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ACSC claims intramural volleyball championship

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Natasha Stannard
  • 42nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala --  The Air Command Staff College and Squadron Officer College volleyball teams faced off for the intramural championship game May 6 at Maxwell's Fitness Center.

The championship is up to two rounds of three games, depending on how the winner's bracket team fares in the first games. If they win the first two games, they are the victors.

The winning-bracket team, ACSC, came into the championship with a record of 10-1, having only lost to SOC (9-2) in the regular and playoff season.

The captain of ACSC's team, Mark Swingle, who has played for 20 years, said that a lot of the team's success stems from the player's high school and college experience as well as good communication on the court.

With one loss to SOC already, ACSC knew it would be close. Additionally, their record, 9-2, was not too far behind the favored team.

"I'm not so worried about what they're doing on their side as much as what we're doing on our side of the net," Swingle said.
With the stage set in ACSC's favor, needing only to win two games in the championship round, they entered the court cool and confident.

"I just hope we play well and have a fun game," said Swingle. "I'd like to win, but if we have fun, I'm good with that."

The SOC captain wasn't too worried about having to win three of five games. The team also had a lot of collective experience as well as familiarityfrom playing on the same beach volleyball team last season.

"It's going to be a great game regardless of who wins," said Mike Hethcock, SOC team captain. "It's going to be close and very competitive. Win or lose, it's going to come down to the wire. Our expectation is to win the first two out of three, to make it to the next two out of three."

As Hethcock hoped, SOC dominated the first quarter of the first game, leading 7-2. The game remained tight throughout the first half, with SOC leading by four to five points until ACSC turned the game around at 18-13, continuously scoring eventually getting up to 19-18.

ACSC then lost its streak with a missed spike, but the team turned it back around, ending the first game 22-25.

With one game down, ACSC only needed one more win to claim victory.

They entered the next game with their guard up, not allowing the SOC team to lead in the beginning as they had in the first game. ACSC now led from the first serve, 3-0.

The ball landed back in SOC's hands with a dink over the net, then a spike, tying the game at 4-4. The ball then fell short and back to ACSC, who took the lead when Ashley Mehrer served 4 points in a row.

SOC tried to come back, making it just a point or two shy of ACSC's score, but never overtaking the new intramural champions, who won the game 25-16.