416th FLTS pulls out gut wrenching victory over AFRL, advances in tourney

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class William O'Brien
  • 95th Air Base WIng Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  It came down to the final serve, with the score tied at 16 in game 3 of the first round of the intramural volleyball playoffs. The 416th Flight Test Squadron was up to serve and after four consecutive failed spike attempts by Jeremy Cookson; the Air Force Research Laboratory was back in the match. Cookson knew this was serve was his chance to redeem himself and help the 416th FLTS to a 2-1 game victory.

"When the ball came off my hand my first thought was 'I hit that wrong and its going to go out of bounds,'" he said. "Then I watched it as it floated over the net and I saw that it had a chance of staying in. They let it go and fortunately it squeaked in."

Just as in game 7 of the 1986 World Series, letting the ball go as it approached the foul line was a mistake, and as the ball landed fair, it instantly transformed Al Herrick of the AFRL team into this match's Bill Buckner, letting the game decision point slip past him, hurling his team into defeat and out of the playoffs.

In the first game the 416th pounced quickly jumping out to an early 11-3 lead. AFRL responded with a small scoring run of their own cutting into their large deficit and bring the score to 6-11. That seemed to be all AFRL was able to muster out of game one though, going down 25-10.

"In that first game every ball seemed to bounce our way," said Adam Gunnett, 416th FLTS team coach. "We knew that wasn't going to continue in the next game and that we were going to need to continue to play hard if we were going to beat a team as good as AFRL."

In game 2, AFRL rebounded from their last game's crushing defeat, matching the previous game's point total before their opponent scored their fifth point. The 416th FLTS made a comeback but was never able to overcome the early deficit, losing game 2, 22-25.

"Since we all work up at AFRL it's rare to get the whole team together except on game nights so we go into games with little or no practice," said Tabitha Wiser AFRL coach. "We were able to play better as a team in that second game we passed better, and we didn't give up any easy points."

With both teams having one win and game 3 deciding who advances to the semi-finals and which team's season comes to an abrupt end both teams came out swinging.

The game was tied for the third tie as both teams drew even at 5; from there the 417th FLTS began to open things up as they took the game's first lead of two or more points bringing the score to 8-5.
AFRL closed the gap with a scoring run of their own as they brought the score to 7-8. The 416th responded with a five point run that put them two points from advancing the next round as they made the score 13-7. AFRL closed the gap making the score 10-13.

The 416th gained possession and the points that put them on the ege of victory but were unable to capitalize, returning possession to AFRL. They were unable to get ahead by two, the requirement to win if the opposing team is one point from victory. They did however; take their first lead of the game pulling ahead 15-14.

The game went back and forth to16, by rule, making the next team to score the winner. Cookson stepped up to serve, knowing the game was on the line and this serve decided the outcome, he stepped up, sent the ball soaring across the net and to the dismay of the AFRL team, the ball landed just inside the out of bounds marker, bringing the game to a 17-16 end and sending the 416th FLTS to the semi-finals where they'll meet the league-best 95th Medical Group for a chance to play in the finals.

"The 95th MDG is a great team," said Gunnett. "We played two close games against them earlier this year, it isn't an easy task, but they're beatable. We're going to go out there and play our best volleyball and hope to come out on top."