ANSBACH, Germany (April 25, 2022) – Bavaria’s 589th Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) beat Vicenza’s Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) in two sets, 26-24 and 25-22, to win the U.S. Army Installation Management Command-Europe (IMCOM-E) 2022 Unit Level Volleyball Tournament held at the Katterbach Fitness Center April 22-24 in Ansbach.
Nine teams from Army installations across Europe competed in the tournament that started with pool play to determine bracket rankings.
Aaron Jones, IMCOM-E G9 program analyst and tournament organizer, explained, the meaning this tournament has for the players, “these Soldiers are representing their own crest so there is a sense of pride.
“They first had to play in their garrison tournaments and place first or second then they were eligible to represent their unit here,” Jones said. “Pre-pandemic, we were only getting seven to eight teams to this tournament and this time we had nine teams.”
The 589th BSB beat Bravo Company, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) in the quarterfinals and faced Wiesbaden’s Alpha Company, 24th Military Intelligence Battalion (MI) in the semifinals to advance to the championship game. SETAF-AF played Baumholder’s 240th Composite Supply Company in the quarters and beat Alpha Company, LRMC in the semis to advance. Alpha Company, 24th MI took third place with a win over Alpha Company, LRMC in two sets, 25-23 and 25-16.
“To be honest I’m still in shock (we won),” said Manuel Barriga, team captain and a 91E allied trade specialist with the BSB. “We’ve come a long ways as a team.
“A lot of these guys, it’s their first year playing so for us to compete at this level and win, I’m pretty proud of this team,” Barriga said.
Andrew Thompson, a logistics officer with the 589th BSB was recognized as the tournament’s MVP. “It means a lot (winning MVP) but really at the end of the day, it was a huge team effort and everyone on the team played their hearts out offensively and defensively,” he said. “It was an honor to be here and be part of the tournament and part of this awesome winning team.”
The last unit level volleyball tournament hosted by IMCOM-E was 2019. This was the third IMCOM-E sports tournament this year that Katterbach Fitness Center hosted. The fitness center also hosted the IMCOM-E Varsity Basketball Tournament in February and the IMCOM-E Varsity Volleyball Tournament in March.
“A huge shout out and special thanks to the Ansbach Sports and Fitness Center,” said Jones. “They hosted both tournaments this year and did an amazing job.
“They are always welcoming to Soldiers and Family members representing their home Garrison or unit,” he said. “They always have everything prepped and make it very easy for a guy like myself to come in run a tournament.”
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