Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

NORTH LIBERTY – Asta Hildebrand has played enough postseason volleyball to know that nothing comes easy in the 5A playoffs.

The Liberty High senior always knows what it takes to win those tight postseason matches.

Hildebrand put her postseason experience to good use on Thursday hammering a team-high 18 kills and adding six ace serves as tenth-ranked Liberty High held off Dubuque Senior 26-24, 25-23, 17-25, 25-20 in a Class 5A, Region 7 semifinal in North Liberty.

“Looking at the record doesn’t really matter, every team this time of year is going to be good we know that,” Hildebrand said. “You know it’s not going to be easy so you have to focus on what you can control.”
Dubuque Senior (16-22) was no easy out on Thursday.

Behind a match-high 26 kills from Creighton commit Cambel Drapeau the Rams pushed Liberty High in every set.

It was late pushes in the first and fourth sets that has the Lightning moving on.

Liberty High (15-20) scored on the final six points of the opening set to erase a 24-20 deficit and closed the fourth set on a 11-1 run to dig out of a 19-14 hole.

“Cambel Drapeau is a really good hitter,” Liberty High coach Allie Kelly said. “We did a better job later in sets of knowing that she will get her kills and that is going to happen and we’ve got to control our side and then make sure we are stealing points from them when she is in the back row and taking advantage of those times.”

Lucy Maassen joined Hildebrand in double figures with 13 kills and sophomore libero Edie Miller had 30 digs as Liberty High advanced to the regional title game for the sixth consecutive season.

Liberty High will travel to seventh-ranked Cedar Falls (32-6) on Tuesday for the Region 7 title game at 7 p.m.

“I think this is going to give us a lot of confidence,” Miller said. “We know we are a good team but this gives us confidence going into next week.”

Liberty High needed its late rallies to get past Dubuque Senior on Thursday.

The Lightning trailed 22-16 in the opening set and faced match point at 24-20 before mounting its first of two-late surges.

Maassen started the 6-0 run to end the first set with a kill, Hildebrand followed with a kill and junior Ashlyn Nordell had a solo block to cut the lead to 24-23.

“We just focused on our side of the net,” Hildebrand said. “They are a good team but we knew the things that we needed to work on and control.”

Liberty High pulled even on a Ram hitting error and put the set away on another hitting error and a Nordell kill.

“I think this is a good game to realize that even down by a couple of points we can always come back,” Hildebrand said. “If we control our side we showed what we can do.”

Liberty High built a 24-18 lead in the second set and held off a late Dubuque Senior surge in a 25-23 win.

The Rams gained momentum with a 25-17 win in the third set and appeared poised to fourth a fifth set when they took a 18-11 lead in the fourth.

Liberty High once again rallied.

Three quick points cut into the lead but it was still 19-14 Dubuque Senior before one final Liberty High run.

Miller had two aces during a 6-0 burst that gave Liberty High a 20-19 lead and Hildebrand had a pair of aces during a 5-0 surge to end the match.

“We had great serves and we were going after every ball aggressively,” Miller said. “I think we were even better at those things later in the sets.”

Ellie Wilson had six kills and surpassed the 500 career dig mark on Thursday while Hadley Miller added four kills and two ace serves.

“I don’t mind being tested,” Kelley said. “The first set we were down and came back, the last set we were down and came back so that showed a lot of maturity there but I think also there were some tense moments we can learn from.”

Dubuque Senior        24  23  25  20

Liberty High             26  25  17  25

Liberty High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Edie Miller 0-4-0, Hadley Miller 4-2-1, Ava Meidlinger 3-0-0, Asta Hildebrand 18-6-1, Lucy Maassen 13-0-0, Sydney Van Heukelom 2-1-4, Ellie Wilson 6-2-1, Ashlyn Nordell 2-0-1, Totals 48-13-8.

Assists – Hadley Miller 26, Asta Hildebrand 11

Dubuque Senior (Kills-aces-blocks)

Maddie Prehm 6-0-0, Cambel Drapeau 26-1-2, Sienna McDonald 0-2-0, Bailey Davis 1-1-1, Ellanor Foley 4-1-0, Brooklyn Klaas 1-2-0, Lexie LeConte 7-0-2, Noraleigh Nagelmaker 0-2-0, Totals 45-7-5.

Assists – Brooklyn Klaas 36, Noraleigh Nagelmaker 2

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