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43rd CES dominates 43rd LRS en route to base championship

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jon LaDue
  • 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  With the blow of the referee's whistle the 2008 Intramural Volleyball championship between the 43rd Civil Engineer Squadron and the 43rd Logistics Readiness Squadron began Tuesday at the Pope Fitness Center. 

Both teams had hard fought battles throughout the last two weeks, playing and beating teams within their respective divisions and working their way to the championship game.
As each team returned serves by bumping, setting and spiking, the championship games were hard fought. 

The 43rd CES dominated the first game with overpowering offense, complete with well-placed sets and aggressive spikes, winning 20-9. 

After a short break, the second game began and 43rd CES was once again on an offensive fury, pulling ahead to a 9-1 lead. The 43rd LRS team tried to motivate themselves back into the match, but were only able to score another two points.
The defense stepped up in the second game and showed their stuff, as the 43rd CES quickly earned their win 20-3. 

With the 43rd CES winning two games, a third was not needed. 43rd CES walked away as the 2008 Intramural Volleyball base champions taking the title from the 2nd Airlift Squadron. 

Once the teams congratulated each other on a job well done, the championship ended with an awards ceremony in which individuals from both teams were presented trophies while their coaches and commanders were presented team trophies. 

When asked if he was surprised the matches passed so quickly, 43rd CES player and team coach Lambert Aipia simply said ... "No." 

Aipia said 43rd CES has been playing together every Friday as a team to practice, and their preparation and skills were apparent as they can now claim to be Pope Champions. 

43rd CES avenged their lone loss of the season, defeating 43rd Communications Squadron in the American League playoffs. 

43rd LRS overcame the National League's losers bracket, defeating 43rd Security Forces Squadron twice to make it to the championship game.
43rd CES ended the season with an overall record of 20-1 while 43rd LRS fell to 15-8.