JBLM volleyball player leads Air Force to title

2018 Armed Forces Volleyball Championship

By Lt. Cmdr. Chad Murphy, U.S. Armed Forces Sports on May 24, 2018

Establishing dominance by the end of the second day of the three-day tournament, the Air Force men's and women's teams were on the path to gold early at the 2018 Armed Forces Volleyball Championship at Hurlburt Field, Florida, May 7-11.

Felicia Clement, a second lieutenant with the 62nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, helped lead the Air Force women to a perfect 6-0 record to earn gold, while the men finished right behind them with a 5-1 final record. Clement was named to the women's all-tournament team.

For the men, Army finished with a 3-3 record to win silver and Navy finished 1-5.

On the women's side, Navy finished with a 3-3 record to win silver and Army finished 0-6.

Immediately following the last match, service representatives and coaches assembled for the selection of the U.S. Armed Forces Men's and Women's Volleyball teams that will compete against 10 other nations at the Conseil International du Sport Militaire World Military Volleyball Championship, to be hosted in Edmonton, Canada, May 26-June 5.

Air Force's coaches will remain on the roster to coach both U.S. teams moving on to the international competition.

Last year, Clement helped the All-Air Force team win the gold medal for the 2017 Armed Forces Women's Volleyball Championships at Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida. She then joined the U.S. team to win silver in the 2017 International Military Sports Council Women's Volleyball Championship at the same location last summer.

Clement was an outside hitter for the Air Force Falcons for all four years at the Air Force Academy, playing collegiate volleyball in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I level.

The 19th edition of the CISM championship will feature teams from Brazil, China, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kenya, the Netherlands, South Korea, Venezuela, the U.S. and host nation Canada.

Now that the Armed Forces Championship has concluded, the U.S. men and women will immediately work to bring home a medal by staying on at Hurlburt Field to train and compete together as new teams prior to CISM.

Founded in 1948, CISM's 136-member nations makes it the largest military organization in the world and the second largest multi-sport organization after the International Olympic Committee.

Visit armedforcessports.com for complete coverage of both the U.S. Armed Forces Women's Volleyball Championship and the CISM World Championship.