By Kolby Chang

The Southern Dolphins are proving to be one of the top teams in the league after earning a tightly-contested 25-18, 19-25, 25-18 win over the Guam High Panthers in the IIAAG Boys’ Volleyball League on Tuesday night at the Guam High gym.

Panthers’ Henry Haight leaps in for a kill. (photo courtesy of Lauren Reeder.)

The Dolphins now stand at 5-2 following the win. Team captain Sydney Talledo was relieved that his team survived a few close calls and he knows there are still some kinks that need to be ironed out.

“We got to work on a lot on more stuff, defense especially. There were times on the hits that we didn’t have covers and defense is the most important thing to me. Winning the game comes last,” Talledo said.

With the Harvest Christian Academy Eagles, the JFK Islanders and GW Geckos jockeying for top positioning, Talledo feels the Dolphins can contend and that this season is going to be a competitive one.

“I think every team right now is equally matched. JFK got beaten by GW and GW got beaten by Harvest so it’s going to be a good season,” Talledo added.

After a two sets, the Dolphins finally established a foothold in late in the third set after Matthew Dela Cruz smashed a kill to make 23-17.

A Panthers error on the next play put it at match point but the Dolphins committed error on the next play to keep the home team in it. It was, however, not enough to rally for a comeback as the Panthers sealed their fate on an error that ended the game.

The loss drops the Panthers to 2-2.