Team Army’s sitting volleyball squad came together like a "family of one" to win the 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games tournament.Army rallied from a one-set deficit in the gold-medal match to defeat Team Air Force, 16-25, 25-20, 15-6.The resilient group of soldiers went 7-1 in the four-day tourney against Air Force, Navy, British Armed Forces, Special Operations Command and the event’s host – Marines – the lone squad to defeat Team Army."We set out with a goal to work one game at a time, one point at a time, and that came through for us in the end," Team Army Coach Uros Davidovic said.Adding, "We had amazing effort, amazing physical and mental resiliency."These athletes competed in so many sports, and to put this kind of performance together on the very last day of competition says you’ve got something special."After losing 25-16 to Air Force in the opener of the best-of-three championship match, Team Army rode the serve of co-captain Monica Southall to a 5-0 lead in the finale and never looked back."This atmosphere is electric," Southall said of the loud crowd at Barber Gym.She added, "Sometimes the moment gets really big, and you have to say: ‘Hey, calm down, relax, and play volleyball like you know how to play volleyball – how we’ve been doing all Warrior Games.’ We finally calmed down, relaxed, and got the victory.""This is the only way we know how to play: suffer through the first part and kick butt the last part," co-captain Randi Gavell said.Adding, "Every game we played, it’s always come from behind. I don’t know why we do it to ourselves. I don’t know why we do it to our crowd. I don’t know why we give ourselves heart attacks."Dustin Barr served for three consecutive points, giving Team Army an 11-8 lead in the second game.From there, the soldiers never trailed."I think losing that first game was good for us," said Barr, a veteran from Jamesville, N. C. "It turned on a switch we didn’t have turned on the first game. We kept it ignited and kept going to the end."We did our thing: communication, teamwork and having fun," Barr said. "Having fun is the main thing. If we’re not having fun, we’re not playing our game."Although Team Army grounded Air Force in two games before losing a three-game match to the marines, the soldiers were forced to regroup to secure the gold."This match was just as hard as the Marine match, and we were down," Southall said."The first game of the Marine match, we actually won the first set and lost the second. This time, we were down. So I felt like we had to fight harder to come back to actually pull this match out.""We knew what we had to do," Davidovic said.Adding, "We made some small adjustments. The team was confident, regardless of losing the first game. We came out there and just performed so well the second and third games. The mental aspect of this is very important because you have to be resilient, and these guys were strong as rocks throughout the whole thing."Gavell served Team Army to a 4-0 lead in the equalizer, and said the soldiers "knew" they would prevail in a rubber game."In that third game, we knew we had to come out strong because we didn’t have a chance to come back," Gavell said.Noting, "At the very end of the first game, we started to get our momentum. The second game, we started to pick it up, and it was real close. As soon as we knew we were playing a third game, that was it for us – we knew."Southall was a member of Army’s gold-medal-winning sitting volleyball squad at the 2012 Warrior Games.She went 3-for-3 at this year’s 2015 Warrior Games, striking gold in sitting volleyball, shot put and discus, with personal-best marks of 11.93 meters in the shot and 33.69 meters in the discus."All of it means the most to me," said Southall, a veteran from Suffolk, Va., who at one point could not walk or stand."I’m going to have my 13th surgery on July 7 on my right knee, so for me it’s been a long recovery process. Just to be able to come here and even be able to compete is a true testament in itself."This is amazing to make it back to the gold-medal match. Beating the Marines [in the semifinals] was awesome. Just to pull it out with a three-set victory was awesome, as well. I couldn’t be more proud of this team that really pulled together."Gavell believed that the "pulling together" Southall spoke of made all the difference in the world."Our team has come a really long way from never having met each other to going to travel camps, getting to know each other, to becoming eventually a big family," said Gavell.Adding, "To be able to celebrate something so huge the last day of the games with your Family is amazing. And to have our family come and support us is over the moon."Davidovic was elated by his team’s nearly flawless performance."I could not be prouder of their resiliency and mental focus, especially on this last day of competition," he said."They are an amazing group. We were just happy to be there for the ride and enjoy it," he said."This is a great way to end the Warrior Games," Southall concluded.