Eagles survive Storms with second set rally

Grace Christian Academy shrugged off a stubborn second-set stand by Marianas Baptist Academy, 25-11, 25-22, to remain undefeated in the high school division of the 2008 Coalition of Private Schools Sports Association volleyball league.

It was the Eagles’ seventh victory in as many games and their second this season against the Storms, who sport a 5-2 win-loss record.

The Eagles quickly established a commanding 11-3 lead to easily prevail in the first set behind Dae Won Jeon all-around playmaking skills.

The towering 5-11 Jeon, who teamed up with Luther Taylor, Denise Das, Coleen Kinsella, M. Sakamoto, and Bethanie Batallones, almost single-handedly took the game over with his crisp spikes, booming serves, uncontested drop shots, excellent returns, not to mention a string of block shots.

As both teams sent in their second stringers in the second set, the Storms took control of the tempo of the game by racing to a 9-5 lead but they agonized with service errors.

Jeon’s brother, Bae Min, had a couple of drop shots to put the Eagles within one point, 8-9 but the Storms fought back and headed to a second set win with its 18-14 lead.

The Eagles, then, made a couple of returns, an ace from the serving Das, and two errors from the Storms that tied the game at 18-all.

That prompted Storms’ coach Cameron Armstrong to call a time out.

On the other hand, coach Mark Robles sent back his first stringers, D.W. Jeon, Taylor, Kinsella, Batallones, Das, and Nathan Chargualaf.

The Storms momentarily got back the lead 21-18 before the Eagles finished them off with three service winners and two slashes from Jeon, a drop shot by Chargualaf, and the winning one-handed return near the net by Taylor.

The Eagles are the defending champions while the Storms finished second last year.

Despite the twin defeats to the Eagles, coach Armstrong said the Storms still have a chance to go all the way.

“As long as my players learn how to keep control of the game, we still have our chance,” Armstrong said of his boys.

He said he is confident of his players because they have been playing for a long time.

The morale of the team, he said, is high and they only need to do well in practice to finally beat the Eagles, the only team they lost to after beating all the other teams this season, so far.

Earlier in the day, the JV Eagles streaked to their eighth win for an 8-0 record in the middle school division by winning over Saipan Community School, 25-8, 25-9.

Results of other games were unavailable as of press time. SIS Blue played against Calvary Christian in both divisions, Seventh Day Adventist hosted Whispering Palms in the middle school, and Mount Carmel played at home against SIS Green at home in both divisions.