MXS narrowly squeaks by

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Zachary Cacicia
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  The 436th Maintenance Squadron, who fields two teams, "A" volleyball team continued their habit of success by narrowly edging the combined 3d Airlift Squadron/436th Operations Support Squadron team.

The 436th MXS defeated the 3d AS/436th OSS 25-21, 22-25, 15-9 in an intramural volleyball match April 9, 2015, at the fitness center on Dover Air Force Base, Del.

The victory opened MXS's season, on a long hopeful road to a championship season.

"This is the same team we've had for the past couple of years," said Lawrence Bortner, 436th MXS player-coach.  "We had to knock the rust off."

The first game started off as a slug match, the lead went back and forth until the 3d AS/436th OSS team took a 12-9 lead. They maintained a three to four point lead until MXS mounted a comeback. The maintainers won the first game 25-21.

The start of the second game saw the MXS team looking to keep their comeback momentum from the first game going. But the 3d AS/436th OSS team had other plans as they fought to even up the match.

"We came out and we played tough," said Joel Barr, 3d AS/436th OSS player/coach. "We lost the first game and came out strong in the second game and came out on top."

The second game started much like the first, where the lead jostled back and forth. But this time, it would be MXS who took an early lead, 7-3. This is when the 3d AS/436th OSS team maintained their composure and rallied. The score went from 7-3 MXS, to 8-8, then 9-9, 10-10, 11-11, 12-12, and so on until it was 16-16. 

With the game all tied up, it would be Scott Saffran, 3d AS/436th OSS player, and his service game that won his team the next four points, giving them a 20-16 lead. But this did not sit well with MXS as they would come back to again tie the game, this time 20-20.

Fearing that they would lose the game and the match, the players of the 3d AS/436th OSS communicated with each other and were able to push the game to a score of 24-20 in their favor. At this point they took the game with a final score of 25-22, tying the match at a game apiece.

With a third game to settle the outcome of the match, it would be MXS who would prevail. The teams were tied midway through at 5-5, but MXS easily broke away winning the set 15-9, and the match.

"They played excellent; it was a great game," said Bortner. "It took us three games, got to give them props."

The loss did not intimidate the 3d AS/436th OSS team and their coach Barr.

"They're a tough team, they're going to be a bother to us throughout the season," he said. "We just have to work on our communication, making sure we get those small errors out and make sure we correct them."