DODEA-Europe’s girls volleyball Division I has looked like an unsolvable puzzle this campaign.

But the final pieces will come together this weekend when the final four teams meet at Ramstein High School for the 2025 DODEA European championships on Friday and Saturday.

Wiesbaden, Vilseck, Stuttgart and Ramstein have beaten up on each other all season.

The Falcons went 1-1 against the Panthers and Warriors and 2-1 against the Royals during the regular season. Wiesbaden, meanwhile, boasted a 1-0 record against Stuttgart and Ramstein, while the Panthers also got one up on the Royals.

The chaos continued during last weekend’s qualifying tournament, as the first-place Panthers lost 2-1 to the Falcons in Vilseck.

How Friday and Saturday pan out is cloudy, and it only adds to the excitement of all involved.

“It’s just going to be a big, old dogfight. I love it,” Stuttgart coach Bethany Trimble said. “From a competitive standpoint, it’s exactly what you’d want. You don’t want to walk in and have it be a cakewalk. You want to battle it out and it be a great level of competition.”

Three of the teams are seeking to end championship droughts.

Vilseck has the longest one, last claiming a European crown in 2010. Ramstein won its most recent title in 2019 and dropped the 2023 championship by a handful of points, while Stuttgart took home the 2021 title.

Wiesbaden, meanwhile, has won the past three editions. The Warriors, paced by senior Bailey Foulk and junior Lillie Redeen, enter as the top seed after winning the Ramstein qualifying tournament.

In fact, the 2-1 win over the hometown Royals has given the Warriors confidence to go for a four-peat.

“The girls’ energy that they had in that game, it was a test of how we were going to go into the championship weekend,” Wiesbaden coach Malia Taifi-Husseini said. “I feel like we’re ready.”

The tournament is set up as a round-robin where the two teams with the most set wins Friday will advance to Saturday’s final. The first tiebreaker is head-to-head, while point differential is the second one.

Considering how tight things have been during the season, the coaches said the tournament could be decided by a handful of points.

Serving could be key, which Vilseck coach Brian Swenty said could tip things in his team’s favor. The Falcons have five jump servers, led by defensive specialist Marcia Molock. Go-to hitter Sophie Fedorisin and Hannah Weyland are expected to factor in as well.

“We’re all looking at our game plans, and they’re going to come down to a few points here and there, whoever’s kids are on,” Swenty said.

For Stuttgart, Trimble pointed to the back row’s ability to receive serves, especially with Zoe Schneidt, Kennady Kapise, Brooklyn Biles and Hannah Holmes there, as a reason for the Panthers’ championship aspirations.

Ramstein, meanwhile, plays extremely offensively and always has three hitters in the front row, paced by Ella Yost. Coach Kandel Baxter said hitting accuracy will decide the Royals’ fate.

“Volleyball is such an up-and-down sport,” Baxter said. “To stay up and keep up and not get in our heads – for any of the teams, really – will be the difference.”

Division II

A new champion will be crowned in Vicenza, Italy, when the mid-sized schools meet on Friday and Saturday for their tournament.

The hometown Cougars lost in a three-way tie with Black Forest Academy and Aviano last weekend.

That leaves the two-time runner-up Falcons and Saints to duke it out with the qualifiers out of Naples: American Overseas School of Rome and Rota.

“I was looking at the four teams that were in it in the final four, and honestly, it could go any way for any team on Friday,” Aviano coach Michael Gros said. “It’s just who brings their A game in each set is what’s going to make a difference because we are all four very well balanced.”

That doesn’t mean the tournament doesn’t have a favorite.

AOSR finished atop the Division II standings during the regular season at 11-2 and went 7-2 at the Naples qualifier. Junior setter Gloria Olivieri and freshman outside hitter Julia Briggs have led the way.

“Of course, there’s always pressure when you enter as the top seed, that’s just a reality of high-level competition,” coach Claudio Olivieri said via email. “We aren’t focusing on the seed; we’re focusing on executing our game plan and playing the volleyball we know we’re capable of.”

Gros said the four teams have hitters that can make opponents pay.

The Saints turn to Addison Krajicek, Priscilla Sivonen powers BFA’s attack and Jourdan Timmons paces an Admiral squad that had won five of its last six regular-season contests before going 9-3 at Naples.

Gros explained how serving will aid teams defensively as well as offensively.

“We have to serve aggressively to keep them out of system,” he said. “If we send over lobs or if we just get it over and in, they’re going to get an opportunity to put it down our throats. Every team has the ability to do that.”

Division III

The Ansbach Cougars stepped into the gym at Spangdahlem High School last weekend and could feel everyone was against them.

It’s not a mystery. The Cougars are the three-time defending champion and have dominated the small-school tier, having not lost since 2021.

Ansbach enters the 2025 tournament as the favorite to take home a fourth crown on Friday and Saturday at Ramstein High School as the No. 1 seed.

“You can tell when you have a target on your back,” first-year head coach Christa Becherer said. “That might be a goal – to knock off Ansbach because we’ve been so strong the last few years.”

Spangdahlem, Alconbury or Brussels won’t hand Ansbach the title. The Brigands themselves have failed the past two finals and are hoping the third time is the charm.

And the Sentinels handed the Cougars a blemish during the Spangdahlem qualifier. While Ansbach took the match, Spangdahlem picked up the third set 25-23 after dropping the first two 20-25, 21-25.

“They showed that they can play their game and take a set away from Ansbach,” Spangdahlem coach Daniel Williams said. “Now, we just need to put it together at Euros this week.”

The Ansbach coach said it was a good reminder for Kennedy Lange, Victoria Ortiz, Bailey Eickmeyer and company heading into this weekend’s European tournament.

“It showed how mentally tough we need to be,” Becherer said. “Especially going into qualifiers and now this weekend, every point matters.”

The Sentinels are senior laden, with Lexi Lauer, Maxine Diaz, Kylee Marion, Aniya Robinson and Alyssa Farmakis spending most if not all their high school careers in Spangdahlem.

Williams said that group, along with newcomers Summer Mundy and Emily Castano and freshman Makayla Figureoa, must limit mistakes to upset the Cougars.

“The times in which we struggled is where we commit one or two errors, and then all of a sudden, we find ourselves having committed 10,” Williams said. “Just play with confidence, play as error-free as possible, and things will go our way.”