Liberty dethrones Pleasant Valley in Class 5A Iowa high school volleyball championship
After four years of making it to the dance but coming up short, the Liberty Lightning can finally call themselves Class 5A state champions.
“I keep saying that I can’t believe it, but at the same time, I felt like we could do it all along,” said Liberty senior Shelby Kimm. “The fact that we actually did it is unbelievable and feels surreal.”
Outlasting the reigning champion Pleasant Valley Spartans 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-22), the Lightning’s victory sends off their senior class with the most sought-after trophy in all of Iowa high school volleyball.
Remarking on the stark difference between this state championship game appearance and their last, senior Lilah VanScoyoc said that the team didn't fear the moment.
“When we went to the finals back in 2020, we were just happy to be in the finals,” VanScoyoc said. “We were trying to win, but it did not feel like we had that extra push like we did this year. We came into this match feeling like we were going to win because we knew that we could.”
To prove their confidence right, they first had to withstand the Spartans’ aggressive attack.
It all began in the first set, where both teams had the chance to feel the other out. Trading points early on, the Spartans began to pull away toward the middle of the set. Tied at 15, they scored three straight points, giving them their largest lead of the set at that point. After that, the Spartans didn't trail again in the set.
They earned the opening set win after ending it on a 5-0 run, which was capped off by two emphatic blocks.
Needing to get back on track, Kelly said that her message to the team ahead of the second set was to have faith in their abilities.
“We told the girls to relax and to trust themselves,” Kelly said. “They were either trying too hard with things or were too tense and were not moving. All of our players have a very high volleyball IQ, so we had to get them to trust their movements fully.”
The team heard the message loud and clear as they were much more dynamic in their second go-round.
They had 19 kills in the set, with eight of them coming from senior Shelby Kimm.
@Liberty_VB has tied the match at 1-1 with their 25-18 set win! It’s capped off by a kill from Shelby Kimm, who had a game-leading eight kills in the set! pic.twitter.com/hW50dHftZp
— Raven (@Raven_XReport) November 3, 2022
Her presence was especially felt down the stretch, where she accounted for the kill that gave the Lightning their first set win of the match.
Things only got better for Liberty after they trudged their way through the third set storm, to win their second consecutive set.
This time it was senior Cassidy Hartman who was leading the charge, racking up 10 kills en route to her team taking the 2-1 lead.
On the brink of elimination, Pleasant Valley needed to change their gameplan and do so quickly before things got out of hand in the fourth set.
Their change in philosophy served them well and they led for the vast majority of the fourth set.
However, just like she had done earlier in the match, Kimm gave her team life. This time, she had an ace that tied the match at 19.
After that shift in momentum, Hartman said that was when the team’s resiliency really kicked in.
“Our mentality was to go after it point by point,” Hartman said. “We were not going to let the ball drop without any effort. We wanted this win so much that we were not going to just give up, that really paid off in the end.”
Then, needing just one more kill to end the match, Hartman sailed over the net to bring it home for her team.
While the feelings of elation and pride are the most resounding right now for Liberty, players also admitted that there was some sadness too.
This was the last game that the team as they know it will play with each other, with eight seniors graduating, four of them being starters.
While it'll be difficult to imagine the team without its core leaders, Kelly said that the group has created a standard that will live on within the program.
“Our seniors have brought an expectation of excellence,” Kelly said. “They have raised the bar for Liberty’s volleyball program. When they came in, we were still working our way up and trying to find a way to compete. They have made it an expectation to come in and compete day in and day out.”
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: The Iowa high school state volleyball Class 5A champion is Liberty
