Vicenza's Alexandra Nelson taps the ball back over the net against Black Forest Academy's Hannah Kooima in the Division II final the DODEA-Europe volleyball championships at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Nov. 2, 2024. Vicenza won 26-24, 13-25, 25-17, 25-18. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Jennifer H. Svan
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – Vicenza held back a surging Black Forest Academy on Saturday and overcame a late injury to one of its key players to capture its first Division II volleyball title since 2021.
The second-seed Cougars won 26-24, 13-25, 25-17, 25-18, capping off a perfect run in this year’s DODEA Europe tournament
BFA, meanwhile, fell short once again, placing runner up in the tourney a year after falling to Aviano in the finals.
But the Falcons, the underdogs as the No. 5 seed, battled back after falling behind 16-1 in the first set, forcing Vicenza to score 26 points to win the set and riding that momentum into a convincing win in the second set.
BFA’s approach on offense, with soft dinks at the net instead of punching hard hits, worked well during the stretch.
But by the third set, Vicenza had an answer.
“We gave them back the same medicine they were doing by dinking once in a while and hitting some other big ones,” said John Kohut, Vicenza’s volleyball coach. “I switched up our offense and defense as well.”
BFA coach Kim McKell said her team has “some strong hitters that we probably didn’t utilize as much as we could have today, but we were trying to poke holes in a pretty strong defense.”
The Cougars were able to somewhat tamp down the Falcons’ powerful attacker, sophomore Priscilla Sivonen, who had 16 kills in the match and was named to the all-tournament team.
“She still got her hits in,” Kohut said of Sivonen, “but we did better digging them up” in the third and fourth sets.
Black Forest Academy’s Violet Witty sets the ball for a teammate as Vicenza’s Avonlea Sparling, Alexandra Nelson and Maya Fitch watch from across the net. Vicenza beat BFA 26-24, 15-25, 25-17, 25-18 to take the Division II title at the DODEA-Europe volleyball finals at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Nov. 2, 2024. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Black Forest Academy's Sierra Tweedy slams the ball over the net past Vicenza's Alexandra Nelson in the Falcons' 26-24, 13-25, 25-17, 25-18 loss to the Cougars in the Division II title game at the DODEA-Europe volleyball championships at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Nov. 2, 2024. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Black Forest Academy's Xofia Pineda Wood stretches to reach the ball before a teammate in the Falcons' 26-24, 13-25, 25-17, 25-18 loss to the Cougars in the Division II title game at the DODEA-Europe volleyball championships at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Nov. 2, 2024. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Black Forest Academy's Mischa Robinson, left, and Vicenza's Emily Bell fight it out at the net in the Division II final the DODEA-Europe volleyball championships at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Nov. 2, 2024. Vicenza won 26-24, 13-25, 25-17, 25-18. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza's Maya Fitch hits the ball over the net and Black Forest Academy defenders in the Cougars 26-24, 13-25, 25-17, 25-18 win over the Falcons in the Division II title game at the DODEA-Europe volleyball championships at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Nov. 2, 2024. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The Vicenza Cougars celebrate their Division II title after defeating Black Forest Academy 26-24, 13-25, 25-17, 25-18 at the DODEA-Europe volleyball championships at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Nov. 2, 2024. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
After falling behind 9-7 to open the third set, the Cougars rallied for seven consecutive points with senior Avonlea Sparling serving. Sparling and fellow senior Maya Fitch, both named to the all-tournament team, combined for four points during the stretch, with Sparling landing a pair of aces and Fitch using a light tap and a more powerful spike at the net to help put the Cougars up 14-9, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
BFA was not ready to go down quietly, however. The fourth set featured long rallies and a tie score five times. BFA at one point led 16-12 but some miscues down the stretch, including a few returns into the net, proved to be too much to overcome.
The Cougars had a scare when Fitch went down with an injury, but they managed to pull ahead for good after the score was locked up at 16 all.
Fitch said she aggravated an old ankle sprain.
“I went back in (to the game),” she said, “but I couldn’t jump. I just wanted to finish out my last game ever playing volleyball on a good a note rather than on an injury.”
Sparling said she was worried when Fitch went down “because she’s such a glue to our team,” she said. “But she’s a hustler, so I had faith that she was going to come back in.”
Kohut said a pair of freshmen, Gracie Perry and Austyn Keienburg, helped pick up the slack while Fitch was sidelined.
Fitch said the Cougars play with a team mentality. “I think when we have such an amazing group of girls, it’s like you’re not playing for yourself, you’re playing with each other and we just wanted to win for each other,” she said.
Despite her injury, Fitch led the Cougars with 10 kills and eight digs. Sparling added seven kills, three digs, four blocks and six aces, and Alexandra Nelson notched four kills, six digs, three blocks, and two aces. Setter Emily Bell fueled the offense with 27 assists, six digs and five aces.
On the other side of the court, BFA’s sophomore libero, Esther Lee, was the work horse, finishing with 33 digs.
“That’s a lot,” McKell said. Lee “is that quiet ninja on our court who just plays the ball up and doesn’t say a word and suddenly you’re like ‘wow, that set just happened … I thought they were going to get a kill.’”
McKell called Vicenza “a formidable team,” and chalked up her team’s shaky start to nerves.
“I think we pulled through,” added BFA senior Leah McKell. “But I think it just set us a little bit off the rest of the game.”
