HOHENFELS, Germany — Heartbreak and triumph were two sides of the same coin for the host Hohenfels Tigers as their boys and girls volleyball teams experienced contrasting fortunes during a four-school DODEA-Europe Division III tournament Friday and Saturday.

The Hohenfels boys and Ansbach girls emerged as the only undefeated squads, each finishing with a pair of wins under their belts after two days of fierce competition.

Girls

The Cougars were nothing if not consistent Saturday, defeating Aviano and the Tigers in victories that proved their hunger for a fifth consecutive Division III championship title.

Their first match against the Division II Saints stretched into four hard-fought sets, though not without a lopsided third-set victory by Aviano that, for a moment, threatened to push the match into a fifth: 25-23, 26-24, 9-25, 25-23.

“Our main focus this year, we have such a young team, so we’re working on the mental game of it,” Cougars junior Aubrey Chaffey said.

The Saints played their hearts out against the Cougars, while the latter tried to remain unfazed after a stunning third-set performance by the Saints and close out the match on top ahead of the match against Hohenfels.

Despite the later loss, the Saints started Saturday on a strong note, sweeping the Alconbury Dragons in three sets, 25-15, 25-21, 25-17, to secure their lone victory of the tournament.

“On our first set, we were figuring out how they are,” Saints senior Koda Roush said. “Then we got to the second set, we kind of slowed ourselves down a little bit … and the third set, we just went head-first.”

The Dragons also did not leave empty-handed, earning a Friday night victory over hosting Hohenfels shortly after arriving from their long journey from the United Kingdom.

In the event’s final match, the Cougars faced the Tigers, who were hoping to secure their first victory of the weekend.

Hohenfels set the tone early in each set, coming out strong and catching the Cougars off guard as they pulled ahead by several points before Ansbach could mount responses.

Despite flashes of talent from the Tigers and several hot streaks that threatened to hand the Cougars a loss, Ansbach closed out the tournament with a hard-fought, straight-set victory, 25-20, 25-16, 25-20.

Ansbach sophomore Ailee Sinclair sealed the Cougars’ victory with a final tap over the net, securing the match-winning point.

“Communication is what helped us,” Sinclair said. “Just having fun, just playing volleyball and not getting in our heads.”

Boys

Hohenfels entered Saturday morning’s match against the Aviano riding the high of a straight-set sweep Friday.

But the Saints weren’t about to let the Tigers off easy, pushing the home squad to its limits in a grueling five-set battle before Hohenfels prevailed, 20-25, 25-21, 25-22, 22-25, 15-12.

Any hopes of another clean victory quickly faded in the opening set as Aviano surged ahead, building a commanding lead that Hohenfels couldn’t overcome.

Tigers senior Lucas Gibbs described the team’s starting performance as too “lax,” but said the mounting pressure pushed them to keep their minds in the fight, matching the Saints at one set apiece.

Hohenfels carried that momentum into the third set, edging out Aviano before the Saints answered with a win of their own in the fourth, forcing a decisive fifth set.

For Gibbs, the final set was an opportunity to overcome the hurdle that had cost the Tigers previous matches against Stuttgart and Naples.

“This game kind of proved that we can pull through in the fifth set and still have our minds strong,” Gibbs said.

The Tigers, who will join the Division II field for the championships in Vicenza later this month, got a confidence boost by winning that set and closing out the victory. They won’t be favorites with teams such as Rota and unbeaten Black Forest Academy.

“We’re hoping to beat Rota,” senior Tkoa Kaisa said. “But before that, we have a lot of practice to do … we just got to improve this one.”