Floaters rise over Proa in IWVBL

The underrated Floaters pulled off their first upset of the season on Thursday night when they downed the NMC Proa in three sets of closely contested action in the Island Wide Volleyball League at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium in front of crowd that left the facility in shock.

Led by the nine kills and two aces of Jonas Barcinas, the Floaters secured their third win of the season in a thrilling comeback—leaving many to wonder where their game has been the first 10 weeks. After falling to the Proa (4-5) 25-20 in the first set, the Floaters (3-8) rallied to eek past NMC in the second, 25-23, before grabbing the deciding third set 18-16.

Everything started as planned for the Proa, as they jumped out to take the first set 25-20 on the strength of five kills and six laser-guided serves that weren’t returnable to put the Floaters on notice that the Proa planned a swift victory.

The chain of events that followed in the second set sent the students reeling, as the teachers rallied to edge the Proa 25-23 to tie the game at one set apiece. Leaper Kaycee Rengaelur racked up three kills, while Barcinas tallied two aces to complement his three kills. Bryant Moors also notched a kill and an ace for the Floaters, and Andy Nepaial served up an ace in the evener as well.

The final set was a race to 15 points, but the teams needed to go into extra points during the rubber match. Rengaelur tallied another pair of kills and an ace, while Moors recorded another kill but Barcinas took the load on his shoulders by taking to the air for six kills.

With the loss, the Proa lost out on an opportunity to move a half game ahead of Shag in the race for the final playoff spot. The Floaters are all but out of the running for the postseason, but their effort was not that of a team of quitters—that was reserved for the Ol’Aces.

The Managaha Chiefs got an easy win on Thursday evening as the Ol’Aces failed to field a team for their 6:30pm contest. In their defense, the team was shorthanded because they had several of their players recognized by the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association for achieving athletic excellence this past year at the Athlete of the Year banquet.

The Chiefs took the win to move into a tie for second place with No Fear at 8-2, while the Ol’Aces continued their slide out of playoff contention. The action of the men’s league continues next Tuesday at 6:30pm at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium, while the women wait for the playoffs to begin in April.