Würzburg's Suzanne Hamilton returns a serve in the Wolves' 25-16, 25-22 loss to Lakenheath in second-day action at the 2004 DODDS-Europe volleyball championships. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Heidelberg eliminated top-seeded Ramstein on Friday to reach the Division I championship game in the DODDS-Europe girls high school volleyball tournament.
Rich Bennett’s Lady Lions — who closed out their regular season with road losses at Lakenheath and Ramstein — avenged themselves against second-seeded Lakenheath 25-23, 25-11 on Thursday, then swept top-seeded Ramstein 25-17, 25-22 on Friday.
Those victories clinched a finals berth for the Lady Lions, who improved to 5-0 going into Friday’s final pool play match against winless Kaiserslautern.
In the finals, they will take on Frankfurt International School, which reached the final by defeating seventh-seeded Wiesbaden to improve to 4-1. FIS, which holds the tiebreaker advantage against Ramstein and Lakenheath, lost to Heidelberg 25-23, 20-25, 8-15 on Thursday.
In the only other finals pairing decided by presstime Friday, the Alconbury Dragons, unbeaten in this tournament, swept Ankara 25-15, 25-2, 25-19 in Friday’s semifinals to earn a berth against the American School of Milan Panthers in Saturday’s Division IV championship game, set to start at 11 a.m.
The Dragons, who were top-seeded for this season’s inaugural Division IV tournament, have not dropped a game so far.
“I think we’ve really stepped it up here,” said Alconbury’s 5-9 senior middle blocker Caitlin Laingen. “We really want to win. It’s been a goal of ours all season.”
Milan, also unbeaten going into the final, also has advanced with ease.
The Panthers lost just one game en route to the finals, during Thursday’s 20-25, 25-20, 15-8 victory over Menwith Hill. They blitzed Brussels 25-18, 25-10, 25-11 in Friday’s semifinals.
In the Division II and III events, the top-seeded Aviano Saints encountered a speed bump in Division II pool play. The Saints suffered their first loss of the season Thursday night in a 25-23, 20-25, 15-18 ambush by the Black Forest Academy Falcons, but rebounded to reach a Friday evening semifinal against second-seeded Vilseck, the Division II-South champions.
Aviano downed Naples 25-10, 25-10 to reach the semifinals; Vilseck stopped Mannheim 25-13, 25-22.
In the other semifinal, unbeaten BFA was to take on Patch. The semifinal winners move on Saturday’s 2 p.m. title game at Vogelweh gym.
Defending Division III champion London Central moved into Friday evening’s Division III semifinals against top-seeded Baumholder. The Bobcats, who returned only one starter from last year’s championship squad, downed Bamberg 25-17, 25-14 in Friday’s quarterfinals to remain unbeaten.
The Baumholder-London Central winner is to take on the Ansbach-Sigonella winner at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Vogelweh.
Sigonella, led by senior transfer Liz Lally, moved into the semis with a 25-13, 25-12 victory over Rota on Friday.
Lally, who played in Japan last season, had seven kills and seven aces against Rota. She had nine kills on Thursday as the fourth-seeded Jaguars downed top-seeded Baumholder.