Ankara girls, Incirlik boys grab volleyball titles
Published: October 23, 2012
Ankara athletic director and tournament director Tim Redden emailed a report Monday on the annual Ankara Sports Association volleyball tournament held last weekend in the Turkish capital. The ASA is a vehicle designed to increase the chances for student-athletes in Turkey to compete. Here’s Redden’s report:
“Two DODDS-Europe teams captured both the championships and the MVP honors in the sixth Ankara Sports Association Invitational Volleyball Tournament last weekend.
“The Ankara Trojans completed a sweep of the girls’ field with a 25-15, 25-12, 25-23 win over Bilkent Laboratory and International School on Saturday behind the stellar play of tournament MVP Karey Daniel. Minutes before receiving her award, Daniel was given the ballwith her team down 21-23 in the third set. She recorded four straight points from serves, including a devastating kill from behind the attack line.
“In fact, the Trojans’ greatest challenge came against their DODDS-E rivals, the Incirlik Hodjas. Ankara dropped the first set 18-25 but rebounded to defeat Incirlik 25-20, a game in which Daniel served nine straight points; 25-20, a game with the scoring spread around, and 25-19, a game in which senior Clara Hamilton started the game with a seven-point run. Ankara defeated the Pakistani Embassy International Study Group Wolves 25-12, 25-18, 22-25, and 25-12 and the OASIS School Lions 25-18, 25-8, and 25-12.
“The Hodjas, led by Allyn Anderson, finished in third place with victories over the Lions (25-11, 25-16, 25-12) and Wolves (25-12, 25-18, 25-18).
“The Incirlik boys rode the defense and offense of MVP libero Tamer Long to an easy run through the field. They found their rhythm in the opening match against Ankara with a 25-13, 25-14, 25-14 victory in spite of improved play from the Trojans. They continued to beat opponents in straight sets: Wolves (25-10, 25-6, 25-11) and BLIS (25-5, 25-11, 25-4). In their Saturday face-off with unbeaten OASIS, Incirlik struggled out of the gate needing extra points to secure the “W” 26-24. But with the dust shaken off, they took the following sets 25-10 and 25-16.
“Ankara’s boys showed great improvement through the tournament and captured third place. They started with a 17-25, 7-25, 24-26 loss to OASIS, but built on their third-set success to defeat BLIS 25-18, 25-21, 25-22 the following night. On Saturday, they played the longest match of the tournament. They eventually felled the Wolves 20-25, 25-14, 20-25, 25-11, 15-13.
“The ASA Tournament returned to its boys’ and girls’ format after the 2011 event was played without the boys’ sides. All told, over 115 high school volleyball players converged on the Ankara ES/HS gym for the three-day tournament. The cross country field also expanded to include middle and high school runners from BLIS. The ASA plans to continue expanding participation in the cross country events next season and hopes to draw full tennis teams to their events in the near future.”
