Tag Archive for: Liberty

LIBERTY LEAVES CAMPBELL AS THE VICTORS

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CAMPBELL OH- The Liberty Leopards and the Campbell Memorial Red Devils came into the night about as even as could be. They were placed next to one another in every single ranking. The back-and-forthbattle between the two proved that this was no fluke. Thursday’sgame saw the Leopards take a game in four sets for the first time this season. They were led throughout the night by their Libero in Gabby Ranalli who continued to make the effort plays all night long.

In set one of the night the Leopards were the first to jump out to a lead. They were led by Gabby Ranalli and Demi Watson who helped hold on to the small lead for the entire set before those effort plays came back in and Liberty closed out the set on a late run to win 25-16.

Set two was the best of the night as the two teams traded the lead more than five times and Liberty was looking like they were going to close out the set once again after Chloe Fleps earned a handful of aces to set them up 20-16. But then Abigail Diaz of Campbell would absolutely let loose, playing every ball perfectly and pulling her team on a 9-2 run to steal the set away from the leading Leopards 25-22.

Campbell hasn’t experienced many close games like this on the season and after the second set they seemed a little out of energy after the big comeback. Liberty once again led by Ranalli, and this time joined by some excellent play by Mia Parker would dominate the third set. They allowed just eight points and ran away with it 25-8.

Set four and Campbell got a second wind and once again made things competitive. The lead continued to switch hands with the score being tied for the majority of the set. Liberty took a late lead as they lead 23-20, but the Red Devils put together an epic final run and pushed the game back to tied. But then Lexi Muck, who had put together a stellar night at the net collecting block after block but had been relatively quiet compared to her previous outings closed out the game. From 23-23 Lexi Muck would fly above the net to spike the ball down hard to give the Leopards the lead and then earn the game winning block to win 25-23 over Campbell in the fourth set.

Kelly Barley and her Leopards improved to (4-4) on the season and picked up their second win in conference play. The Leopards will be in action three times next week as they play host Warren G. Harding on Tuesday, Champion on Wednesday, and Crestview on Thursday. Campbell drops back to (4-5) on the season after picking up their fifth loss in conference play. They will travel on the road for two of their three matchups next week as they play on the road against Newton Falls on Tuesday, Youngstown East at home on Wednesday, and once again on the road in Brookfield.

 

*Contributed By YSN’s Alek Koberna

GARFIELD LASHES OUT ON THE LEOPARDS

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LIBERTY OH- The stars align once again for the Garfield Lady G-Men as they came into Liberty and took a commanding victory over the Lady Leopards. Garfield coming into this game had not surrendered a set in MVAC Grey play and that would not change here as they took down Liberty in just 3 sets and continued their great play on the season.

In set one of the night Garfield got out to a 4-0 start to the game and clung on to that lead until Liberty pushed back and tied things at 13 apiece. From there Garfield won the next point and this brought up their ace leader in Montana McGranahan to serve the ball. She was excellent as she collected point after point forcing Liberty to burn two timeouts enroute to a 23-13 lead before Garfield finally surrendered a point to the Leopards. A couple of points later and the Lady G-Men took home set one of the night 25-13.

Liberty would not allow another McGranahan serving run on the night but set two still belonged to Garfield as their height at the net proved to much for Liberty to handle. McGranahan, Gabby Barnard, Mandy Cardinal, and Hannah Kernig played excellent all night long and set two really showcased their talents as they continued to halt every momentum play by Liberty with a massive spike at the net. Lexi Muck did her best trying to block at the net, but with so much skill all around on the front line of Garfield she couldn’t be everywhere at once. Liberty fought hard in set two and some great plays were made from Mia Parker, Lexi Muck, Demi Watson, and Brianna Derenzis but a few mishaps stalled their run as they fell in set two 25-18.

Set three was a competitive battle as Liberty was showing their pride after starting the season with a perfect record at home and not wanting to give in to Garfield’s size mismatch. They fought hard and neither team ever had a run of more then four consecutive points and even these small runs were immediately answered by their opponent. Lexi Muck made some huge plays with both spikes and blocks. Garfield had one last push, and they took the lead late up 24-20 and a powerful hit from Liberty was sent beyond the back line to give the Garfield Lady G-Men their third set of the night.

Liberty’s home winning streak was snapped as they fall to (3-3) on the season and (1-3) in conference play dropping them into a three-way tie for fifth place of the MVAC Grey with Champion and Campbell Memorial. Garfield still has not given up a set since they lost their first game of the season as they now sit a (5-1) and (4-0) in MVAC Grey play which has them in a tie for first place with Crestview. Liberty will have the weekend off as they prepare to hit the road yet again this season as on Tuesday, they will travel to LaBrae to take on the Lady Vikings (3-1). Garfield will also take the weekend off as will play at home against the Newton Falls Tigers (1-4) on Tuesday.

 

*Contributed By YSN’s Alek Koberna

 

LIBERTY FINDS VICTORY IN ANOTHER FIVE SET THRILLER

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LIBERTY OH- Tuesday night action saw the Liberty Leopards play host to the Newton Falls Tigers in their second home game of the season. Liberty took control of the action early in the first set of the night getting out to a double-digit lead behind a strong performance from Lexi Muck and Mia Parker who looked like they might be the best duo in the region after set one. Liberty would come out on top 25-15 and continued to capitalize on every Tigers mishap in set two in which they would again get out to a large lead and win 25-19 after the Tigers had a late rally that almost made things interesting. Going into set three the Tigers had not held a lead for the entire game, and it looked like the Leopards would get their second 3-0 sweep at home this season. That was not to be as the Tigers kept it close thanks to some great plays from Natalee Albert, Brooke Stiffler, and Lily Sait who trailed the Leopards 16-14 before putting up 8 straight unanswered points to take their first lead of the night. The Leopards fought back and made it interesting but the big lead for the Tigers was too much to overcome as Newton Falls would take set 3 26-24.

Here’s where the night got very interesting. The Leopards had led all night long and looked like the better team up until late in the third set. The Tigers kept it close to start off set four and would take an early lead that they again would not surrender, and they took home the fourth set 25-21 over Liberty. So now going into the fifth set after Liberty won the first two and Newton Falls won the last two, momentum seemed on the side of the Tigers as they would for the first time win the first point of the set before Liberty went on one final run to seal the night led again by Lexi Muck who put up epic numbers on the night. The Leopards final run in the fifth set put away the Tigers 15-8.

Liberty took home their first win in MVAC Gray Tier play and advanced to (3-2) on the season and will host the Garfield Lady G-Men on Thursday. Meanwhile a hard-fought contest for the Tigers ultimately leads them to a 1-3 start as they return home for just the second time this season to host the undefeated Crestview Lady Rebels on Thursday.

*Contributed By YSN’s Alek Koberna

GIRARD PLOWS THROUGH LEOPARDS

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GIRARD OH- It’s a great rivalry game between Liberty, and Girard. It had produced plenty of great games in the series history. Friday night was not one of them, Girard saw to that. They steamrolled their way to a dominating 48-0 win.

Nic Bengala paved the way totaling three touchdowns on the day. Two through the air, and one on the ground.  Michael Palmer coming off a 1,000 yard season continued to show off scoring three touchdowns himself.

Girard hits the road in Week 3 in their final preparation for NE8 play as they go to Ellet. Liberty will look for their first win in their home opener next week against Lakeview.

BROOKFIELD SURVIVES THRILLER WITH LEOPARDS

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BROOKFIELD OH-  Thursday night volleyball action saw what may end up being the best game of the year despite it being just the first week of the season. The Liberty Leopards travelled North to take on the Brookfield Warriors in what has been a fast-developing rivalry over the course of the year.

The Ladies of Brookfield put on a fundamentally sound showcase of expert level basketball in the first two sets of the night getting out to hot starts and making next to no major mistakes. They took the first set of the night 25-14 thanks to a slew of Liberty misfires and then continued to push the intensity in set two eventually coming out with a 26-24-point victory. Liberty looked strong in the second set, but they found themselves down early in a lot of sets and that proved to be the final blow in this second set as they were never able to catch all the way back up. Going into the third set Brookfield was looking great. Lauren Shingledecker and Cailey Wellman had been feasting at the net all night long and they would continue to do so in set 3 as the Warriors pushed themselves out front yet again to an 11-point lead and making the score 24-13 before Head Coach Brie Harbison decided to pull most of the Varsity squad needing only one more point in the third set to win the night. This decision proved costly as the Leopards helped by an amazing performance from Lexi Muck (Player Profile) and company scored 11 straight points to tie the game at 24 and eventually steal the third set 27-25.

An outstanding comeback in set 3 set the table for the best set of the night in set 4 which yet again saw the Warriors get out to a 6-point lead let in the set. Somehow and someway the Leopards stormed back one more time to steal a set yet again from the Warriors 27-25. From down 2-0 the Liberty Ladies forced the game to a fifth set where they would ultimately run out of steam as a well-conditioned Warriors unit that had gotten off to a hot start in every set just had more juice left in the tank as they would handedly take the final set 15-9 winning the night.

This game most definitely concluded as a game of the year candidate as Brookfield would win 3-2 over the Liberty Leopards. Brookfield remains undefeated here in opening week moving to 2-0 on the young campaign. Meanwhile the hard fought Leopards from Liberty fell to 1-2 after their first week of action. Brookfield will defend home court yet again this weekend as they host the Lions of Heartland Christian on Saturday at 11:30AM. Liberty gets the weekend off before finishing off a three game road stance against Girard on Monday.

 

*Contributed By YSN’s Alek Koberna

RUNNIN’ A MUCK

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LIBERTY OH- When you say someone is running amok, you describe them as crazy, chaotic, and out of control. For opponents trying to deal with Liberty’s Lexi Muck, it probably can feel pretty chaotic. But a lack of control is not a problem that Lexi has. She is hyper focused on all the goals she, and her team has set.  Going into her junior year, Lexi has embraced a role as a leader of the team.  She serves a role model not just for the younger players on the team, but also all the kids in the Liberty school system. All you have to do is watch the way Muck conducts herself and you’ll quickly discover how much leadership shines through.

As a sophomore Muck finished the season with over 100 kills to her credit. Her biggest asset to the team was her defense at the net. She led the Leopards with 75 blocks on the season.  After losing a handful of seniors from last year, Muck promises to be at the top of leader board in a ton of categories for the Leopards in 2022.

Muck was kind enough to take the time to join YSN’s Running Point this week to talk about her volleyball career. She talks with DJ Yokley, and Anthony Hartwig about stepping into a leadership role, some of the lessons volleyball has taught her, and much more. Make sure to check out the latest Liberty Volleyball player profile on YSN.

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LEOPARDS SERVE UP SEASON OPENING SWEEP

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LIBERTY OH- It was time to get volleyball started in Liberty on Monday night. The experienced Leopard team matched their talents with Youngstown East in a backyard brawl. It was Liberty that proved too much for the Bears as they swept their way to victory (25-7 25-13 25-6)

 

It was at the service line that the Leopards did the most damage. They served up 27 aces as a team. Mia Parker finished with 8 by herself. As for the offense, Lexi Muck led the Leopards with 8 kills. Demi Watson finished with 5.

Liberty will start league play on Tuesday as they travel to Crestview.  East hits the road again on Wednesday as they travel to East Palestine.

RESERVE SPREADS IT OUT TO GET THE WIN

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BERLIN CENTER OH- John Armeni is 1-0 as the head football coach for the Western Reserve Blue Devils. Armeni’s squad hosted Liberty in the season opener, and a balanced attack pushed them to victory.

Offensively for Western Reserve, three different receivers scored a touchdown. Josh Stamp and Jack Darney had one TD, while Ethan Cannon added 3 to lead the offensive attack. For Liberty, Dwayne Moody and Chris Cunningham had touchdowns for the Leopards.

Western Reserve only led by one score in the fourth, until Cannon caught two big touchdowns to seal the victory. The Blue Devils won by a final of 41-20, and will host Conneaut next week. Liberty stays on the road in week two, taking the short trip to Girard.

*Contributed By YSN’s Richie Juliano.

LIBERTY FOOTBALL COACH’S CORNER (EP 1) WITH JOE SIMON

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LIBERTY OH- Last season, the rallying call for Liberty football was “Return the Roar.” They took great strides in doing just that. Now though, their new motto is going to be “Ring The Bell.” Their focus is going to be on finishing, and getting the opportunity to ring that victory bell.

Joe Simon has brought passion and energy into the program as head coach. As he returns to the helm, he is focused more than ever to get this team to where he knows they can be. He stopped by YSN’s Running Point to give us a preview of Liberty football. He gives us an insight into the team’s identity, what their goals will be this season, and so much more! Earn your spots by checking out this year’s first episode of Coach’s Corner with Joe Simon.

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CRESTVIEW TAKES A PIECE OF FIRST PLACE IN THE MVAC

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COLUMBIANA OH-  In her final game as a Rebel, Kaedyn Sutton didn’t allow a single run against Liberty, throwing a complete game shutout and leading Crestview Lady Rebels to a 13-0 victory on Thursday. The win gives Crestview a share of a MVAC title for the first time in program history.

McKenna Schultz led Crestview to victory by driving in four runs. She went 3-for-4 at the plate. Schultz drove in runs on a double in the second, a single in the fourth, and a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Crestview got things started in the first inning. Sutton drove in one when she singled.

The Rebels tallied six runs in the fourth inning. Their batters contributing to the big inning included Schultz, Sutton, Brooke Brubaker, and Katie Lissi, all knocking in runs in the inning.

Sutton pitched Crestview to victory. The Rebels hurler went seven innings, allowing zero runs on three hits, striking out 12 and walking one.

Crestview socked two home runs on the day. Sutton had a homer in the fourth inning. Ellie Ricketts put one out in the seventh inning.

The Rebels racked up 14 hits on the day. Schultz, Joanie Wood, Lissi, Sutton, and Brenna Figley all managed multiple hits. Schultz led with three hits in four at bats. Crestview was sure-handed and didn’t commit a single error. Karsyn Moore made the most plays with 14.

Crestview ends their season with a record of 14-8.

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