Lagooners manhandling Caropinos

The Lagooners manhandled the Caropinos yesterday in the ongoing 2005 World Organized Rocball High School League and are just one more set away from closing their regular season campaign with a juice out win.

Already securing the No. 3 spot for the playoffs, the Lagooners had one goal in mind heading into the bout at the Marianas High School Gymnasium, and that was close the regular season in style.

That is the current case as the team leads the Caropinos by 28 points, 48-20, after three sets of play.

The Lagooners quickly put on an offensive display as Danny Daniels connected for a goal in the first play of the game to give his team a 3-0 lead. Gracefull Fiden also got into the act as he smacked a couple of aces, and Typhoon Saito worked well as the goalie and pounded the ball for two kees as the Lagooners dominated the first set for an easy 16-4 victory.

The Caropinos, who are aiming to hit the win column, put up a better performance in the second set courtesy of team leading scorer Matthew Iguel. The Caropinos were down, 0-3, at the start of the set, but with Iguel’s serve right on the money, the team was able to put pressure on its opponent, and take the lead. Iguel busted out three straight aces to give the team a 7-3 lead, but the Lagooners responded and went on a 4-0 run to tie the score.

The Caropinos remained determined, though, and slowly moved ahead, taking an 11-7 lead when Jose Castro served up an ace. The lead went up 12-7 when the Lagooners had enough and stormed back.

Tito Francisco first connected for a kee, and after getting two rally points, 11-12, the Lagooners regained advantage when Sheila Francisco served up an ace, 13-12. Francisco was far from done as she gave her teammates a chance to relax by smacking two more aces to end the set, 17-12.

With the win, the Lagooners headed into the third set ahead by 17 points, 33-16.

There was little Caropinos was able to do in the third set as the Lagooners got off to another hot start. The team dominated and was up 9-4 when Fiden hit the team’s second goal of the match for a 12-4 lead. The team then won the next three points to close the set, 15-4.

Fiden currently leads the Lagooners with nine points on three aces and a goal, while Francisco has eight points on four aces.

Iguel leads Caropinos with three aces for six points.

Caropinos still has a shot at pulling a comeback if they win the fourth set, slated to begin at 11:30am today. The team must force o-kon by winning the set, then must win both overtime sets to survive.

Win or lose, the Lagooners will face the loser of the Mwaliyas-Ochobu bout in the first round of the playoffs. Mwaliyas and Ochobu close the regular season on Jan. 30, with the winner taking the pennant and the loser placing second.

Black Magic and B-n-S are currently tied in fourth place with 4-3 records, and according to the sport’s creator Jim Feger, a one-game playoff will be held between the two teams to determined who will take the final playoffs spot.

The first round of the playoffs will feature best-of-three series.
For more information about high school Rocball, contact Feger at 237-3235.