Liberty volleyball wins third straight match

Last year, the Liberty Patriots volleyball tram took seventh at the state tournament. But they were looking up at KingCo rivals Lake Washington, who were the runner-ups at the big dance a season ago.

These two sides clashed for the first and only time this season on Sept. 14 inside the Liberty High School gymnasium.

The Kangs got the better of Liberty last season — the two sides split the first two matches of the year in 2023. But Lake Washington handled business in the KingCo Tournament, sweeping aside the Patriots.

But this year went a little different for Liberty as they defeated Lake Washington 3-1 and now sit with a 9-4 record with five matches remaining.

After dropping two in a row to Mercer Island and Eastlake on Oct. 1 and Oct. 3, the Patriots have now rattled off three wins in a row after the win over Lake Washington.

“Tonight was a team win. No one played out of their minds, no one played terrible. But if we all just play consistent, we’ll be all right,” Head Coach Shea O’Brien said.

The Patriots won the first set with ease, 25-9. Liberty took a 4-3 lead and never looked back, outscoring the Kangs early and often.

In the second set, some doubt might have started to creep into the Liberty gym. The Patriots looked to be in control with leads like 12-5 and even 18-13 late in the second set. Lake Washington showed their talent and will to win, rattling off eight of the next 10 points to take a 22-20 lead over Liberty. The Pats lost set two, 25-23.

Patriot fans in attendance had a right to be weary because in a 3-1 loss to Issaquah back on Sept. 25, they won the opening set by a similar margin, but then went on to lose the next three sets and the match to boot.

Instead of going the way of the Issaquah match, Liberty righted the ship. It wasn’t just one Patriot either — pretty much the entire roster got Liberty back on track.

“After the second set, we realized we wanted it more than they did. We knew it wasn’t our best play, but we went on from that and knew we wanted it more and worked harder,” said junior Charlize Espinosa.

Set three was another uber-competitive set. Liberty sprinted to a 5-0 lead early and led by as much as seven points, 18-11. The Kangs then got level at 20-20, but with Charlize Espinosa at the service line, the Patriots got in a groove and won 25-21.

“She is one of those players where we can put her whatever. We’ve been putting her at libero this season and she has been making our back row a lot calmer and more consistent. Behind the service line she can do any serve. She’s great,” said O’Brien.

The Patriots found a way to stay ahead late in the set and were able to hold off Lake Washington’s surge, a tribute to being clutch late in the game.

“Our team has surprisingly been good under pressure. We saw what happened the set before and were like ‘let’s not let it happen again,’” O’Brien said.

“We are not the type of team to crumble under pressure. We are the type of team to rise to the occasion,” Espinosa added.

For the fourth set, Liberty went to different options on offense and capitalized on the momentum from a big third set win. Julianne Lee, Maiya Lester and Layne Ford contributed equally to win the fourth set and the match 25-19 over Lake Washington.

“Everyone can really just do everything. We have team chemistry where we can mix and match each other and still have that nice flow,” Espinosa said.

Liberty has a chance to right a pair of losses from earlier this year, with matchups against Issaquah and Mercer Island on the docket before month’s end.

“We just had to work harder. We weren’t communicating and playing our game (in those losses). In these last three wins, we have felt the game out and played together,” said Espinosa.