By Kyle Terwilliger
Variety News Staff

THE St. Paul Warriors won their season opener in Independent Interscholastic Athletic Association of Guam’s boy’s volleyball, defeating the Southern High Dolphins in straight sets, 25-16, 25-23 last Friday. Nate Pineda would lead the way for the Warriors racking up six kills. After losing the first set 25-16 the Dolphins would regroup in the second set and take a 7-1 lead.
The Dolphins were led by the defensive presence of Marlon Alcampor and the hitting of Ken Muna. The Dolphins would make it tough for the Warriors to win in straight sets, with their front line defenders preventing many of the Warriors hits from scoring. Down 17-12 the Warriors would make their move for the match behind Justin Trusso, who would serve six straight points to take the lead by one. However errors on both sides of the ball would make the second set a very close one but the Warriors would edge out the Dolphins in the set 25-23.
The Warriors are coming off a great season last year where they placed second. However they have lost their all-island setter James Millard who graduated placing the pressure on some new faces. Despite losing Millard the Warriors are expected to be a team to beat, come this season. In other games the John F. Kennedy Islanders would beat the Guam High Panthers in three sets 19-25, 25-19, and 15-8. Both teams move to 1-1 on the season. The St. John’s Knights would be led by Reyn Johnson’s eight kills to defeat the Notre Dame Royals 21-25, 25-21, and 15-13.
In Saturday’s games the last year’s champs the Simon Sanchez Sharks improved to 2-0 on the season after dropping the Harvest Christian Eagles in straight sets. After winning the first set 25-11 against the Eagles, the Sharks would win the second set using their bench. The Eagles would hold the lead for much of the set over the bench of the Sharks.
However with the Eagles winning 24-20 the Sharks starters would see some more action and Sharks’ junior Dioor Jones would help put the set away, serving six straight points to give the Sharks their second win on the season taking the set 26-24. Saturday would also see the JFK Islanders defeat the St. Paul Warriors 25-22, 20-25, and 15-9. The Islanders move to 2-1 on the season as the Warriors fall to 1-1 with the loss.
The game was clinic on how to play defense with both teams stepping it up on the defensive side. However, the Islanders would eventually take the win behind Patrick Gumataotao who opened the third set with a block. The Warriors had several runs, but wasn’t enough to topple the Islanders at home. The Notre Dame Royals would defeat the Southern High Dolphins dropping the Dolphins to 0 – 3 on the season.