Photo By Devon Suits | The Air Force and Army competed in the sitting volleyball bronze medal match at the...... read more read more
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Fans and players, from both the Air Force and the Army, flooded into the U.S Olympic Training Center gymnasium yesterday. The time spent practicing and conditioning would be integral in determining an outcome as the two services clashed in this one last game. Who would win the sitting volleyball bronze medal at the 2014 Warrior Games?
As people flooded in, Air Force Capt. Mitchell Kieffer took a moment to prepare in the corner of the gym alone. With a volleyball in his lap, he sat there, focusing intensely at the gymnasium wall towering in front of him.
His brief moment of solitude is quickly shattered by a fury of movements -- bump, set, spike. Kieffer’s hands and arms slam the volleyball hard off the wall as it becomes his newest opponent.
“I was trying to make sure my reaction time was on par,” Kieffer said. “I am ready for the volleyball to come back at me … so I have no fear.”
As the players took warmups a feeling of tension started to descend upon the court only to be shattered by a loud buzz from the scoreboard. Both stands erupt -- it was game time.
“We have to win this game,” one Air Force fan said to his friend sitting next to him, “we just have to win.”
Right out of the gate, the Air Force took the lead 6-2, forcing the Army coach to call a time out and settle his team down. Whatever he said worked, as the Army scored 11 unanswered points.
“We were firing on all cylinders, and everything that we were doing was working,” said Army Sgt. Scott Hasting.
Facing an uphill battle, the Air Force tried to bounce back, slowly chipping away at the lead, but in the end, the Army proved to be too much, taking the first set 25-20.
During the second set, the Army continued to steamroll the competition. Leading 21-10, it looked as if the Air Force had no response, until retired Air Force Staff Sgt. Nicholas Dadgostar moved into the server position.
Like he did the night before in the Air Force game against the Navy, Dadgostar rallied point after point, hitting several aces and closing the gap 17-23 -- re-energizing the Air Force team and crowd; however, the late offensive push would prove to be too little and too late as the Army won the second set 25-19, clinching the bronze medal.
“I still think we were a gold medal team,” Kieffer said after the loss. “I am mad, and I wish we could keep on playing.”
The Warrior Games may bring out the competitive nature between the services, but according to Heather Erickson, a coach of the Air Force volleyball team, it’s about service members coming back from combat, rehabilitating their daily lives and finding that new normal.
“An adaptive sport doesn’t mean that it’s easier,” Erickson said. “They have put in so much work. They have come a very long way from where they started to where they are now, in volleyball and their recovery. This game is crazy in the way it works sometimes, and it didn’t come out the way we wanted to.”
For Kari Miller, being a coach for the Air Force team has been an awesome experience.
“(The Air Force team) has come far, and we’re proud of them,” Miller said. “This is the best they have ever been and hopefully they will get better.”
| Date Taken: | 10.01.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.02.2014 17:50 |
| Story ID: | 144117 |
| Location: | COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 62 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, One and done: Air Force play Army in bronze medal round, by Devon Suits, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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