Sweet revenge for GCA Eagles

 Grace Christian Academy reclaimed the varsity division championship it lost to Saipan International School last season after surviving the Geckos in a three-set finale of the 2011-2012 Coalition of Private Schools Sports Association Volleyball League yesterday at the Whispering Palms court.

The Eagles prevailed in the winner-take-all finals, 26-24, 24-26, 15-8, to clinch their seventh varsity title in eight years.

When GCA and SIS faced in last season’s finale, the championship match was also decided in the third set with the Geckos escaping with a win, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12. The plot of yesterday’s rematch was the same as last year’s with the Eagles drawing first blood and SIS recovering in the second, but the ending had a twist with GCA showing toughness in the homestretch to pull off the win this time.

“Of course, I thought about what happened last season when we were almost there (championship), but blew it off. However in this championship match , although I knew SIS was a very tough opponent, I never doubted by players. I had confidence in them and I knew they could pull it off no matter how hard the challenges they faced,” said GCA coach Becky Robles when asked of last year’s finals collapse.

GCA faced serious obstacles right at the very first set when SIS went toe-to-toe with the Eagles and moved within a point of winning the opening set, 24-22, after Zoe Jewell’s tap fell to an unguarded spot. However, GCA regrouped and tied the game at 24-all, with Dae Min Jeon scoring on a kill and the spike of SIS’ Clay McCullough-Stearns hitting the net. The Eagles went on to win the extended set by two points after Angelo Salas made an ace and Jeon blocked McCullough-Stearns in the ensuing plays.

Jeon, Salas, Ira Batallones, Julie Muna, Michiko Tenorio, and James Libut started for GCA and Robles stuck with the six all throughout the game, while SIS made a few changes on its roster in the last part of the second set.

The second set was another back and forth match with SIS leading by as much as three, 23-20, before GCA recovered only to lose the break in the end of another extended tiff. SIS was on top, 25-24, when referee Scott Norman initially awarded a point to GCA after a net play as he first thought McCullough-Stearns’s hit against two GCA defenders went under the net. Norman then conferred with umpire Vanessa Pritchard, who said the hit went over the net, and gave SIS the game point. Although disappointed with the questionable call, Robles told her players to let the second-set loss go and focused in the last set.

In the deciding third set, neither team seemed ready to throw in the towel as SIS and GCA did not want to disappoint their respective supporters who were active all throughout the game cheering for their teams.

The finalists trades spikes and digs and the match was still close at the 6-8 tally, in favor of GCA, which then pulled away after teams switched courts. Jeon, Libut, and Salas proved to be too much against SIS frontliners in the end. Libut went for a kill off Salas’ toss to move GCA within a point of regaining the varsity championship, 14-7.

Tenorio served for the match point, but her service was received and when the ball returned to SIS, Andy Nutting went for a spike and scored, keeping SIS’ hopes alive. However, the Geckos’ celebration was short lived as after Nutting’s point, his serve went wide, awarding GCA the victory.

“This was a sweet one, as it came against the team that beat us last year. Hats off to SIS for giving us a good fight. This was how a championship game should be played,” Robles said.