TOWN OF IOWA CITY – Before it could completely make atonement, Tuesday night’s victory was necessary. Which it did, defeating Cedar Rapids Prairie in three straight sets to win the regional championship for Class 5A.
The Iowa City Liberty volleyball team can now begin the process of making amends for its devastating ouster in the first round of last year’s state tournament.
The Lightning, who were the top-seeded and top-ranked team, lost without ceremony to Johnston. Again, the top-ranked and top-seeded Lighting will face an opponent from a suburb of Des Moines in the first round.
This time, Monday at noon at the Xtream Arena in Coralville, it’s Urbandale.
Cassidy Hartman, a senior outside-middle hitter, remarked, “Given everything that transpired last season, I believe we had the extra guts to want to return.” “We knew we could do it, obviously” (tonight). We had to maintain composure and play our game, which we did.
This 25-16, 25-13, 25-18 victory was about as mundane as it gets and took less than an hour. Prairie (14-22) did not have a lead in the first set, led only 1-0 after McKenna Murray’s kill to start the second set, and had brief leads of 2-1 and 3-2 on kills from McKenna Murray and Jacey Miller.
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As advertised, the remainder of this match was all about Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, and Liberty.
Hartman and Lilah VanScoyoc led the squad in kills at the net with 13 and 12, respectively. Shelby Kimm contributed nine to the total.
Asta Hildebrand led the Lightning in assists with 23, while Mariah Rollins contributed 11.
“I believe that heading into the postseason, we had to take things game by game and point by point,” stated Kimm. “We cannot simply focus on the state championship. We don’t want to, like, jinx ourselves, I think. We simply compete at every point and on every play.”
This is the fourth consecutive state tournament participation for Liberty, who enters with a 30-8 record.
“Quality for the state cannot be taken for granted. Every game is special, according to Liberty head coach Allie Kelly. “I believe that during the season our girls have become steadier when they make errors or when the opposing team scores a lot of points.”
They just (play) with each other, have mutual trust, and move on to the next phase. These men have matured significantly. I believe that the confidence and trustworthiness have really come through.”
