Ana-Maria Ortega from the U.S. Air Forces in Europe volleyball team spikes the ball during the championship match against a team from Germany's air force, at RAF Lakenheath, England. The women's team took first place and the USAFE men's team finished third in NATO's Allied Air Command volleyball championship tournament in March. ()
Ana-Maria Ortega from the U.S. Air Forces in Europe volleyball team spikes the ball during the championship match against a team from Germany's air force, at RAF Lakenheath, England. The women's team took first place and the USAFE men's team finished third in NATO's Allied Air Command volleyball championship tournament in March. ()
Alison Spain watches her ball sail back across the net in the men's doubles final at the the U.S. Forces-Europe tennis finals in Heidelberg, Germany, as partner Brett Freedman watches. The Ramstein pair defeated Metin Karaca of Heidelberg and Marc Goulat of Kaiserslautern 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to take the title. The pair also took the mixed doubles title earlier in the day. Because of a lack of teams in the competition, Spain was allowed to compete in the men's competition. The pair also won women's and men's open titles respectively at the championships in July. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza's Jose Villareal takes a shot on goal as Ramstein's Everado Gomez tries to make a slide tackle at the U.S. Forces Europe soccer championship in Wiesbaden, Germany, in October. Ramstein won the title after an overtime and a shootout. (Joshua L. DeMotts/Stars and Stripes)
Sgt. Catalina Sandoval, 25, of the 57th Signal Company, crosses the tape as the first female finisher in the U.S. Forces-Europe Army Ten-Miler in Grafenwohr, Germany in June. Sandoval, who finished with a time of 69 minutes, 5 seconds, qualified to represent U.S. Army Europe at the Army Ten-Miler in Washington, D.C. in October. (Steven Beardsley/Stars and Stripes)
The top six stories of the year in U.S. Armed Forces sports:
1. American volleyball team soars at NATO championships
The U.S. Air Forces in Europe women's volleyball team swept three sets from Germany's Luftwaffe in March to claim the NATO Allied Air Command volleyball championships. With only four days to prepare, the nine-woman U.S. squad survived a tough field that also featured teams from Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and host United Kingdom.
2. Dominant pair routs USFE tennis field
Brett Freedman and Alison Spain of Landstuhl swept into Heidelberg and left with every trophy for which they competed at the U.S. Forces Europe tennis championships in July. The duo was even granted permission to play for - and ultimately win - the men's doubles championships, adding it to a haul that included the mixed doubles crown and a singles open title for each.
3. Ramstein wins hoops crown with epic comeback
The U.S. Forces Europe basketball tournament was all but decided when Lakenheath opened a two-game set with a decisive win and assumed a 17-point lead halfway through the decisive second game. The comeback Ramstein launched featured 38 points in 14-plus minutes, ending with an unlikely Ramstein championship.
4. Air Force still aces at USFE softball
Spangdahlem's women and Ramstein's men combined for 44 runs in their respective title-game wins at the U.S. Forces Europe slow-pitch softball tournament in August. Spangdahlem knocked off the Ramstein women, the tournament's defending champion and top seed, to prevent a sweep of the titles.
5. Penalty kicks decide dramatic soccer title game
Ramstein and Vicenza exhausted every method of deciding a soccer game in the U.S. Forces Europe soccer championship game in October. Two goals in the final 15 minutes of regulation were followed by an uneventful overtime session, leaving it to penalty kicks to finally award the elusive crown to Ramstein.
6. Youngster cracks 60-minute mark in 10-mile run
Visiting 20-year-old college student Nathaniel Burrell checked in with a time of 59 minutes, 58 seconds to win the U.S. Forces Europe Army Ten-Miler at Grafenwöhr in June. Sgt. Catalina Sandoval won among women's runners with a time of 1:09:05.broomeg@stripes.osd.mil
