The realignment of DODDS-Europe’s three divisions was expected to produce mismatches. On Thursday, the first day of the 2014 European girls volleyball championship tournament, it did just that.

But perhaps not the ones you’d expect.

Division IWhen Naples, SHAPE and Vicenza were bumped up from Division II to Division I, the question was asked: can they hold their own? It didn’t take long to get an answer.

Just a few hours into the morning, the Wildcats, Spartans and Cougars had already graduated from worthy competitors to legitimate contenders.

SHAPE landed the first blow in the day’s Division I opener. The Spartans rallied from a first-set loss to knock off the three-time defending champion Ramstein Royals 16-25, 25-18, 15-8. Reigning Division II champion Naples was up next. The second-seeded Wildcats made quick work of host Kaiserslautern in a 25-18, 25-7 rout. Soon after, Vicenza joined the winner’s circle with a thorough defeat of Vilseck; the fifth-seeded Cougars flipped a middle-seed showdown with the fourth-seeded Falcons into a runaway 25-4, 25-14 rout.

SHAPE’s Erin O’Brien neatly summarized the enthusiasm of the three new Division I teams, saying that she and fellow co-captain Maria Arevalo were “literally about to cry” after defeating the Royals.

“You do not know how good it was,” the senior Spartan said. “We pulled ourselves together, and we rallied, and we won, and it was a really good feeling.”

That’s in contrast to anxiety O’Brien said she experienced entering the Division I ranks.

“I was really nervous,” O’Brien said “It’s a different mentality. “But beating a very big Division I school was gratifying.”

Both Naples and Vicenza finished the day unbeaten. The Wildcats edged SHAPE 25-9, 20-25, 15-11, while the Cougars handled eighth-seeded Lakenheath 25-18, 25-20.

The new arrivals can upend the status quo even further Friday as Vicenza gets a shot at tournament top seed Wiesbaden, which coasted through lopsided wins over Lakenheath and Vilseck, and both Naples and SHAPE line up against No. 2 Patch.

The top two teams in each pool will advance to Friday evening’s semifinals; the title match follows Saturday afternoon.

Division IIAmidst a more manageable 10-team bracket, a vacant championship and the absence of traditional powers Naples, Vicenza and SHAPE, a new crop of Division II contenders emerged Thursday.

Foremost among them, appropriately enough, were the tournament’s top two seeds: No. 1 Hohenfels and No. 2 Aviano.

The top-seeded Tigers coasted past Bahrain and Marymount, but were pushed to their limit by fourth-seeded AFNORTH in a 25-23, 22-25, 15-11 victory.

That’s a familiar situation for the Tigers, who played five five-set matches over the course of their 11-2 season and won them all.

“We’re used to being in high-pressure situations. It’s nothing to us,” Tigers junior Payton Chandler said. “We’ve been doing it all season. We’ve been pulling through.”

That attitude applies to their status as the tournament’s No. 1 seed. The Tigers were happy to step into and justify their new role as a Division II favorite.

“We have something to prove to everybody to show them why we’re number one,” Chandler said. “So we did it.”

Meanwhile, the second-seeded Saints turned in three impressive straight-set wins over Ansbach, Rota and Black Forest Academy.

Saints senior Jasmine Cole said her team wouldn’t have minded rehashing its regular-season slate with regional opponents and former divisional rivals Vicenza and Naples, especially considering the Saints traded wins and losses with both the Cougars and Wildcats this fall. But the streamlined bracket does help light the path to Saturday’s final.

“I like competition,” Cole said. “This time, we’re bringing it because we really want it this year. We feel like we have a chance.”

Fifth-seeded Bitburg also escaped day one without a loss. The Barons handled Bahrain and Marymount on Thursday, but their road will get rougher Friday in matches against AFNORTH and Hohenfels.

The top two teams in each five-team pool will advance to Friday night’s semifinals; the championship match is set for Saturday afternoon.

Division IIIThe Sigonella Jaguars are both the reigning Division III champion and this tournament’s bottom seed. On Thursday, they played more like the former, winning their first three matches of the day.

The Jaguars’ strong effort epitomized a topsy-turvy first day for the small-school field. Top seed Alconbury struggled, taking early losses to Florence and Baumholder. Perennial power Brussels, last year’s runner-up to Sigonella, took a hard-fought 20-25, 26-24, 15-10 loss to Incirlik. But the win likely won’t help the Hodjas much, as they lost their other three matches on the day.

In short, there’s still a lot to be settled on Friday. While finalists in Divisions I and II will be decided in Friday-night semifinals, the smaller eight-team Division III field will send its top two teams straight to Saturday’s championship match at the conclusion of Friday’s round-robin play.

Upstart Baumholder will face Ankara and Menwith Hill in hopes of playing its way into a surprise championship berth, while second-seeded Florence will take on both of last year’s finalists in matches against the Jaguars and Brigands.

broome.gregory@stripes.com

Twitter: @broomestripes

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