Lady Eagles celebrate senior night

Sitting on a 25-3-3 record, the Liberty Lady Eagles are looking to wrap the regular season and focus on post-season play. The Lady Eagles will end their regular season at an away match against Mtn. Grove on Tuesday, Oct. 18. For Class 2 District 9 play, Cabool will play Mansfield on Oct. 20 at 6:00 p.m. and Thayer will play Gainesville at 7:00 p.m. Liberty will play the winner of the Cabool/Mansfield game on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 4:00 p.m. Houston will play the winner of the Thayer/Gainesville game at 5:00 p.m. The championship game will be played on Monday, Oct. 24 at 6:00 p.m. All games wil take place at Cabool. 

"We have districts coming up, but not overlooking Grove on Tuesday," stated Head Coach Shari Tune on the road ahead. "It’s hard to go into districts having beat everyone because you have all the pressure. We will just take it one play at a time and stay reminded and prepared that we will get everyone’s best game."

On Tuesday, Oct. 11 the Lady Eagles traveled to Salem for an SCA match-up against the Lady Tigers. The C team began the evening with a win 25-20. Sophomore Aliyah Kramer had 3 kills for the game, and Freshman Jade Acklin had 6 assists. In JV action, the Lady Eagles won in two sets 25-11, 25-11. Junior Kaylie Foster had 7 kills for the game; Freshman Kinsey Shoup had 10 digs and Junior Grace Bershire had 5 aces. In the Varsity match-up, the Lady Eagles won in four sets 25-19, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21.

For the game, Senior Kenzie Daniels had 19 digs, 1 ace, and 14 kills; Senior Lyla Cornman had 25 assists, 7 kills, 2 aces, and 10 digs; Junior Bre Daniels had 22 kills, 1 ace, and 14 digs; Junior Maci Tharp had 4 aces, 21 assists, and 7 digs; Junior Kinzie Tomey had 1 ace, 2 kills, and 7 digs; Sophomore Bryleigh Wallace had 5 kills, 1 assist, and 3 digs; Sophomore Korie Lind had 4 kills, and 5 digs; and Sophomore Kaylie Wagner had 17 digs.

"The win over Salem was a big one for us," began Coach Tune. "I’m so thankful we have this tough last week before heading into post season play. I was very happy with how we played confidently with our game plan. We had a few lows, but the girls fixed it. Salem is a great team and are very well coached. I'm glad to have such great competition in our SCA. The SCA has came so far the last five years. A tough conference will only make us all better."

Ending the week with the last home game of the regular season, the Lady Eagles hosted the Thayer Lady Bobcats. That night, the Lady Eagles celebrated senior night honoring their three seniors Kenzie Daniels, Lyla Cornman and Ellie Watts.

The JV defeated Thayer in three sets 25-5, 21-25, and 15-7. For the game, Acklin had 1 ace, 1 kill, and 7 digs; Foster had 4 aces, 10 kills, and 10 digs; Freshman Kelbie Smith had 4 kills; Freshman Jadeyn Melby had 2 aces, and 1 kill; and Freshman Kinsey Shoup had 3 aces, and 7 digs.

The Varsity Lady Eagles defeated the Lady Bobcats in three sets 25-6, 29-27, and 25-16.

For the game K. Daniels had 9 kills, 2 assists, and 12 digs; Cornman had 7 kills, 10 assists, and 6 digs; Senior Ellie Watts had 2 digs; B. Daniels had 2 aces, 14 kills, and 4 digs; Tharp had 22 assists; Tomey had 4 kills, and 2 digs; Wallace had 1 kill and 2 digs; Lind had 1 ace, 4 kills, and 4 digs; Wagner had 4 digs.

"These seniors have been a blast to coach, one fighting back after taking a year off. It has been fun to see her grow," shared Coach Tune. "My two captains have been the best workers and great kids. I’m so happy for them and their hard work is paying off. I’m very thankful for a great group."

The game was also Liberty's "Unite and Fight" cancer game. During the game, a quilt raffle and silent auction were held to raise money for local families battling cancer.

"The Thayer game was definitely a challenge. It’s hard to beat a team three times. It’s hard to focus on senior night and with everything going on. I was proud of them trying to battle through the chaos. They started and finished well," stated Coach Tune.