As this developed, three teams were dropped after elimination round, allowing nine teams to advance to the next round of Rocball matches at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.
The three teams were Uraiwak, Section “A”, and Prim.
Ghasias Brothers remain undefeated with a 56 to 49 win over the Soul Rebels in four sets “Juice”.
Freddy Pelisamen of Ghasias Brothers tallied 3 aces, 6 kees, and 1 goal for 21 points.
The Ghasias Brothers had to come from behind to maintain their unwrinkled record.
Soul Rebels took the upper hand after three sets with a score of 47 while Ghasias Brothers trailed with 39 points.
Under the rules of the game, Ghasias Brothers had to win the fourth set by at least 9 points to win the game.
Pelisamen served 3 aces and scored a goal to add to his team’s effort with court points and smashed their way through Soul Rebels in the fourth set 17 to 2 – a 15-point margin to juice-out and win the game.
In other matches, Okies defeated Naturals and juiced out 54 to 42 in four sets.
Joemil Lisua of Okies was his team’s highest scorer with 2 aces and 3 kees for 10 points.
Ichnis Kapwich of Naturals also scored 10 points in the multiple-point category with 2 aces and 3 kees.
Islanders pulled out a win over FSM Rebels in a juice-out four set game 60 to 49.
Islanders’ Jerry Saures was the heavy hitter in the match with 3 aces, 1 xunk, and 3 kees for 14 points.
Joshua Titus of the FSM Rebels was his teams double-digit top hitter with 1 ace, 3 kees, and 1 goal for 11 points.
Fanians beat No-Mercy to juice out the fourth game, 66 to 33.
Larry Sharry of Fanians fashioned 4 aces, 1 kee, and 1 goal for 15 points, as Myron Laniyo of No-Mercy scored 1 ace and 3 kees for 8 points.
The following teams will face off in the second round of match-up next Saturday: Islanders vs. Evenflow; No-Mercy vs. Ghasias Brothers; FSM Rebels vs. Okies; Naturals vs. Fanians; Soul Rebels vs. Evenflow.
The remaining nine teams in the league will start the round-robin phase of the Rocball season where each team plays each other at least once before the semi-finals.
The top four teams will advance into the semi finals.
(With report from James W. Feger)
