Power Rangers win All Star v-ball game

Power Rangers’ Dylan Mister strikes a kill between Basta Hits’ blockers during their boys high school All-Star game last Saturday at the Agape Gymnasium. (LEIGH GASES)

Go, go, Power Rangers! And that’s what they did during the boys volleyball all-star best-of-five game last Saturday at the Agape Gymnasium.
The Power Rangers mighty morphed and won three out of five sets against Basta Hit.

It seemed to be a sweep of the game as the Power Rangers overpowered Basta Hit and took the first two sets—25-17, 25-20. 

The Power Rangers assembled into one entity as they moved and jumped through the court—blocking plays at the net, and placing untouchable kills—thanks to opposite hitter Jerome Manzon and Dylan Mister.

Then, Basta Hit came back and grabbed the third set, 25-16 to stay alive.

A series of well-placed overhead serves by Basta Hit’s Sui Yi and Minsoo Kwon faltered Power Rangers’ defense and gave Basta Hit’s hitters and libero the perfect positioning to strike their kills and block the net.

The Power Rangers could not place their returns properly and overshot on a few that wound up out of bounds. Some mistakes on their end were costly as Basta Hit proved to be the better team this time around. 

The boys of the high school All-Star volleyball game pose for a photo with their coaches Stacy Eno, front left, and Shawn Davis, back, seventh from right, after their all-star volleyball game last Saturday at the Agape Gymnasium.(LEIGH GASES)

However, in the fourth set, Power Rangers regrouped and pulled out all the stops to ensure they get the win. Team captain Mister set them up in the last moments of the game with his serves and kills by Omari Joab. 

Basta Hit’s defense crumbled when they couldn’t catch up to the speed at which Power Rangers returned the ball and the set and game went to the Power Rangers, 25-22.

The Power Rangers team included Kyle Kramer from Saipan International School, Jerome Manzon from Marianas High School, Daniel Nam from SIS, Akira Ota from Grace Christian Academy, Jiahao Chen from Saipan Southern High School, Earle “Gabby” San Nicolas from Mount Carmel School, Brandon Lee from MCS, Anthony Kubo from Kagman High School, Dylan Mister from MHS, Omari Joab from SIS, and Kyle Moon from GCA. Caleb Cui from Agape Christian School was injured and Jiahao Yang from GCA was off-island at the time. The team was coached by SIS teacher and coach Stacy Eno. 

Jerome Manzon from Power Rangers eyes the ball before he spikes it between Basta Hits’ blockers during their boys high school all-star volleyball game last Saturday at the Agape Gymnasium. (LEIGH GASES)

Team Basta Hit consisted of John Justo from MHS, Allen Luo from ACS, Sui Yi from GCA, Jin Tao from SSHS, Hudson Tan from ACS, Lowell Lumauag from MHS, Vince Guilas from SSHS, Will Sosa from SIS, Franz Abadilla from SSHS, Jasper Hall from GCA, and Minsoo Kwon from MCS. Mokyan Kim from MHS was injured and David Zhao from ACS was off island. The team was coached by NMIVA board member and SSHS coach Shawn Davis.

Rota’s Dr. Rita H. Inos High School players Landen Atalig, Brylle Reyel, and Rainier Ruiz could not make it to the game. 

Mister said after the game, “the competition was really fun. The first two sets, we had it but in the third set, the other team started to play really well and picked up their pace. But in the fourth and last set, they were also playing well, but we got it back in the end. It was a good experience.”

As for the chemistry of the boys who have never played together but have played against each other during their high school volleyball season, he said “we all knew each others’ playing style because we played throughout the season, so that really helped. But our chemistry builded as we played together more. Especially in the final game, you could feel in each set the chemistry was getting better. I think our team had a little bit better chemistry than the other team so I think that helped us win.”

Eno said “the league was great. It’s what I assumed it would be. All these boys are incredibly talented and I just wanted them to have fun and be able to play in a competitive match.”

About her team, she said “I think that one advantage that my group of All-Stars has is they’re a very positive, bubbly, and energetic crew. Once I was able to tell them that that was their advantage, they used it and they brought the energy and excitement. Their chemistry and camaraderie was really great too.”

Davis said “I hope the girls are ready, because the high school girls are next! And they need to bring it just like the boys did—that’s what we like to see.”

She thanked everyone that came out to help including Agape Christian School’s En Yang Pang and Kok H. Pang for the use of their gym, Marianas High School, Ryutaro Litulumar, Marc Danga, and Mike Omar.

The purpose of the program was to highlight the skills that exist on each team beyond the first and second place teams at the end of the season. The selected players have trained with a cast of coaches for a period of six training sessions totaling 14 hours and were randomly selected into the two teams.