Mwaliyas fights back to win Game 2

Defending champion Mwaliyas dug itself out of a big hole and pulled the right strings yesterday to win Game 2 of their best-of-five championship series in the 2006 World Organized Rocball High School League at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.

Down by 14 points heading into the fourth set, the Mwaliyas players set their sights on forcing o-kon but ended up putting up just enough points to juice out, 53-52, over Ochobu to knot the series at a game a piece.

As reported earlier, Ochobu followed up their Game 1 victory by dominating a three-man Mwaliyas squad in the first two sets, which were played Wednesday.

Tarnes Kapwich and Awes Kawes were having their way and placed their shots well to lead Ochobu to a 15-10 victory in the first set and a 16-11 win in the second set after coming back from a 2-9 deficit.

Last year’s playoffs most valuable player Pedro Iguel, who didn’t suit up in the o-kon sets of Game 1 and the first two sets of Game 2, returned to action yesterday and tried to lead his team back.

Now playing with four players, Mwaliyas fought hard and gave Ochobu a good run, only to see their opponents control the bout for a 16-12 win and the 14-point lead, 47-33, in the overall point tally.

Despite the big deficit, Mwaliyas remained determined and focused on getting over the hill. Isidro Sablan smashed a kee and Iguel made his presence felt as he connected on a goal to give Mwaliyas an 8-3 lead.

Darrel Roligat then stepped up in the clutch for Mwaliyas as he served up an ace when his serve hit the face of the goal. He then connected on consecutive goals off serves for a 16-5 advantage, and after a kee, Iguel completed the comeback with an ace for the fourth set win.

After tallying the points, Rocball creator Jim Feger determined that Mwaliyas had erased their deficit and broke ahead of Ochobu after four sets to win the match.

Kapwich finished as the game’s heavy hitter with 19 points to lead Ochobu. He crushed the ball for three aces, five kees, and a goal.

Roligat and Shane Yamada led Mwaliyas with 16 points apiece. Roligat had two aces and four goals while Yamada hit three aces, a xunk, and four kees.

The players will have a three-day break and will resume their series with Game 3 beginning at 11:30am on Monday.

For more information about high school Rocball, contact Feger at 237-3235.