Liberty gets payback against rival Freedom
Houchens leads Hurricanes to victory with 12 kills, five coming in the fourth and final set
Perhaps the turning point in the Liberty girls volleyball team’s season came just a couple of weeks ago in a straight-set loss to Freedom.
That defeat was a muchneeded eye opener as a refocused Hurricanes squad won five of its next six matches.
Fast forward to Thursday’s rematch against the Patriots. The ‘Canes appeared hungry this time around, as they upended Freedom on its Senior Night in four sets [25-21, 25-13, 15-25, 25-20].
“We’ve done a lot of mental exercises since the last time we played Freedom,” first-year Liberty coach Connor Swigart said. “We did a lot better and worked past those mental errors. The seniors, Jamie Byrne and Ashley Houchens in particular, did a great job. Those two never left the court.”
Houchens led all hitters with 12 kills, five of which came in the fourth and final set. Byrne was also on top of her game, registering 33 assists and 20 digs.
“We came out knowing we wanted to beat them on their Senior Night,” Houchens said. “We’re really excited to have beaten our biggest rival and I think everyone played really well.”
Back and forth action highlighted the first set before Liberty jumped ahead late in the set. Madison Gonzalez served up an ace, then put down a kill to enable the Hurricanes to a oneset lead.
In the second, Liberty’s defense outhustled the Pates on a long rally, pushing its lead to 21-13. Freedom’s offense went cold, forcing several miscues and handing the Hurricanes a commanding two-set lead.
Freedom showed some fight in the third set when Avery Lynn, Grace Grandinetti, Grace Hercik, and Brenna Ortwein all caught fire to cut Liberty’s lead in half.
The ‘Canes went back to its heavy hitters in Byrne and Houchens to take an early fourth set lead, one they would never relinquish.
Also chipping in for the Hurricanes were Ayana Bomani (7 kills, 5 digs), Elizabeth Flynn (7 kills, 15 digs), and Sydney Houchens (5 kills, 5 blocks, 3 aces).
“This was a huge win for us and there’s no better team to beat than our cross-town rival,” Swigart said. “We really redeemed ourselves.”
The Hurricanes (14-2) will head into next week’s Eastern Pennsylvania Conference tournament with a full head of steam as the No. 1 seed.
“This was a great way to end the regular season,” Ashley Houchens said. “We want to go as far as we can in the postseason.
“I think we have a great shot to win the EPC tournament and possibly districts. We want to go to states.”
The Patriots, who are enjoying their most successful season in recent memory, will look to put the loss behind them and get back to work in practice.
“Our errors are what hurt us,” Freedom coach Donna Roman said. “We came to play last time against Liberty. We tipped a lot today, we didn’t hit.
“We put ourselves behind the eight ball and just weren’t aggressive enough.”
Lynn (8 kills, 6 digs), Grandinetti (6 kills, 15 digs, 4 aces), Hercik (7 kills, 5 digs), and Ortwein (4 kills, 15 digs) led the Patriots, who head into the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference tournament with a 15-3 record.
“Every team at leagues and districts will be strong,” Roman said. “We definitely need to work on shot selection. Our setters were not quite as crisp and we need better decision making.”