Ghasias sweeps Fanians for championship

Ghasias Brothers ruled the 2008-2009 World Organized Rocball Community League after sweeping the Fanians in the best-of-three titles series Tuesday night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

A 93-85 juiced-out win in Game 2 allowed the Ghasias Brothers to wrap up the short series and regained supremacy in the sport.

In the early years of Rocball league, Ghasias Brothers were a force in the indigenous sport and even topped the league for three straight years.

They took a leave from the league for a couple of years and returned last season with a bang sweeping their first four games.

At the end of the second round of elimination, Ghasias Brothers were at the top of the team standings and had only two losses in 12 games.

They were seeded first in the semifinals and whipped the Okies, 104-78, in the Final Four round to advance to the title match against the Fanians. The Fanians dethroned 2007-2008 champion Evenflow in the other semis pairing, 91-72.

In Game 1 of the finals Monday night, Ghasias needed two extra sets to thwart the hard fighting Fanians and eke out a 113-105 win.

Both teams expected another down-to-the-wire finish in Game 2 with the Fanians needing to win to force a do-or-die Game 3.

But Ghasias Brothers showed their toughest form in the last two sets with Freddie Pelisamen leaping high for powerful kills to end the series after only four sets.

Ghasias won the opening set of Game 1, 28-18. The Fanians recovered in the second set with a 28-14 triumph to take the lead, 46-42.

But Ghasias Brothers regained the driver’s seat, 67-66, after a 25-20 victory in the third set, and capped their successful comeback in the league with a 26-19 win in the fourth set.

Twelve teams joined last season’s Rocball league. The list included the Islanders, Naturals, No-Mercy, Uraiwak, Soul Rebels, Section A, FSM Rebels, and Prims.

The Prims, Uraiwak, and Section A were booted out of the tournament after the first round losing four games apiece.

The nine remaining teams advanced to the second round with the Naturals becoming the first casualty having dropped their first four matches.

Four more teams—Islanders, Soul Rebels, FSM Rebels, and No Mercy—joined the Naturals in the showers, while the Okies, Ghasias, Evenflow, and the Fanians were left to battle for the title.

Rocball is created by James Feger and is a unique sport as it combines the rules of volleyball and soccer. It is played in a slightly modified standard volleyball court with an overhead net bisecting team courts and a 6×12-foot soccer type goal located 10 feet behind each court. The sport uses a scoring system where a team could win a game by total amount of points scored using a set system of play.