GW SQUEEZES PAST HARVEST IN 4 SETS

By Paradis Jolie Fejerang

The ISA/IIAAG Girls Volleyball League brought fans an electric Friday evening showdown as the George Washington Geckos defended their home court against the Harvest Eagles. The league’s top-seeded Geckos held their ground to take the win in four sets 25-23, 25-23, 18-25, 25-23.

GW’s single set loss of the night is now only the second set that the Geckos have lost throughout the season thus far, their first occurring while facing the third-ranked St. John’s Knights.

From the opening serve, both teams made clear it would be a battle. Harvest matched GW’s intensity with hustle and provided their fan base with captivating gameplay. Eagles co-captain Erica Cassidy was a consistent threat at the net, firing powerful spikes that tested the Geckos defense. On the other side, GW setter and captain Breanna Simina’s steadiness kept her team grounded throughout the night.

Geckos win 3 of 4 sets: all 25-23

Set one set the tone as both teams refused to let their opponent pull away. Not only did the match excite the crowd with proof that the Gecko gym is a tough one for all volleyball players, including their very own athletes in purple, because of the low and atypical ceiling, it also thrilled them with the two teams trading points nearly the entire match before GW pulled ahead at 23–all to close the set at 25-23.

Harvest trailed behind by five points for much of the second set but was able to close the gap with setter Manea Camacho standing out as she visibly pushed herself to hustle more than anyone on the court for every single second touch to set up her hitters and bringing the game closer for the Eagles only to lose the set with another final score of 25-23.

The Eagles fought for their win in the third set although communication seemed to momentarily be at a halt, the duo that rose out of Eagles Cassidy and Camacho dominated their attacks, silencing both GW’s defense and the Gecko crowd in a 25-18 win.

With momentum on their side and Eagles fans sparring with GW’s in loud, competitive chants, Harvest looked ready to push the match to a fifth set as their point difference outdid the mere two from GW’s previous set wins on them.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Geckos shut down their opponent’s hopes at maximizing the set number for the game. Despite some friendly collisions on the court, GW pushed themselves to the win with juniors Azariah Chargualaf and Zariah Besabe at the forefront of this final set’s “groove” as described by Chargualaf.

The two were tough for the Eagles when they stepped into their strongest points of rotation; for Chargualaf, it was her intense serves that the Eagles consistently struggled to control while Besabe was a block that Harvest’s hitters were hardly able to penetrate.

The Eagles briefly surged ahead midway through the fourth, but GW crawled back, matching Harvest point for point before sealing the night with yet another 25-23 victory.

Players of the Game Chargualaf and Besabe said the third-set loss only motivated the team. “Honestly, when we lost that set we just knew that we had to come together as a team,” shared Chargualaf. “We knew that for the fourth set we had to bring up the energy [and] start off strong.”

“We were very confident [and] knew we had it in the bag,” Besabe agreed with Chargualaf as she stated her overwhelming belief in her team. “We knew that we could beat them with the chemistry that we have.”

Chargualaf also looked ahead to what will come with Tuesday’s rivalry against the equally unbeaten Academy Cougars. “Academy has a lot of hard hitters so we are going to work on picking up those deep corners and just trying to uplift our team.”

The undefeated Geckos will face their main competitors, the Cougars, on their home court this Tuesday, September 16, with junior varsity set to begin at 5:30 p.m. Meanwhile, the Eagles will regroup as they prepare to travel down south to face the Southern Dolphins on the same night.

OTHER GAMES

JFK def. GACS 25-11, 25-20, 25-15
Sanchez def. St. John’s in 5 sets
Guam High def. Tiyan 25-24, 25-20, 25-27, 25-19
Academy def. Southern 25-10, 25-18, 25-16

Okkodo def. GAA 25-10, 25-22, 25-8 (Thurs)

Harvest def. JFK 25-22, 25-20, 25-18 (Thurs)

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