Fifth set makes the difference in Liberty's volleyball win
Kierstynn Vogt leaps to make one of her 11 kills on the night for Liberty. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group) By Paige Mendez, Correspon...
By Paige Mendez, Correspondent
It took five sets, but the Liberty High girls volleyball team won its first-round match against visiting Rosemead High Tuesday night in the CIF State Regional playoffs.
The Bison (16-11 overall) had a lead for the entirety of the fifth set, by as much as six points at a time, until Rosemead tied it up at 13 and again at 14 on a Liberty error. But the Bison scored the two final points to take the 16-14 victory on a side out and a Panther error, sending them into the next round of playoffs as the only volleyball team in the Menifee area to represent at state.
Liberty will play at Oceanside in the second round on Thursday.
“I told the girls in our end-of-game huddle that this is an incredible opportunity for them to play at this level,” Liberty coach Natalie Canales said. “I just hope they keep it up like they have been.”
Cheering the Bison on during the match were several players from Paloma Valley High – many of whom are teammates of Bison players on a local club team during the rest of the year.
“I think it’s cool that they all came, but also kind of scary,” said co-captain Paige Rash. “But it’s nice to know that they’re coming and that we have that support. We’re here to support Menifee too.”
“I feel like our school is still so small and no one knows about us, so having bigger schools come to support really feels good,” added Kaitlyn Toscano.
The home match against the 17-5 Panthers started with a comeback in the first set for the Bison, who took the victory 25-20. The second set was close, with no greater than a five-point difference in the score, and the Bison held the lead up until the 23-point mark, where Rosemead tied it. The Panthers then took the lead at 26-25 and scored the set point in the next play, winning it, 27-25.
Liberty held its own in a big way for the third set, with the Bison’s biggest run being 12-0 to put them up 13-3. With that wide of a gap in the score, they finished the set smoothly with a 25-11 win.
With just one victory to go before heading into the regional semifinals, the Bison entered the fourth set hoping it would be the last. But the Panthers answered with a vengeance and were ahead 10-1 before Liberty saw another point.
Canales said the even match-up between her squad and Rosemead’s was the reason it stayed so close.
“My girls joked that they just like to keep it interesting,” Canales said of the back-and-forth play. “But it really says so much about our opponent and how well they played that it was such a fight.”
The Bison kept up that fight in the fourth set, closing the gap to as little as four points in the middle of it, then even coming to within one at the end on a comeback from Rash at the service line. But Rosemead took the 25-23 victory with a final kill in that set, making it truly a battle going into set five.
Toscano is a senior who traditionally plays outside hitter for the Bison but was put into the middle position after a few of her teammates could not make the game. She said that, although it was tough to switch things up like that, she’s proud of how it turned out.
“At first I didn’t think I would play middle and then [coach] surprised me and then I kicked butt,” said Toscano of her 10 kills on 30 swings for the night.
“I’m so proud of her; she shocked us all,” Canales said of Toscano’s performance, mentioning that she also had an injury earlier on in the season that made this performance that much more impressive. “To recover from that and be in a totally new position and just kick butt was amazing. I’m so proud of her.”
Kailee Tracy led the team in ace serves on the night with four. Rash made the most kills with 18, followed by Kierstynn Vogt, who tallied 11 of her own. Senior libero Dakota Jove held the team up with 33 digs on the night.
Joscelin Jones sets up a play during the Bison's state playoff match Tuesday. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)
Isabel Mazza goes high for the ball against the Rosemead defense. (Photo by Action Captures Media Group)
