Veteran teams get early jump
in DODDS-Europe volleyball tourney
By Rusty Bryan, Stars
and Stripes
Michael Abrams / Stars and Stripes
Alex Petrucci of Naples reaches high for a ball returned by Melissa Fust of Aviano. |
HEIDELBERG, Germany — The report card for the first day of the DODDS-Europe high
school Division III volleyball tournament came up all As and Bs on Thursday.
An A for both Aviano and Alconbury and a B for Baumholder, all three undefeated in
early round-robin games.
Baumholder, which placed second in this event the past two years, rode net control by
All-Europe returnee Katie Feterl and her 5-11 teammate, Keishan Mercado to a 4-0 first-day
record. The Lady Bucs, champions of Division III-South, downed III-North runner-up
Brussels 15-7, 15-3 and Turkey champion Incirlik 15-5, 15-1.
"There’s no substitute for experience," said Baumholder’s Sarah
Karayannis, a junior who endured the Lady Bucs’ near-miss last season.
And if the two-time European runners-up are feeling pressure with the Marymount threat
absent from this year’s event, they aren’t showing it. If the Lady Bucs were any
looser, they’d be shedding parts.
"Coach [Mike Reilly] always tells us, ‘If you play your best, you have
nothing to worry about’," said 5-10 senior Lauren Brooks, whose screaming kill
wrapped up the Incirlik match.
Baumholder’s start would seem to allow the Lady Bucs to play around with the
lineup and rest some of their starters for Saturday’s finals, but Feterl had no time
for that sort of suggestion.
"We want to win them all," she said.
Michael Abrams / Stars and Stripes
Baumholder's Keishan Mercado leaps in an attempt to block a return by Heather Parker of
Brussels. |
Alconbury is another team that could try to conserve energy, having endured an 18-hour
bus ride to get to Germany. But coach Nancy Peck, whose Lady Dragons scorched Italy
runner-up Naples 15-9, 15-11 in their opener, said that’s not an option.
"You can do that at divisionals," she said, "but there are too many good
teams here to try it. We just want to make the finals."
And Alconbury was by no means the only team to chalk up some serious bus time.
Italy champion Aviano was on the road for 18 hours, its trip lengthened by the closure
of the Goddard Tunnel because of a fire.
If the ride had an effect on the Lady Saints, it was hard for Naples and Brussels to
see it. Aviano took a pair of games from Naples, 18-16 and 15-13, and two from Brussels,
16-14 and 15-10.
In the Division I event at Mannheim’s Sullivan Barracks, defending champion
Ramstein showed its reluctance to surrender the crown it has worn for the past three years
by going 4-0 on opening day, 15-12, 15-11 over Wiesbaden and 15-9, 15-0 over Wurzburg.
In Thursday’s Division II action, conducted at the BFV Sports Arena in Mannheim,
defending champion Black Forest Academy ran through Day 1 with six victories against no
defeats. Bitburg, runner-up to BFA last year, was 4-0 going into Thursday’s late
match against Patch.
Round-robin play continues at 10:30 a.m. Friday, with the Division III schools moving
to the Sports Arena, the Division II teams at Sullivan, and the Division I field at
Heidelberg.
Saturday’s finals, matching the top two teams in the round-robin standings in each
division, are scheduled for the Sports Arena.
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