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Liberty avenges loss to Struthers
By Greg Gulas
STRUTHERS
Five days ago, the Liberty High School volleyball team was swept by visiting Struthers.
After dropping the first game of the return match Monday at the Struthers Fieldhouse, the Leopards decided to do a little sweeping of their own.
Liberty (8-8) stopped the Struthers by scores of 20-25, 25-22, 25-20 and 26-24. It was the Leopards’ third win in four outings.
“We had nearly one-third of our points tonight on tips and that was critical,” liberty coach John Tokash said. “After falling short in the first game, we reversed our lineup, and that worked out really well.”
Struthers is 4-10.
“Struthers is definitely better than what their record shows,” said Tokash, whose team plays Girard today. “[This] gives us some much needed momentum.”
Five points by Bekah Dragus staked the Wildcats (4-10) to a 19-11 lead in the opening game.
“The momentum shifted in the second game and we never recovered,” Struthers coach Stephanie Muntean said. “We weren’t setting up very well and little tips hurt us the entire night,”
Six points by Amy Mikulich gave the Leopards a 14-11 advantage in the second game. She also recorded the final two points in that game.
“During our match with Struthers last week, we played more individually,” Mikulich said. “Tonight, especially in the second game, we played together and much more of a team concept.
“It’s nice to get this win.”
The third game featured 10 ties and eight lead changes. With the game knotted at 18-18, Lana Adi’s four service points gave Liberty the lead and Maleah Schiavone scored the final two points in the five-point victory.
The Leopards had a 20-14 lead in the fourth game, but the Wildcats roared back to tie it at 23-23.
Liberty’s Marcy Dykes then scored the final two points in the 26-24 win. She finished with eight points.
Allie Adler made 29 kills and Schiavone made five blocks to pace the Liberty attack. Dykes made 21 assists and Mikulich made 18 digs.
“We realized that we had to step our game up a notch if we expected to win,” Adler said. “While we didn’t play up to our potential the first game, we in did the final three games.”
In the first meeting, the Wildcats held the Leopards to a combined 19 points in the final two games. This time, Liberty never scored fewer than 20 points.
We’re a team that doesn’t give up,” Muntean said. “We needed that one powerful play that could have shifted the momentum our way, but weren’t able to get it tonight.”
Wildcats captain Abby Hughes made 37 assists, two kills, a dig, an ace and four points. Caitlin Kane registered 13 kills and 11 digs and Karli Shives chipped in with 12 kills, nine digs and a block.