MURRAY, Utah (May 7, 2013) -- The All-Army men's and women's teams won gold medals at the 2013 Armed Forces Beach Volleyball Championships, May 3-5, at the Wasatch Beach Volleyball Complex.
The Army women's No. 1 team -- Capt. Rachael Tax of Fort Bragg, N.C., and 1st Lt. Shara DeMarco of Camp Carroll, South Korea -- prevailed 21-12, 21-1, and 21-11, 21-13 in the "if necessary" match over the Navy No. 1 squad, Lt. j.g. Abbie Merkl of Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Lt. j.g. Jesselyn Lavalley of Charleston, S.C.
The Army No. 1 men, Army Reserve Sgt. Joe Rossetter of Columbus, Ohio, and Staff Sgt. Lewis Dennis of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., prevailed 21-13, 21-11 over silver medalists Navy No. 2 -- Lt. Chris Lambert of Naples, Italy, and Seaman Noel Garcia of Islamorado, Fla.
The All-Navy No. 2 men's team of Lambert-Garcia upset All-Navy No. 1 men's duo of Senior Chief Naval Aircrewman John Goings of Jacksonville, Fla., and Petty Officer 3rd Class Aaron Maosi of Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Va., 25-23, 21-18 in the losers' bracket finals to reach the gold-medal match.
The inaugural Armed Forces Beach Volleyball Championships were played in 2010 and All-Navy teams maintained a stranglehold on the hardware until this year.
Each service entered No. 1 and No. 2 men's and women's teams, except the Air Force, which did not send women to the tournament. Both All-Army No. 1 squads struck gold.
Tax and DeMarco (3-2) finished second in pool play behind unbeaten Merkl and Lavalley (5-0).
The Armed Forces Indoor Volleyball Championships are set for May 8-12, at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
Editor's note: Ken Polk of U.S. Armed Forces Sports contributed to this article
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