JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas –
The No. 1 seeded Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency men's volleyball team completed what the women's team started, a clean sweep of the Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland intramural volleyball championships.
AFISRA defeated No. 2 seeded 737th Training Group 21-17, 21-9 to win its first men's title Tuesday at the Warhawk Fitness Center.
Two weeks ago, AFISRA's women's team won the intramural volleyball title as the sixth seed.
That meant the pressure was on the men's team to add another volleyball trophy to the agency's collection, said AFISRA middle/outside hitter John Tanaka.
"The women pretty much told us, 'It's up to you guys to win another championship for AFISRA,'" Tanaka said. "I'm just glad our team lived up to expectations."
The eventual base champions jumped to a early 7-2 lead in the first set, capitalizing on 737th TRG's fatigue. The training group had just defeated the Cryptologic Systems Division before taking on AFISRA.
AFISRA defeated 802nd Logistics Readiness Squadron in its semifinal match earlier in the day.
"We just had fresher muscles coming in," said AFISRA outside/middle hitter Chris Miranda, who had seven of his eight kills in the opening set.
Never trailing in its first set 21-17 win, AFISRA continued to exert its muscle in the second.
AFISRA never looked back in opening a 14-6 second-set lead, scoring seven of the set's last 10 points to complete the victory in a unorthodox intramural men's volleyball season.
The season produced only four teams and several unexpected schedule changes. Ten teams participated in the league last year.
"This season was weird because the schedule would change. We wouldn't know which schedule to follow and when we were going to play," Tanaka said.
737th Training Group's John Ramirez said there just wasn't enough interest in volleyball this season.
"Volleyball can be a stress relief for a lot of people," he said. "This year, there just wasn't much base-wide emphasis on volleyball and that was more disappointing than losing the game."
Although gracious in defeat, Ramirez said fatigue wore on the group after competing in back-to-back playoff matches.
"It just wasn't our day but I'm proud of everybody," Ramirez said. "It was tough. We lost our momentum. We were in the championship against a great team.
"We play with the other teams all the time so we all know each other's weaknesses and strengths. This season was fun overall," he added.
Looking back on the season, Tanaka said there was nothing more fun than winning the base championship while playing the sport they love with friendly rivals.
"We and the other teams play volleyball all the time together so there is really good camaraderie around the league," he said. "We know each other so there is never any animosity between us."