Rocball finale down to rubber match

The Veterans and Teachers will be playing in a deciding Game 5 tomorrow as the former forced a deadlock in their title series in the 2014-2015 Saipan Rocball League.

J.R. Gechig, seen here playing for Out-of-Shape in last season’s Rocball league, is now with the Veterans, who will be challenging the Teachers for this year’s championship tomorrow at 1pm at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.
(Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The Teachers forced a 2-2 standoff in the best-of-five championship affair after posting a 57-32 overtime win in Game 4 yesterday at the Marianas High School last week. The Teachers needed an extra set to force a rubber as it dropped the fourth set, 10-13. After regulation, the Teachers were still up, 50-30, as they swept the first three sets, 14-6, 12-8, 14-3. However, they could not get the automatic win, as Rocball rules state the leading squad must also prevail in the fourth set to take the victory.

In overtime, the Teachers needed to win only once and they did, 7-2, to keep their title bid alive.

The Teachers prevented the Veterans from wrapping up the series as the former bounced back from a sorry loss in Game 3.

The Veterans, which won Game 2 after juicing out the Teachers last week, 43-37, moved one win away from clinching the championship when they pulled off a come-from-behind victory in Game 3. The Veterans were way behind in Game 3, 34-51, but saved their season when they eked out a 13-12 win in the fourth set. The Teachers dominated the Veterans in the first three frames, 13-8, 13-4, 13-9, before losing the fourth.

Since the Teachers were ahead, the Veterans were pressed to win twice in extension and managed to get the needed wins to boost their title bid. The Veterans were ahead in the first overtime set, 5-2, and took the victory after scoring a goal. The team to score a goal first in overtime regardless of the game’s scores automatically wins the set. If no goal is made, the squad to score seven points first off a good first serve gets the win.

In the second set, the Veterans did it again, knocking in a goal while leading by just two, 6-4.

Earlier in Game 2, the Teachers also bagged two overtime wins to even up the series, 1-1. The Teachers sent Game 2 to overtime when it earned a 12-4 victory in the fourth set. The Teachers also won the second set, 13-2, but since the Veterans took the first and third by double-digit margins, 14-4, 13-3, the latter had the lead in regulation, 34-32.

Hanging on to a 2-point cushion, the Veterans needed only one win in overtime, but failed to deliver as they were really off in the extended sets. The Teachers won the two overtime sets in convincing fashions, 8-1, 8-0.

Meanwhile, the Veterans’ Mitcaf Tipengeni is so far the series’ heavy hitter, scoring 34 points off 14 aces and two goals (each goal is equivalent to 3 points).