Mwaliyas survives Black Magic to return to finals

Defending champion Mwaliyas is back in the big game.

After dropping the first match of their 2006 World Organized Rocball High School League best-of-three semifinals series to Black Magic, Mwaliyas completed an impressive comeback by winning Game 3 yesterday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.

Despite allowing Black Magic to comeback and force o-kon, Mwaliyas was able to return to championship form and dominated overtime for the win, 13-5.

Both teams were knotted at 48-48 after regulation, resulting in the need for only a single overtime set.

Black Magic got the start they wanted as Dean Mathew, J.J. Maliti, and Mollins Episom nailed three straight goals to spearhead the team to a 16-12 victory.

The Black Magic wizards continued to put up a strong fight but weren’t able to prevent Mwaliyas from coming back as the defending champion managed to win, 19-14, and take a slim lead in the overall points tally, 31-30.

Mwaliyas simply dominated the third set courtesy of the play of veteran Pedro Iguel. With his team up 5-2, Iguel slammed in a goal, then followed up with a xunk and elected to subtract two points from Black Magic’s corner, resulting in Mwaliyas holding an 8-0 lead. He then connected for an ace for a 10-0 lead before Black Magic got back on the scoreboard. Nonetheless, Mwaliyas strolled and closed the set with a 15-1 victory, and headed into the fourth set with a 46-31 lead.

Black Magic, however, was far from giving up and unleashed furious shots that enabled the team to pull even. A xunk by Episom dropped Mwaliyas’ score from four to two, and Black Magic almost closed the bout in regulation by winning the set, 17-2, for the 48-48 tie. Had Black Magic hold Mwaliyas one point lower, the team would’ve won.

The overtime set was tight in the early goings until Darrel Roligat blasted consecutive aces for a 10-3 lead. Black Magic managed to score and earned a service opportunity, but Mwaliyas was able to counter in the next play, earned serve, and close the bout when Iguel pounded the ball for a game-ending kee.

Roligat finished as the game’s heavy hitter and led Mwaliyas with 15 points after smacking two aces, four kees, and a goal. Iguel also had a solid outing and finished with 14 points on an ace, a xunk, two kees, and two goals.

Dior Jones led Black Magic with 10 points on an ace and four kees.

The game also featured a total of eight goals scored.

With the win, Mwaliyas will face No. 2 Ochobu in the best-of-five championship series beginning next Tuesday, March 21. Ochobu earned their finals slot by beating Lagooners in the semifinals.

For more information on high school Rocball, contact the sport’s creator Jim Feger at 237-3235.