This past Saturday, Gamma Phi Beta’s philanthropy event, Moonball, brought out the competitive side of members of the Greek community to see who would be crowned champions.

Moonball is a volleyball tournament where fraternities and sororities are paired up to make teams. There are two leagues, Pros and Joes, where each team competes in a process of elimination until two teams are left to play in the championships.

The event started at 8:15 a.m. and finished with the last game at 5:15 p.m. In the end, it was the team of Tau Kappa Epsilon and Alpha Delta Pi for the Pros, and Phi Delta Theta and Kappa Delta Zeta for the Joes, that won the whole tournament.

This was the third year Gamma Phi Beta has hosted Moonball since switching from Powder Puff Football in 2016. Breauna Fracassa, the President of Gamma Phi Beta, was a sophomore when her sorority made the switch. “Our international headquarters changed the sport since there were so many injuries in result of playing Powder Puff,” said Fracassa. “Each chapter could chose either kickball, volleyball, dodgeball, or basketball and we chose volleyball.”

Fracassa explained that transitioning to the new event  was easy due to philanthropy chair at the time, Stephanie Paul. “It was crazy because she had powderpuff planned months in advance and then Internationals told us about the change just before the new semester started,” said Fracassa. “Stephanie was able to organize the whole event with the few weeks she was given and pulled it off successfully too.”

Daisy Agers, the president of Alpha Gamma Delta, played in the Joes league. This was the second year she participated in Moonball and said, “We get a lot of support for our event Lip Jam, so I love when we can participate in others organizations events. We are all Greek and we are better when we come together to support one another.”

Megan Ruda, a senior, has been a member of Gamma Phi Beta since her freshman year. When asked what her favorite part about Moonball is, she said, “It’s fun to see the Greek community come together to play volleyball and to cheer on all our friends.”

Every year Gamma Phi Beta wants to make their event bigger and more successful. In order to do that, their president said, “We just keep trying to promote the philanthropy event on campus and create fun themes every year. We have each team dress as a theme incorporated into the theme we have, that way the players are having fun with the event too. We also were able to include people outside of Greek life as well this year like the guys in lacrosse, tennis and soccer team.”

Philanthropy not only impacts those it is meant to help but those who participate in it. “I think it’s made me realize what an impact Greek Life can make not just on campus but in our community,” said Fracassa. “Of course what we’re participating in is fun, but knowing that we’re raising money for Girls On the Run a nonprofit organization and making a difference in the community around us makes me so proud to be apart of something so much bigger than myself.”

Last year, the sorority raised $3,241.52 with the event and they hope to beat that number this year. The money they raise goes towards their philanthropy to build strong girls, which they support by partnering with Girls on the Run.