Liberty volleyball wins five set match vs. Edmonds-Woodway

After a 3-0 loss to Curtis its last time out, the Liberty High School volleyball team bounced back with a five set win (3-2) over Edmonds-Woodway on Sept. 15.

“Five sets is tough, especially winning the first two and losing the second two, so you don’t really know what’s going to happen in the fifth. But I saw a lot of fight in them,” Liberty Head Coach Shea O’Brien said.

The Patriots are currently on a two year state tournament run and went from seventh place in 2023 to fifth place last season, the highest the school has ever placed.

This year, after a straight set win over Highline, the Patriots took on one of the best programs in the state in Curtis. Despite the straight set loss, the Patriots were in a position to extend the match, but let those sets slip between their fingers.

“I thought it was a good experience for us to play a tough opponent like that. We got a lot better,” O’Brien said.

To compete against a team like that in a non-league game was a great opportunity for the Patriots to see what it takes to compete at a championship level.

“Playing a team like Curtis gave us confidence that we can play with those 4A state championship teams. Playing that game, our team grew not only mentally, but we adjusted in the match better than we did last year,” senior Charlize Espinosa said.

In terms of the match against Edmonds-Woodway, things got off to a good start thanks to clutch play late in set one. After leading 16-9 and 18-10, Liberty allowed the Warriors to get back in the game and bring the two sides level at 21-21. But Alicia Lester pushed Liberty over the Warriors in the first set, winning the next four points with herself at the service line.

“Alicia’s back row has been great this year so far. She’s stepping into a big role playing six rotations after not playing the past two seasons. She has a big role on this team and we need her. It’s exciting to see she can handle that stress,” O’Brien said.

Avery Bange (5) got up for the block with Alicia Lester (1) for Liberty. Ben Ray / The Reporter

In set two, Liberty dominated, jumping out to a 6-1 lead early in the second set. Liberty cruised to a 25-13 win and seemed to bring that momentum into set three for a quick three set victory. Edmonds-Woodway, however, got into another gear.

Liberty struggled in set three to serve and receive. There were countless serves coming over from the Warriors that Liberty just couldn’t handle. That allowed Edmonds-Woodway to take a 18-14 lead in the third set.

“I think that we made our mistakes and they scored on us a couple of times. But it was mostly us giving them points,” Espinosa said.

“We made way too many errors, we need to clean that up,” senior Julianne Lee said.

With senior Charlize Espinosa as an outside hitter and not the primary libero, there is a need for consistency if Liberty want to reach the Sun Dome for a third straight year.

“Last year Charlize was our libero and defensive player of the year. We didn’t have the same struggle on serve and receive as we are going to have this year. We just have to keeping at it at practice. We are a good serving team when we serve it in. We just have to figure out how to be consistent,” O’Brien said.

To their credit, Liberty battled back, thanks to senior Julianne Lee. The Patriots got to a 24-22 lead, creating two chances to win the match outright. But what happened was the Warriors went on to win the next four points to take the third set

“I have seen Julianne grow as a person has been great. She has been playing lights out in all three games this season. She’s been doing amazing. Her leadership has always been really good on the court. I think she’s a natural leader,” O’Brien said.

Set four was the first set where the Liberty players were on their heels from the start. The Warriors scored the first nine points and were rolling, before Liberty found a bit of momentum. Liberty was able to overcome the nine point hole and tie the game at 14 and again at 17. But once more, Edmonds-Woodway pulled away when the game was tied 21-21 to win 25-21.

In the final set, after really looking like the match had slipped away, Liberty came out strong in set five. Liberty didn’t trail for a single point and Lee finished the match with a kill right in the middle of the Warrior defense.

“We’ve got a lot of grit. Since it’s a preseason game, we could have been easy to lay off and let them have it. But we stuck with it and it paid off,” Lee said.

Avery Bange smiles as Liberty win a point against the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors. Ben Ray / The Reporter

Espinosa and Lee have played a lot of Liberty volleyball together, and since their freshman year, they have been on varsity together. Their friendship even went into middle school where they played on the same eighth grade team.

“Our relationship has been through everything the last five years. She can’t get enough of me,” Espinosa said.