By Niko Bulaon

The GW Geckos look to defend their title and keep their championship run going, defeating the young St. John’s Knights in two sets, 25-19, 25-9, at the GW gym Saturday night.

GW Gecko’s Matthew Soto soars above the net as he tips the ball over. (photo by Asha Robles)

The determination of the Geckos showed its colors after hard kills and aces to start the season right. With the Knights committing multiple errors, the Geckos led the struggling St. John’s team through the first set. But Gecko errors kept the Knights close behind till GW soon rose to finish the set with a first set advantage over their opponents.

At the start of the second, the Geckos took an early 9-0 lead over the Knights, but a kill from Knights Ray Bacalia and an ace from Jacob Ishizu put their team on the board. Multiple kills and aces from Lester Gaitan and Matthew Soto kept the Geckos going.

With multiple untimely errors from St. John’s, the Geckos kept their lead in check, ending the night with a huge lead of 25-9.

“I feel great; it’s always great to win the first game,” said GW’s head coach Ed Duenas. “We still have a lot of work to do. A lot of jellying to do so as the season progresses, I hope the chemistry comes together.”

The Geckos lost most of their starters to graduation last year, starting this year off with only two returnee starters and a lot of JV players moving up; Coach Duenas said, “This year, a lot of them moved up from JV so they know the program. It’s nothing new in our system, so I feel confident about this team going into the rest of the season.”

OTHER GAMES

FD def. Guam High 25-22, 16-25, 25-17

Southern def. Harvest 20-25, 25-9, 26-24

Okkodo vs. ND rescheduled to Wednesday

PHOTO GALLERY

GW Gecko’s Lester Gaitan dives for the ball before it hits the ground. (photo by Asha Robles)

Devin San Agustin of the GW Geckos soars in the air to make a quick kill. (photo by Asha Robles)

Thomas Untalan and Edward Ulloa of the St. Johns Knights sprint for the ball as it falls to the ground. (photo by Asha Robles)

Devin San Agustin of the GW Geckos makes a quick kill. (photo by Asha Robles)

St Johns Knights’ Aaron Lee gets up high to spike the ball over the net. (photo by Asha Robles)

Aaron Lee of the St. Johns Knights manages to save the ball off of a high spike. (photo by Asha Robles)

Philip Siguenza of the GW Geckos slams the ball for a kill. (photo by Asha Robles)

Austin Duenas of the GW Geckos gets behind the ball to make a pass. (photo by Asha Robles)

St. Johns Knights’ Ray Bacalia gets up high as he tips the ball over a Gecko blocker. (photo by Asha Robles)