MEDIA CONTEST: Three-peat: Maintainers squeak by Mighty 8th for volleyball championship

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ACC MEDIA CONTEST --  The 2d Maintenance Squadron took two out of three games to defeat 8th Air Force in the intramural volleyball championship Wednesday at the base sports and fitness center.

"It feels great to be champions, especially because it is the third time in a row," said 2d MXS coach John Alden. "We were just pounding the ball and fortunately enough of them got through."

The showdown felt like a clash of the titans since each team had only been defeated by their championship foe throughout the season. Eighth Air Force had been knocked into the loser's bracket early in the playoffs by 2d MXS but had fought back to defeat them in a second match up and to set up the winner takes all, best-out-of-three final match.

The first game of the match was extremely close - neither team was able to get a lead of more than three points. The clock ran out on the match with the score tied at 24-24. The first team to get a two point lead would win the first game. After the game was tied again at 25, the Mighty Eighth ran off two straight points to take the first game 27-25.

Losing such a close game seemed to deflate 2d MXS in the following set as they quickly fell behind 4-0. They fought back hard and were able to tie the score at 7-7. With momentum on their side, 2d MXS started to pull away from 8th AF and opened up a 14-8 lead, which was the largest lead either team held the entire match.

Eighth Air Force started chipping away at the maintainers lead and were able to knot the game back up at 22-22. The effort to get back into the game seemed to tire them out and 2d MXS was able to run off three straight points to take the second set 25-22. The last set was a crowd-pleasing affair that lived up to the billing of a championship showdown. The score was tied at three, five, six, seven, eight and 10. Brian Widiker was able to break the last tie of the set with a ferocious spike that gave 2d MXS an 11-10 lead. The final volley of the set ended with an 8th AF spike sailing out of bounds and 2d MXS notching their third straight championship with the 15-12 win.

"We were playing great competition and we played with our heart out there," said 8th AF assistant coach Juan Rodriguez-Estrada. "We lost one of our main setters early on and we were kind of confused by having to play out of position."

The 2d MXS coach tipped his hat to the effort brought by the 8th AF team.

"It was a great time thanks to the intensity brought by 8th AF and we enjoyed every minute of it," said Alden.