Alconbury senior Sofia Politis bumps the ball while teammates watch during a match against Ansbach in pool play of the Division III DODEA European championships on Oct. 31, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – Generally, a match between the fourth and fifth seeds in a tournament go a long way toward determining a semifinal berth for the winner.

When Alconbury stepped onto the court at Kaiserslautern High School to square off with Sigonella in the pool play of the DODEA European volleyball championships on Thursday, though, the match held even more importance.

If the Dragons lost, they would be eliminated from contention after dropping their first match to Ansbach, combined with the Jaguars’ victory over AFNORTH.

Alconbury’s loss to the Cougars was a gut punch, taking the first set and even leading the final one by three points.

So, coach Kelly Sandoval tried to calm down her players.

“I was like, ‘All right, that game’s done. New game, shake it off, we know how to play,’ ” Sandoval said. “ ‘Let’s put into place what we know how to do. Let’s just fix the errors that we had.’ ”

The Dragons did just that and kept their hopes of a deep tournament run alive with a 26-24, 29-27 victory.

At 1-1, Alconbury only must beat the Lions and hope Ansbach defeats Sigonella in the teams’ final pool-play matches on Friday to punch their ticket into the semifinals.

“This was a very important match for us,” Alconbury senior Sofia Politis said. “A lot of us were trying our best, trying our hardest and were really motivated to win.”

Sigonella junior Nyeema Fernandez sets the ball during a match agains Alconbury in pool play of the Division III DODEA European championships on Oct. 31, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Ansbach sophomore Marga Marzan serves during a match against Alconbury in pool play of the Division III DODEA European championships on Oct. 31, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Ansbach junior Kennedy Lange goes for a block against Alconbury sophomore Isabella Minjarez in pool play of the Division III DODEA European championships on Oct. 31, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Sigonella senior Rickalia Goss hits the ball while Alconbury's Elizabeth Scroeder, left and Sofia Politis go for the block in pool play of the Division III DODEA European championships on Oct. 31, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

The Alconbury Dragons celebrate after winning the first set against top-seeded Ansbach in pool play of the Division III DODEA European championships on Oct. 31, 2024, at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Politis and Sandoval said the Dragons gained confidence in their opening loss to Ansbach 23-25, 25-11, 15-6.

Alconbury rattled the final four points of the first set to win, but a pair of runs in the second and third sets doomed them.

Tied at 7-7 in the second, Ansbach’s Kennedy Lange scored on a dink, and the Cougars proceeded to rattle off 11 straight points. Lange had four aces and freshman Brighton Powell recorded two kills over that stretch.

In the third set, the Cougars scored seven consecutive points to take an 8-4 advantage and never look back.

“They are the No. 1 team, so winning that first set was really good for us,” Politis said. “I think if we do play them again, we can definitely beat them.”

The Jaguars made the Dragons work for the victory.

Alconbury outlasted Sigonella in both sets, especially in the second when both teams went back and forth. The Dragons had to stave off a few set points for the Jaguars before finally getting over the hump themselves.

“At some points, I have to admit, I didn’t think we were going to make it,” Politis said. “But somehow we were able to come back every time, we were able to react to their sets.”

Alconbury’s coach expressed relief that her players were able to pull out a close one.

“It gets the blood boiling and the blood pressure up,” Sandoval said of the close sets. “It is a lot of pressure, but the girls came through.”

In the other pool, both Brussels and Spangdahlem went 2-0 on Thursday as advanced to the semifinals. Those two will square off to decide who wins the group on Friday.

Vicenza junior Alexandra Nelson hits the ball at the net against Rota junior Saira Ali in pool play of the Division II DODEA European championships on Oct. 31, 2024, at Ramstein High School on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Rota senior Mia Werner serves during a match against Vicenza in pool play of the Division II DODEA European championships on Oct. 31, 2024, at Ramstein High School on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Vicenza sophomore Nala Herron serves to Rota in pool play of the Division II DODEA European championships on Oct. 31, 2024, at Ramstein High School on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)

Division II

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – Aviano coach Michael Gros hadn’t seen his Saints play to their potential since the jamboree weekend nearly two months before the start of Thursday’s Division II European championship tournament at Ramstein High School.

After going 1-1 against the two toughest opponents in the pool – Black Forest Academy and American Overseas School of Rome – Gros couldn’t have been happier.

“We’ve had some gelling issues throughout the season, and today they gelled,” Gros said.

Chief amongst those performances was the 28-26, 22-25, 15-7 victory over top-seeded AOSR.

That match was make or break for the two-time defending Division II champions. After falling in the opener to BFA, Aviano needed a win to keep its chances at a three-peat alive.

“We knew we still had more to prove,” middle hitter Addison Krajicek said. “It was either do or die, we had to win to stay in the tournament.”

Both Gros and Krajicek pointed to the previous weekend’s matches against AOSR as giving the Saints the belief they could upset the top seed. They went 1-1, including a win in a five-set thriller.

“We knew we could take them – it was just whether we were going to or not,” Gros said. “They were convinced that they could, and they did it.”

Despite the win, Aviano still doesn’t control its own destiny.

Defeating Marymount in the final pool match Friday morning would go a long way, but should AOSR defeat BFA, that would cause a three-way tie and force a tiebreaker to decide who advances.

“What I’m really concerned about is if BFA can take out AOSR,” Gros said. “If they don’t … it’s a crapshoot at that point. Who knows what’s going to happen.”

In the other pool, Vicenza outlasted Bahrain in three sets 25-22, 20-25, 15-0 and took care of Rota 25-19, 25-21 to advance to the semifinals. The winner of the Rota-Bahrain match Friday will join the Cougars.