Vilseck's Angel Swann, left, tries to block a return by Lakenheith's Jessica Serd in an opening-day, Division I match at the DODDS-Europe volleyball championships in Kaiserslautern on Thursday. Lakenheath won 22-25, 25-12, 15-11. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
Vilseck's Angel Swann, left, tries to block a return by Lakenheith's Jessica Serd in an opening-day, Division I match at the DODDS-Europe volleyball championships in Kaiserslautern on Thursday. Lakenheath won 22-25, 25-12, 15-11. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
On opening day of the DODDS-Europe volleyball finals, Vicenza's Anna Vallery bumps a ball in a match against Milan, as teammates Adriona Cleaveland, left, and Valerie Stanley watch. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
Kaiserslautern's Shamona Cunningham spikes against Lakenheath, as teammate Karah Helm watches, on opening day of the DODDS-Europe volleyball finals. Kaiserslautern lost an exciting match 25-17,19-25, 13-15. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
AFNORTH's Jillian Barthel bumps a return in the Lions' 8-25,19-25 loss to Baumholder on opening day of the DODDS-Europe volleyball championships in Kaiserslautern, Germany, on Thursday. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — For a tournament whose watchword might well be "unknown," perhaps the biggest unknown of them all, Lajes, made the biggest splash Thursday in the DODDS-Europe girls high school volleyball tournament.
"We’re on a roll," Lajes coach Julie Sorrell said after her sixth-seeded Falcons had dispatched defending champion Rota, the No. 3 seed, and No. 2 Alconbury in the Division IV pool-play event.
Sorrell said Megan McClain came up with nine kills for Azores-based Lajes in its 26-24, 25-18 conquest of Rota and Cassidy Clark made six digs in a 25-22, 20-25, 15-8 defeat of Alconbury.
Not bad for a team that gets no DODDS-Europe competition until tournament time. "We play local Portuguese teams," Sorrell said. "They’re our age, 15-18, but the funny thing is, they’ve been playing together for six years. It’s good preparation for this tournament."
The victories left Lajes, which was to play seventh-seeded Incirlik later Thursday, a triumph away from the pool title and a berth in Friday’s 10 a.m. quarterfinal game against the fourth-place team in the other pool.
Another big surprise in early matches Thursday was Ansbach’s upset of defending champion Aviano in its pool-play opener in Division II. Ansbach, seeded fifth, knocked off the fourth-seeded Saints 25-21, 25-18.
"We’re excited," Ansbach’s Jackie Pohl said. "We’re all seniors, so we’re going out there trying our hardest."
Ansbach-Aviano represented just one of the unknown quantities at this year’s Europeans, the first tourney to follow a regional regular-season schedule. Under the regional concept, no effort is made for teams to schedule opponents in their divisions. Instead, teams are matched against nearby opponents regardless of size.
The result became apparent in Ansbach’s second match of the day, a 25-10, 25-22 defeat to top-seeded SHAPE. Despite a huge talent edge, SHAPE had to rally from a 9-16 deficit in the second game. Six kills and four aces by Editre Bakusa brought the Lady Spartans back but didn’t do much to bring Ansbach’s players down.
"We’re really confident," Pohl said after her team’s lost chance against SHAPE. "We’ve been confident all year."
Aviano rebounded with a 25-15, 25-19 victory over Bitburg, leaving the Saints in the race for Friday’s quarterfinals. "We’re really young this year," Aviano coach Hans Hillestad said. "We’re out to have a good time."
Thursday’s early results in the Divisions I and III tournaments, both round-robin events, held few other surprises. Top-seeded Ramstein swept No. 6 Frankfurt International School and No. 7 Patch; No. 2 Heidelberg was idle until late in the afternoon.
In Division III, No. 1 Marymount International School of Rome and No. 2 Baumholder breezed in opening matches.
Highlights of Friday’s play are the Division II quarterfinals and semifinals, beginning at 9 a.m. at Ramstein’s Southside gym, and the D-IV quarters and semis at the same time at Kaiserslautern High School and Vogelweh.
Divisions I and III will wrap up round-robin play at the same sites as the D-IV games, with the probable highlights the rematch of last year’s D-III title game, Marymount-Baumholder, at 4:30 p.m. and the Ramstein-Heidelberg clash at 5:30 p.m. Both games are scheduled for Vogelweh.
