the league.
The first set saw some devastating kills by senior Devin Maluwelmeng, but GW also kept St. John’s in the game with a number of unforced and service errors.
Twelve of the first 15 Knights points came off of Gecko errors, but the GW offensive attack was more than enough to stave off St. John’s.
The Geckos reeled off 15 kills in the first set alone while the Knights’ offense struggled with only one kill.
GW reduced its errors in the second set and continued to rely no Maluwelmeng and fellow All-Island star Luis Mesngon.
A Mesngon crosscourt kill that put a facial on a backcourt foe helped the Geckos jump out early.
The lone bright spot for St. John’s was a thunderous kill by All-Island returnee Reed Meyer that cut the lead to 7-4. Unfortunately for the Knights, they were unable to get Meyer into a rhythm as that happened to be his only kill of the match.
Mesngon continued to guide the GW offense with help from Maluwelmeng and Matthew Soto in an easy set win.
Middle blocker Allander Ebeo ended the match with a kill off an overpass.
“I feel like we’re still progressing,” said Mesngon, who is a three-time First Team All-Islander. “We have a lot to work on. Our chemistry is really good. We just have some minor things to fix – coverage, communication and our serves – that’s about it.”
BIG TARGETS
As the two-time champs and a boat load of high-level talent, the Geckos knows the bullseye is on their backs this season.
“We’re back-to-back champs – yes we do,” Duenas said when asked if he knows they have a bullseye on the Geckos.
“The goal right now is championship,” Mensgon added. “Everyone wants to beat out the champions so I’m sure everyone wants to go strong against us.”
1st Set

The Geckos and Knights shake hands after the quick match. GW sits alone atop the standings at 4-0. (photo by Jesse Castro)
Aces: GW 2 (Camacho, Quichocho), SJ 2 (Atalig, Tran). Unforced errors: GW 7, SJ 5. Service errors: GW 7, SJ 3. Blocks: GW o, SJ 0 . Kills: GW 15 (Maluwlemeng 6, Mesngon 4, Ebeo 3, Soto 2), SJ 1 (Atalig).
2nd Set
Aces: GW 3 (Maluwelmeng 2, Soto), SJ 0. Unforced errors: GW 4, SJ 5. Service errors: GW 4, SJ 6. Blocks: GW o, SJ 2 (Meyer, Tran). Kills: GW 13 (Mesngon 4, Maluwlemeng 3, Soto 2, Ebeo, Soulik), SJ 6 (Atalig 3, Del Carmen 2, Meyer).
OTHER GAMES
The JFK Islanders remain unbeaten at 2-0 with a 25-15, 25-23 win over the Okkodo Bulldogs while the St. Paul Warriors cruised by the Guam High Panthers 25-15, 25-19.
[fbshare url=”http://www.gspnlive.com/volleyball/geckos-roll-over-knights/” type=”button”] [fblike url=”http://www.gspnlive.com/volleyball/geckos-roll-over-knights/” style=”standard” showfaces=”false” width=”450″ verb=”like” font=”arial”]
[/sixcol_five_last][useful_banner_manager_banner_rotation banners=38, 53, 9 interval=8 width=120 height=600 orderby=rand]


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