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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.
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GPS Sports Calendar
December 2023
- SU
- MO
- TU
- WE
- TH
- FR
- SA
Events for November
1st
ISA BOYS SOCCER
IIAAG GIRLS BASKETBALL
ISA GIRLS BASKETBALL
Events for December
2nd
IRON LEGENDS THROWDOWN
ISA HS BASEBALL
HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
Events for December
4th
IIAAG BOYS SOCCER
ISA BOYS SOCCER
ISA GIRLS BASKETBALL
Events for December
5th
ISA HS BASEBALL
ISA GIRLS BASKETBALL
IIAAG GIRLS BASKETBALL QUARTERFINALS
Events for December
5th
Events for December
7th
ISA HS BASEBALL
IIAAG BOYS SOCCER PLAYOFFS
Events for December
9th
40th GRC PLUMERIA ROAD RACE
GUAM RUGBY INTERNATIONAL 7s TOURNAMENT
ISA HS BASEBALL
HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
IIAAG GIRLS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
Events for December
10th
TOUR OF GUAM 2023
GUAM RUGBY INTERNATIONAL 7s TOURNAMENT
Events for December
11th
ISA HS BASEBALL
IIAAG BOYS SOCCER SEMIFINALS
Events for December
12th
ISA HS BASEBALL
ISA GIRLS BASKETBALL
Events for December
12th
Events for December
14th
ISA HS BASEBALL
IIAAG BOYS SOCCER FINALS
Events for December
15th
ISA GIRLS BASKETBALL
IIAAG GIRLS BASKETBALL FINALS
Events for December
16th
3rd GUAM NINJA CHAMPIONSHIP
ISA HS BASEBALL
HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
Events for December
16th
Events for December
18th
IIAAG BOYS SOCCER ALL-ISLAND MEETING
Events for December
19th
ISA HS BASEBALL
ISA GIRLS BASKETBALL
Events for December
19th
Events for December
23rd
HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
ISA HS BASEBALL FINALS
Events for December
23rd
Events for December
24th
Events for December
25th
Events for December
27th
Events for December
29th
- 31
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Events for December
30th

Baseball
ROYALS DOWN FRIARS IN STATEMENT GAME

Basketball
3×3 HOOPS REPEAT AS GOLDEN BOYS

Basketball
RAPADAS LEADS WILD COUGAR COMEBACK

Baseball
GUAM HOSTS KIWIS IN U15 BASEBALL

Baseball
ROYALS DOWN FRIARS IN STATEMENT GAME

Basketball
SHARKS FEND OFF DOLPHINS IN GIRLS HOOPS
COMING SOON …
- IIAAG Girls Basketball Playoffs