Naples’ boys swept past Sigonella in three sets at Saturday’s DODEA-Europe volleyball matches at Naples Middle/High School on Naval Support Activity Naples. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)
NAPLES, Italy – The Hohenfels boys volleyball team turned a long journey into a strong showing by punching above their weight in matches against two DODEA-Europe foes in southern Italy.
At the same time, the Sigonella girls saw improvement in the season’s second week, challenging the Naples girls in play, before coming up short.
Boys
The Division III Tigers bested the Division II Jaguars Saturday in three sets, 25-16, 25-17 and 25-12. Sigonella also lost in three sets against Naples
On Friday, Hohenfels played solidly against Naples, winning two of five sets in mostly even play.
Being the only Division III school with a boys volleyball team means the scrappy Tigers face an uphill battle against bigger schools both in Germany and elsewhere around Europe, coach Shayla Hogue said.
But that doesn’t keep the team from playing to win.
“They want to work hard, they want to win, they want to do what’s best for everybody else around them,” Hogue said.
Senior Lucas Gibbs led the Tigers in attacks in two days of play with 25 kills and just five errors.
Meanwhile, freshman Ian Santos had the team’s lowest error rate in ball handling at around 5%, and senior Jaylen Greene finished the weekend with 12 aces, according to Hogue.
The team’s performance will improve over the season, Tigers player Kyrin Smith said.
“We’re the underdogs,” said Smith, a 16-year-old junior. “But this is the best team we’ve had so far … I think we’re really going to shock (people) at Euros. We’re coming for a championship.”
Jitters got the best of the Jaguars, coach Salvatore Iozzia said, adding that the team needs more time on the court to gel.
“We have a lot of young players, so everyone is still learning,” said Robert Gibbons, Sigonella’s senior captain. Success won’t necessarily be measured in wins, but rather if players have fun and “would do it all over again,” he said.
The weekend play saw the Wildcats win both their matches, taking three of five sets on Friday against Hohenfels and sweeping the Jaguars on Saturday, 25-14, 25-11 and 25-12.
That performance pleased assistant coach Francesco Buanne, who credited the team’s hard work in practice and consistent improvement. Still, work remains on court coverage, being more aggressive on serves and executing on free ball plays, he said.
A winning season would be good, but Buanne hopes the team grows in other ways.
“I want them to learn lifelong lessons they will carry with them through the rest of their careers … it’s more than just volleyball,” he said.
Hohenfels had the longer trip, but the Tigers had more than enough energy to down Sigonella on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in a boys volleyball matchup in Naples, Italy. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)
Naples’ Addison Klawonn tries to block the ball as the Wildcats played Sigonella on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in a DODEA-Europe girls volleyball match in Naples, Italy. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)
The Hohenfels boys bested Sigonella in three sets during Saturday’s DODEA-Europe volleyball matches at Naples Middle/HIgh School on Naval Support Activity Naples. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)
Mia Randazzo taps the ball over the net as the Naples Wildcats defeated the Sigonella Jaguars in the second week of DODEA-Europe volleyball play Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)
Sigonella girls volleyball coach Shawn McCarthy talks with players during Saturday’s DODEA-Europe volleyball matches in Naples, Italy. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)
Girls
The Jaguars came out strong in the first of four sets against the Wildcats on Saturday, winning 25-21. But the team’s uneven play saw Naples take the match by winning the final three sets: 25-16, 25-21 and 25-13.
Still, Sigonella’s performance saw solid gains over last week, according to coach Shawn McCarthy.
Strong contributions came from Izzy Ortiz with 6 aces, 8 kills and 2 blocks, Alysia Dobbins with 5 kills and Quinn Livingston with 10 assists, he said.
The young team was taking positive forward steps but not enough “to catch up quite yet to catch up with some of the bigger programs in the division,” he said. “It’s a balance trying to be aggressive to score the points without making the errors to give up the points.”
That equilibrium will come with time, said Sigonella senior Claire Deisley, adding that the team was taking lessons learned during play and applying them.
“We really worked on working our defense, on our positioning, and I think we did that really well,” she said. “We just have to adapt our mistakes and take them into account the next time we play.”
While the Wildcats got off to a rocky start, the team’s persistence made Naples coach Chaffee Taliu proud.
Confidence, chemistry and trust saw the lady Wildcats come back and win after making some adjustments, Taliu said.
Naples captains Guliyana Pablo and Claire Olsen said staying together helped the team overcome a slow start.
“We came together as a team,” said Pablo, a senior. “… we knew that not only one person could do it, so we made sure that each of us honed in our abilities … and we worked together as a team to get through it point by point.”
