LIBERTY LEAPS OVER MUSTANGS IN THREE

LIBERTY OH- It was senior night in Liberty on Monday as they Leopards played host to the Mathews Mustangs in a late season volleyball match. The Leopards and Mustangs both came in with long losing streaks and they would each put in great efforts to try and snap those long overdue streaks.

The Mustangs earned the first three points of the first sets before the Leopards closed the gap and played it close for a couple of points as the Mustangs held on to a slim 7-6 lead before Meadow Smith came up to serve for Liberty and she would light it up, grabbing a few aces and helping the Leopards to an 8-0 run before the Mustangs grabbed their eighth point of the set. But at this point they were to far behind the racing Leopards as Liberty took off and never looked back as they won the first set of the night 25-11.

Liberty would be the first to grab points in the second set as they grabbed the first three before the Mustangs earned a point, but we would not have another close battle as the Leopards held on to their lead the whole way through and took home the set two win behind strong serves from Brianna Derenzis and Mia Parker.

Mathews wouldn’t let the Leopards pull to far away in the final set, but they had issues returning serves and the Leopards Lexi Muck was too strong at the net and the ladies of Mathews struggled to get the ball past her. They stayed close thanks to the power of Chloe Simeon who was the only one who was able to get past Lexi Muck in the third set. Liberty would close out the third set taking home the 25-17 win.

The Leopards snapped their five-game skid with Monday night’s win on senior night as they move to (9-11) on the season and won a game in three sets for just the third time this year. They will hit the road for the final time on Tuesday against Newton Falls at 7:00 p.m. The Mustangs drop to (3-12) on the season and have now gone eight straight games without winning a set. They will look to bounce back against Struthers on Tuesday night.

*Contributed By YSN’s Alek Koberna