Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division race isn’t officially over just yet.

However, Liberty High to a huge step toward claiming the outright divisional title on Thursday.

Class 5A seventh-ranked Liberty High remained undefeated in MVC Mississippi Division play with a 25-19, 25-18, 25-22 sweep of No. 15 City High in a battle of divisional unbeatens in Iowa City.

Liberty High (17-7) improved to 6-0 in MVC Mississippi Division play with the win and can wrap up the outright divisional title when it hosts Cedar Rapids Washington (1-14) on Monday.

“I am definitely proud of that,” Liberty High coach Jessica Hauptmann said. “We set our goals as we wanted to keep it to three and no matter what we were just going to fight for everything and take it game by game.”

Along with setting the Lightning up for an outright MVC title the sweep of City High (14-8, 4-1) on Thursday puts Liberty High in position to host the MVC Tournament on October 13.

We talk about it a little bit, I can’t say we don’t at all but we don’t focus on that,” Hauptmann said. “We try to go game by game but we do talk about some of that so it’s exciting.”

Liberty High controlled the match from the outset.

The Lightning rolled to wins in the opening two sets and overcame a late five-point deficit to earn a 25-22 in the third set completing the sweep.

“We are excited about that and we played well,” Liberty High senior libero Edie Miller said. “Taking it in three, we came back in the third set and that was exciting being able to pull it out in the end.”

The divisional matchup between City High and Liberty High kicked off a four-team quadrangular that also featured 4A top-ranked Davenport Assumption and 3A second-ranked Dike-New Hartford.

Liberty High finished 1-2 on Thursday dropping its final two matches to Dike-New Hartford 21-16, 21-13 and Davenport Assumption 22-20, 21-16.

The Lightning had defeated Dike-New Hartford twice this season before Thursday and also had a win over Davenport Assumption.

“It was a challenge because we have beat them previously and we knew, and I told the girls they had scouted us and I was sure they were going to want to beat us,” Hauptmann said. “The frustrating thing is we came in and started on a high, which is great, but then we have to figure out how to level it and continue to keep it that way. That’s our next challenge.”

City High finished the evening 0-3, falling to Dike-New Hartford 21-15, 21-19 and Davenport Assumption 23-21, 21-16.

Davenport Assumption finished 3-0 adding an 18-21, 21-16, 15-13 win over Davenport Assumption.

“It’s great reps for us,” Miller said. “It’s very competitive and I think this type of day are setting us up for later in the season.”

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating