RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – The much-anticipated Division I title matchup between the Wiesbaden and Naples girls’ volleyball teams Saturday afternoon was not for the faint of heart.
The two perennial powerhouses played a match for the ages, with Wiesbaden emerging with the Warriors’ first DODDS-Europe girls’ volleyball title after a 19-25, 25-11, 25-14, 23-25, 16-14 victory.
After taking the first set, Naples dropped the next two to the Warriors. But the former Division II power was not about to go gentle into that good night. The Wildcats stormed back to take the fourth set and force a fifth, deciding set in their first year of Division I play.
For several minutes into the final set, it appeared all but over for the Warriors and their undefeated season. Naples was on a roll: Senior Jessica Wheeler landed a kill just inside Wiesbaden’s back court line to put the Wildcats up 4-0. A few plays later, it was senior Aundrea Hall with the hot hand, spiking the ball at the net for a 7-1 Naples lead.
Naples’ streak continued when sophomore Amanda James nabbed two consecutive aces on serve, putting the Wildcats up 10-2 and the title within five points.
Wiesbaden somehow hung in and grabbed a few points, working itself back into the game.
With Naples up 14-11 and a point shy of victory, Wiesbaden junior Ellen Tafoya wrested control of the Warriors’ fate. Tafoya spiked the ball for a kill, putting the Warriors within two. After a Naples tap at the net fell out of bounds by inches, Tafoya stepped up with two kills, giving Wiesbaden the lead, 15-14.
Wiesbaden junior Leah Rojas finished the game off with an ace, sending the Warriors into a collective tizzy of screams, hugs, tears and bouncing pony tails.
Rojas, named the tourney’s Division I most valuable player, said the win was for “our 12th man - the coaches, our family, our fans. They really helped us a lot.
“I was really, really nervous,” she said. “But I knew that our team could pull through and with a little kick and once you hit rock bottom, there’s nowhere but up. We went up.”
The victory felt surreal for Wiesbaden senior right-side hitter Mackinley Bullock.
“Being so down in that plus fifth game, and just coming back; it was crazy. I don’t have words,” she said.
Bullock said she felt frustrated and jittery in the fifth set, as the game seemed to be slipping away, “when we were like (down) 10-2.”
Then some magic happened.
“We had a timeout. We did our little cheer. Our coach pumped us back up and I guess the fire got lit in us,” Bullock said. “We went and we played and we won.”
Wiesbaden coach Linnea Velsvaag described the match as “intense.”
“That was some incredible volleyball,” she said. “Obviously, it could have gone either way. It was an incredible season.”
Velsvaag said the Warriors won it as a team, but gave special credit to Tafoya. Her “smart plays in the end were what saved our back side,” she said. “There’s no doubt about (it), she tipped smart, she hit smart, she played smart.”
Though disappointed with the loss, Wildcat coaches Julia and Kenny Byler said they were proud of the way their team played.
“We told them they should hold their heads up high,” Julia Byler said. “That if they’re going to lose, then they lose with heart. 16-14 in the fifth set is heart. That was true volleyball.”
Kenny Byler said Naples’ performance in the tournament proves the team is Division I caliber, despite being one of the smallest schools in the big-schools’ grouping.
“They believed in themselves,” he said. “They came out here and showed everybody we belong here.”