Liberty High girls volleyball team loses in five sets

By Paige Mendez, Correspondent

Liberty High School’s volleyball team lost in five sets Thursday night to West Valley High.

The teams split the first two sets, starting with a Liberty victory of 25-15. West Valley then started the second set with an early 7-3 lead that started an advantage they kept the whole set, ending on top, 25-17.

The Mustangs nearly mirrored that score in the third set, winning 25-18, helped largely by a 7-0 run in the middle of the set.

The Bison went into the fourth set ready to fight back and showed it in a 10-3 run to start things off. For the first half of that set, each Liberty server brought at least three points to their advantage, compared to the Mustangs’ one per server at that point.

A late resurgence from West Valley reduced a 21-14 Bison lead to only three points at 23-20. But a side out followed by an error from West Valley brought it to game point, which was scored by Kierstynn Vogt to win it and send them into the fifth set.

Unfortunately for the Bison, the Mustangs took a quick 6-0 lead. Their lead only increased from there and the hill was just too big for Liberty to climb. They fell 15-6 at the end on an error from the otherwise outstanding Paige Rash.

Rash tallied the most kills on the night in 10, followed by Vogt, who had 8.

“It was tough to end the game like that, but coach helped me understand that it doesn’t just come down to one point,” Rash said. “I’m glad I was able to have my teammates have my back and get Player of the Game from my coach still.”

Liberty ended the night with 33 ball handling errors and 25 service errors, and head coach Natalie Canales said that’s just the name of the game.

“Volleyball is a game of errors and you pray that the other team makes more than you do,” said Canales. “Unfortunately today we just made a little more than they did, but I told [my team] it’s a learning opportunity.”

This was also just the second game that has gone into five sets for the Bison this season. Rash was the only one on the team who played all five sets with no bench time.

Other noteworthy players included Dakota Jove, who had 27 defensive digs, and Lilly Webb, who led the team with three ace serves.

Going forward, the Bison look to improve on their overall 7-9 record (2-2 in league) with just six games left in the season. Canales hopes that people will be able to see what she sees in her team by the end of it all.

“I hope people don’t underestimate us for being a new school,” Canales said. “This school has been blessed with really great volleyball players committed to this sport. Just because we’re a new school doesn’t mean we can’t hang with the schools that have been around for a long time.”

The next matchup on Liberty’s schedule is an away game at Citrus Hill Tuesday.