Aced it: First-ever volleyball tourney a hit

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Cortney Paxton
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Men and women from Malmstrom Air Force Base and the Great Falls community gathered at the base Fitness Center April 28 for a full day of bumps, sets, spikes and serves.

Five teams, consisting of mostly military members, played alongside four, civilian-filled teams. All nine teams played against each other with the hopes of becoming the champions of the first-ever, community-wide volleyball tournament.

"I think [this tournament is] a great opportunity to open Malmstrom Air Force Base to the community and also provide an opportunity for our Airmen to do recreational activities with the downtown community and workout together," said Col. H.B. Brual, 341st Missile Wing commander.

The day started off with a brief opening ceremony. After welcoming words, invocation, some words of wisdom by Brual; and a brief overview of the rules, the two-part tournament started.

The first half of the day-long event was the round robin portion of the tournament. During this, the nine teams were split into two pools where they played other teams only in their pool. After the round robin event was completed the teams were evaluated based on several different playing factors; the top six teams made it to the double-elimination tournament after lunch.

Lunch, along with snacks available all day, was provided free for the participants of the tournament sponsored and served by 341st Civil Engineer Squadron booster club members. There were also two volunteers from the 341st Medical Group available to tape wrists, ankles or anything else that the players needed.

"[The civilian teams] were very excited to just have an insight of what Malmstrom Air Force Base is all about and they appreciated the hospitality that we showed [during the event]," said Capt. Nick Saccone, 819th RED HORSE Squadron project manager and tournament host. "The level of competition exceeded my expectations. It was incredible and I think it opened the eyes of the military community. We hope to host this in three to four months again ... it was a great success. For any volleyball enthusiast, this was a dream come true."

By the end of the day, nine competitive teams went home exhausted and with sore arms - one of them named the champions. The Dandy Lions, a civilian team from Missoula, took home the gold. The six members of the team were: Sarah Snow, Danae Paul, Ryan Groh, Russell Giesick, Stan Spoharski and Jeremiah Rosenberger.

"We started the morning at 3:30/4 a.m. and drove all the way in," Snow said. "It was really fun to see the different levels of competition - the last couple of games were phenomenal. For civilians, this was a great way to come in and thank [Airmen] for their service and be a part of this."