Liberty volleyball team tops Centennial in 5 games
| Friday, Sep 12 2008 02:11 AM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 06:00 PM
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Liberty's Mariah Alvidrez receives a serve for the Patriots against Centennial early this season.
Late ties in nearly every game. A massive comeback staved off at the last minute. A boisterous crowd on its feet for much of the evening.
Must be another Liberty-Centennial volleyball match, huh?
About nine months after losing a heartbreaker in the Division II Central Section championship in this building, Liberty made an early-season statement with a 25-15, 25-19, 16-25, 15-25, 15-9 victory Thursday at Centennial.
"Going into it, yeah, I wanted to beat them because of last year. We should have won," said junior Mariah Alvidrez, who led all players with 20 kills. "It was in my head. We wanted revenge."
Liberty (8-1), which already owns a five-set victory against defending Division I champion Clovis-Buchanan, pulled away to win the first two games easily. Mackenzie Carter had five kills in a 9-0 Patriots run that broke a 13-13 tie in Game 1. Then Alvidrez had six kills in Game 2, a victory Liberty finished with an 8-2 run, showing off stout defense and deft ball-handling.
As easy as it seemed, Liberty coach Lean Slayton knew it wasn't over.
"Never, never," she said. "In fact, I told (my players) before the third game, 'Don't count them out. Ever, ever. They always step it up.' We always expect a five-game match against Centennial."
Her prophecy came true. In Game 3, it was Centennial that pulled away from a 12-12 tie, using three consecutive kills from Alyssa Gammel and three more from Lacey Congdon to cut the gap to 2-1. Game 4 was a relative rout, with the Golden Hawks (1-3) taking an 18-9 lead en route to victory.
"Just another Liberty-Centennial game," Golden Hawks coach Brooke Roberts said. "I think we were a little tentative in Games 1 and 2. We made a number of mistakes, and then we just sort of got into a rythym, and they forgot their fear, then went and played beautifully."
Liberty is playing without Natalie Robinson, its best player from last year, until she returns from a shoulder injury. Without her, the Patriots have just one senior in the regular rotation.
So it was especially exciting for Slayton and Liberty to see a young team step up in the deciding game, with memories of a blown lead in last year's section title game still in their heads.
Wasn't going to happen again. Liberty erased a 3-0 deficit, then held off a late charge from Centennial when Carter and Lucy Heidrich blocked the ball to the floor for victory.
"This is a new season, a new team," Slayton said. "At the end, we were able to come through and big plays."
