Volleyball championships Published July 26, 2007 By Staff Sgt. Haldon Marmolejos 1st SOSVS Hurlburt Field, FL -- On June 27, the best two squadron volleyball teams on Hurlburt Field collided in a match that was to culminate an incredible 2007 intramural volleyball season. Number one seeded 1st Special Operations Maintenance Group faced number two seeded 1st Special Operations Equipment Maintenance Squadron-A. The road that led these teams to the finals seemed predetermined from the beginning of the season, leading them to an inevitable crash. "We knew from the start of the season that we would most likely see SOEMS-A in the finals," said Andrew Kalai, 1st SOMXG coach. The 1st SOEMS-A team climbed up the loser's bracket to meet the 1st SOMXG team for the base championship. Inspired by their defeat in the semi-finals, 1st SOEMS-A came back with a vengeance to defeat 1st SOMXG 25-16 in the first game and 25-18 in the second, winning the first match and forcing 1st SOMXG to a decisive if game, in which the winner was to be crowned champion. After what appeared as relatively easy wins for 1st SOEMS-A in the first match, 1st SOMXG needed to pull together for the second match to salvage any hope of winning the championship. And they did just that. After a few adjustments to their strategy, they won the first game 25-20 and the second game 30-28, the highest score of any volleyball playoff game at Hurlburt Field in the past five years. The practice, hard work and perseverance exercised by these teams earned them the top honors in intramural volleyball, and at least for 1st SOMXG, it earned them the right to be called volleyball champions. PICTURES DESCRIPTION - Disk 4 pic 4 - Brian Groh is going up to spike the ball - Disk 4 pic 8 - Brian Groh is spiking the ball - Disk 4 pic 9 - Paul Stride spikes the ball against three 1 SOEMS blockers - Disk 4 pic 13 - Paul Stride spikes the ball against two 1 SOEMS blockers - MVC-016S - Andy Kalai watches teammate SrA Paul Stride hit the ball past two SOEMS blockers. - MVC-018S - Jason Roth (Closest to camera), and SrA Paul Stride making a collective block against Emmanuel Perez.