Air Force men take armed forces volleyball crown

  • Published
  • By Walt Johnson
  • Colorado Springs Military Newspaper Group
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  The Air Force men’s volleyball team won the 2005 Men’s Armed Forces Volleyball Championship here May 16.

The Airmen began their run to the title by defeating the Navy 25-23, 25-17, 22-25 and 25-22. After the Army defeated the Marines -- 12-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-19 and 25-17 – they were in a position to take control of the tournament if they could beat Air Force.

Air Force had other thoughts, and pulled out a four-match victory (25-21, 25-23, 17-25 and 25-18) to finish the first night of the tournament undefeated.

On the second day of action, the Air Force tightened its grip on the tournament. They defeated the Marines to take a 3-0 record into the third day of the tournament.

The third day of the tournament could have been the day the Air Force men put the championship away, but the other service teams were in no mood to let the eventual champions win it so soon.

The Air Force's team could have put a stranglehold on the men's title if it could defeat the Navy men. After going through the first round undefeated and watching the other service teams knock each other off, Air Force, with a victory would have mathematically wrapped the championship. Malu Segai, Air Force men's team head coach, said winning the championship was the goal from the beginning for his team, and it was right there for the taking.

"From the time the players arrived at the training camp in Hawaii, we told them our goal was to win the interservice championship," he said. "We had a very young team this year, but they quickly realized what it would take to win the tournament."

But Navy was not about to let the young Air Force team wrap up the title. The Navy team played its best game of the tournament and beat the Air Force team in five sets (25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 18-25, 15-8). In the nightcap of second-round action, the Army teams defeated the Marine teams, setting up third-day action that would determine how the tournament would finish.

Air Force defeated the Army to push its record to 4-1 and assure itself of at least a tie for the title going into the last round of the tournament.

On the final day, the Air Force men had a simple mission: win its game against the Marines to succeed Navy as the armed forces champions. While a loss would not have ended the Air Force hopes of winning the title, it would have forced it into a playoff match against either the Navy or Army, because the winner of the Army-Navy game would have a 4-2 record that would have been similar to the Air Force.

Air Force did not leave anything to chance defeating the Marines 25-16, 25-14 and 25-19 to wrap up the championship. (Courtesy of American Forces Press Service)