Liberty volleyball's OHSAA tournament run ends in state semifinal
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VANDALIA – Charley Moeddel, Kenna Meibers and Penelope Reisman all agreed Cincinnati Seton is playing its best volleyball of the season.
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It's hard to argue otherwise after the Saints knocked off Olentangy Liberty 25-11, 25-17, 25-16 on Nov. 12 at Vandalia Butler to advance to the Division I state championship match against Cincinnati St. Ursula on Nov. 13 at Wright State.
"I'd say there's a standard in Seton's gym and we all live up to it," Reisman said. "In the postseason, it's win or go home, so you're either giving it all or you should pack your bags."
The Saints (27-0) got out to a 5-2 lead thanks to three kills from Moeddel and two aces from Maggie Timmerman. Liberty (23-4) responded to get within two points at 8-6 before a 12-3 run by Seton put the first set away.
Moeddel, Meibers, Reisman and Leah Nicholas combined for 14 kills while freshman Chloe Poland posted two blocks. Liberty had a .077 hitting percentage in the set, but finished the match at .031.
The Patriots came out firing in the second set, taking a 7-4 lead behind kills from Ellyn Lough, Caroline Scott and Quinn Smith, plus three aces. Seton responded with three kills each from Meibers and Charlotte Holm to take a 13-11 lead.
"We talked a lot about their ability to extend points," Seton coach Kelly Crowley said. "They defend a lot of balls and play rotation defense, which we don't see a lot in [our conference]. We talked about continuing to play points."
After a bit of back-and-forth play, the Saints went on an 8-1 run before a kill from Poland ended the second set.
Liberty was averaging 10.3 aces per match in the postseason, but the Patriots found the floor with just six serves, five of which were in the second set.
"Up until this point, we've played some good players, but it was usually very one-dimensional," Liberty coach Jennifer Chapman. "There was a good middle or a good outside [hitter]. This team had several of those across the net at one time, so you have to focus your attention on multiple people."
Seton went back to total control mode in the third set, taking leads of 4-0 and 14-6 behind four early Liberty errors and kills from four players.
Reisman finished with 34 assists, five digs and three kills. Her athleticism made a difference on multiple occasions, as she set her teammates on one side of the net then hustled to the opposite side to set up the block.
"That relentless pursuit of every point is what we talk about all the time," Crowley said. "We want to be a team that wins 70% of what we call 50-50 points. We won the dig battle. We won the block battle. We won the kill battle. You're going to win a lot of matches that way."
Liberty never got closer than six points in the remainder of the match as Moeddel's 16th and 17th kills completed the sweep.
Smith led the Patriots with six kills. Sophia Aquillo had 12 assists and Laney Larkin posted 12 digs.
Liberty, which lost three of four matches between Aug. 29 and Sept. 8, may have flown under the radar a bit this season, even though its only central Ohio loss was to Olentangy Berlin. The Patriots had won 17 straight coming into state, including victories over Olentangy Orange and Pickerington Central, to make their first appearance since 2021.
"In our four years of high school, nobody's ever been to state," Scott said. "We sat down at the beginning of the season and said we wanted to make it to state. That was our goal. It's really great to see how our team has pushed through the battles and faced adversity."
The Patriots graduate seven seniors in Scott, Larkin, Lough, Leah Kille, Veronica Ganz, Ellie Ewing and Adi Missig.
"We had four sophomores playing and they went through the highs and lows as a group. Being mentored by our seniors was a great experience for them," Chapman said. "I can't talk enough for our seniors and what they did, how they opened up their arms to these younger players, knowing that they need them to be good to be a successful team."
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Liberty volleyball's OHSAA tournament run ends in state semifinal