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by Robert Baldwin
contributing writer
Injuries to key players and some inconsistent play doomed the Ramstein girls in a four-way volleyball tournament Saturday at the Ramstein gym. The Royals lost to Vilseck in five tightly contested sets and then fell to Stuttgart in four. Vilseck split its two matches and Lakenheath lost twice. Stuttgart won twice and is currently the solid favorite as the teams head towards the European championships the last weekend of October in the KMC.
Royals sophomore Gigi Stake had 29 kills in the two matches and continues to prove she is one of the best hitters in the conference. Tamiya Bruce had 11 kills against Vilseck and Isabelle Coddington recorded six aces. Against Stuttgart, Lydia Coddington had 14 digs and Isabelle Coddington 20 assists.
“Service errors and service reception were uncharacteristically not on point during the morning match up [against Vilseck],” said Coach Kandel Baxter. “Our girls just looked flat and Vilseck stepped up their game from our first meeting two weeks ago. We will have another chance to play at our homecoming in three weeks and we will have to step up our game. We look forward to the rematch and we are looking forward having the bye weekend to get all of our girls healthy.”
In Wiesbaden, Kaiserslautern used its usual balanced attack to take its match against Black Forest Academy in straight sets.
The second matchup was with the host Warriors and the Raiders fell in four sets. The Raiders were the victims of a controversial call that, if it went their way, would have tied it and swung the momentum. After a long conference between the referees, the call went against them and the Warriors served for point to take the set.
“We won the third set and had opportunities in the fourth yet it slipped away from us,” said Coach Aaron Scalise. “While I am disappointed in a couple of calls, I also believe we cannot put ourselves in a position where a difficult call impacts our game. Wiesbaden was able to capitalize on our mistakes, and thus proved to be the better team. We need to play better.”
In Spangdahlem, young but very talented Baumholder pushed its record to 4-2 by defeating Ansbach and falling to the hosts. The Buccaneers were winless last season.
