Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – After everything Liberty High went through in the regular season it was going to take a lot more than a slow start or an early deficit to stop the Lightning in the regional final.

Neither or those nor No. 14 Bettendorf could keep fifth-ranked Liberty High from a second consecutive state tournament appearance.

Liberty High (22-2) rebounded from an early 5-0 deficit in the opening set to post an impressive 25-21, 25-18, 25-9 sweep of Bettendorf in the Class 5A, Region 7 title game on Tuesday in North Liberty.

“Tonight wasn’t the best game in the world but we really pulled through and we feel like we can get through anything at this point,” Liberty High senior Lauren Roman said. “We have faced a lot of adversity this year, that’s something we’ve talked about a lot and I think tonight we pushed through really well.”

The win was the 14^th straight for Liberty High which will be seeking the first state tournament win in program history next Monday when it faces fourth-ranked West Des Moines Valley (19-6) at 12:30 p.m. at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids.

Liberty High lost to Pleasant Valley in the 5A quarterfinals last season in its state tournament debut.

“Last year our main goal was just going to state,” Roman said. “This year as a team we are really excited and we want to push through all the way to the championship match.”

Despite a lofty win-loss record and its current double-digit winning streak returning to state was no easy task for Liberty High.

Liberty High had its season paused for three weeks in September and went more than three weeks without official practices or a match.

When it returned to action Liberty High played a grueling stretch of 20 matches in 22 days.

The payoff came in the form of a banner-hoisting regional final celebration for the second year in a row.

“There was a lot to sort through this year and a lot we had to get through to get here,” Liberty High senior setter Hailey Hested said. “It’s relieving to get this out of the way.”

Bettendorf (12-7) scored the first five points of the match on four Liberty High hitter errors and a Lightning net violation.

Liberty High head coach Randy Dolson took a timeout and told his team to settle down.

“I think it was just a culmination of everything that we’ve got through the last month and knowing that this was just a huge stage to get to that next step,” Dolson said. “We weren’t taking bad swings we just weren’t being smart.”

The response from the Lightning was swift.

Liberty High scored six consecutive points out of the timeout and never trailed again.

The Lightning scored 14 of the next 17 points and never let the Bulldogs get closer than three points the rest of the set.

“We just had to bring them in and settle them down,” Dolson said. “We just told them to calm down and go back to the basics, back to the fundamentals and we told them to be smart aggressive. We said that a lot tonight, be smart aggressive.”

Sophomore Cassidy Hartman had seven of her match-high 13 kills in the opening set.

Hartman had four kills during the 14-3 burst out of the timeout that helped Liberty High pull away.

“I think we were a little startled at first, we had all the nerves for this game but we just said we had to relax and play our game,” Hartman said. “After that first timeout we were fine.”

Liberty High broke open a 16-15 score in the second set by scoring nine of the final 12 points.

Hartman had sophomore Lilah VanScoyoc each had two kills and Gabbie Schroeder had two ace serves during the 9-3 burst that gave Liberty High a two sets to none lead in the match.

“We just talked about playing our game and really focusing in and not worrying about the other side of the net,” Roman said. “We were just worrying about ourselves and what we had to do.”

Liberty High never trailed in the third set while locking up the sweep.

The Lightning ended the match on an 11-1 run capped by a Hartman kill.

“I was really happy the way we finished,” Dolson said. “We finished strong.”

Sophomore Shelby Kimm had 10 kills and three ace blocks while Kennedy Daugherty had eight kills and Schroeder finished with seven ace serves.

“I’m just so grateful that we even got to this point with COVID and everything, we’ve had a lot of setbacks so I am so happy to be here,” Roman said. “As seniors we were treating every practice, every game like it was our last because we had no idea what was going to happen so it’s super exciting to be going to state.”

Liberty High              25  25  25

Bettendorf                 21  18   9

Liberty High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Addie Schmierer 0-1-0, Lauren Roman 0-2-0, Shelby Kimm 10-1-3, Kennedy Daugherty 8-0-0, Sam Harvey 4-0-1, Gabbie Schroeder 0-7-0, Cassidy Hartman 13-0-0, Lilah VanScoyoc 3-0-0, Team 38-9-6.

Assists – Hailey Hested 13, Mariah Rollins 11

Bettendorf (Kills-aces-blocks)

Annie Stotlar 5-0-0, Grace Gasper 4-0-0, Lillie Petersen 8-2-0, Tyler Ramstack 1-0-0, Ellie Aanestad 1-0-0, Kaytlin Sowards 3-0-0 Izzy Vandewille 3-0-1, Riley Deere 0-2-0, Team 25-4-1.

Assists – Ellie Aanestad 21

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