Wiesbaden's Samantha Knieriem slams the ball as Kaiserslautern's Kezley Kai, left, and Rozlynn Onnen jump for the block during a match on Sept. 21, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – Kaiserslautern and Wiesbaden aren’t hiding their aspirations of taking home the Division I volleyball title this fall.

They have plenty of competition with Stuttgart and Ramstein, among others, surging to start the campaign. But when the two-time defending champion Warriors rolled into Kaiserslautern High School to take on the Raiders, it felt like an early season test for both.

The result: They split a pair of matches, with the Raiders winning the morning session 25-20, 25-21, 28-26 and the Warriors taking the afternoon contest 19-25, 25-20, 25-12, 25-21.

“I think all around it’s going to be very tight because all the teams have fresh new legs,” Wiesbaden coach Malia Taiafi-Husseini said. “I would love for it to be us, but I feel like anyone can come out right now.”

Kaiserslautern coach Zac Robinson credited the Warriors (2-2, 1-2) for bouncing back to take the final three sets of the days after losing the first four.

Wiesbaden could have capitulated after the Raiders (2-2, 2-2) erased an early 8-1 deficit in the first set of the second match. The home team scored 11 of the last 12 points, thanks in large part to three kills by Briana Shields.

Yet the Warriors trailed only once in the next two sets (4-3 in the second set) and their worst disadvantage was five points early in the fourth set.

“We were not really worried about it,” Taiafi-Husseini said of losing the first match. “The thing that I was really proud of was they kept it together, they stayed cohesive and they kept talking all the time.”

The coach said Wiesbaden showed more variety offensively in the second match.

Instead of trying to whack the ball right at Kaiserslautern middle blockers Rozlynn Onnen and Mariska Campbell – the latter of whom produced four block points over the two matches – the Warriors started using more pushes and dinks, attacking on the second hit instead of waiting for the third and overall upping the tempo.

“We had to wait for it to come to us because everyone was hungry for the ball, everyone wanted to hit it,” said Wiesbaden middle blocker Nicole Suh, who scored six kills in the afternoon session. “We had to clean it up first, play smart before we can start to go aggressive.”

In the morning match, every bounce went the Raiders’ way.

They won three long rallies lasting at least a half-minute as the two offenses went back and forth trying to find a hole in the nearly impenetrable defenses. The last came at 26 all in the third and final set, with Kaiserslautern’s Bianca Ocampo finally slamming down a kill to break the deadlock.

An error by the Warriors finished the match on the next play.

“To be able to win those long rallies, it is a very big confidence booster,” Robinson said. “It gives us momentum and belief to be like, ‘OK, whatever’s happened, we got this.’”

Kaiserslautern outside hitter Bianca Ocampo celebrates with teammate Kezley Kai following the final point in the first match of a doubleheader against Wiesbaden on Sept. 21, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Wiesbaden's Lillie Redeen jumps to try to block a spike by Kaiserslautern's Bianca Ocampo during a match on Sept. 21, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Wiesbaden's Nicole Suh blocks a spike by Kaiserslautern's Rozlynn Onnwn during a match on Sept. 21, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Kaiserslautern's Briana Shields, center, and Rozlynn Onnen go to block an attack by Wiesbaden's Bridget Pidgeon during a match on Sept. 21, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

The Raiders also received a boost from Shields.

The junior hitter stepped into a setter role to spell freshman Bailey Bella Flowers. Shields was called into action just two days before Saturday’s matches when the team’s other setter broke a finger.

Admitting she’s never played there before, Shields earned praise from her coach. She said the hardest part was trying to read the team’s three rotations to pass the ball to her attackers.

“I’m an athlete, and when my coach says I got to do something, I got to do it,” Shields said. “For me to be playing as a hitter and not a setter for my six years of playing, it was a little new, but with the encouragement of my teammates and my coaches, I felt as though I was doing pretty good.”

Still, in the second match, the Raiders struggled to get anything going. In the second and third sets, they scored more than two consecutive points just once – a Shields dink, a Campbell kill and a Marisa Branch ace to tie the third set 5-5.

Kaiserslautern did jump out to an 8-3 lead in the fourth set, only for Wiesbaden to go on an 8-0 run. Warrior Lillie Redeen sparked that stretch with a block point and added a pair of kills, while Suh recorded two aces.

The fourth set stayed close the rest of the way until the Warriors rattled off the last four points, sealed by a pair of Bailey Foulk aces.

“That’s something that we’ve kind of experienced before where we go a little bit flat and have a hard time getting it back,” Robinson said of the tough stretches. “That’s one of the key things we’re working on over the next few weeks.”

Kaiserslautern's Kezley Kai bumps the ball while teammate Marisa Branch watches during a match against Wiesbaden on Sept. 21, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Wiesbaden's Bailey Foulk serves during a match against Kaiserslautern on Sept. 21, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Wiesbaden's Abigail Nirola sets the ball for a teammate during a match against Kaiserslautern on Sept. 21, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Kaiserslautern's Briana Shields sets a pass to a teammate during a match against Wiesbaden on Sept. 21, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)