Iman Abraham is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Liberty High School for AZPreps365.com

Liberty showed great effort and determination in the first two sets against Sandra Day O’Connor on Thursday, but fell to the Eagles in three sets, 25-21,25-16,25-16.

Liberty put up a fight against the Eagles, going point for point at the beginning of the first set. The Lions went on a 4-0 run to take a 9-5 lead.  

That lead did not last long after four kills and two aces from the Eagles. However, the Lions' intensity did not fray as they continued to go point for point until the first set ended with the Eagles taking the win, 25-21. 

Sandra Day O’Connor coach Amanda Burbridge was pleased with her team’s performance and believed they executed the strategy they had prepared.

“I feel like they all played really well,” Burbridge said. “They executed what we wanted to do on our side of the net. I think they were prepared for some of the adjustments we had to make. I really think it was a nice team win.” 

The Eagles (9-1, 9-1) are now on a four-game win streak and are ranked third in the 6A conference. 

Burbridge has worked on instilling her team's core values and a good mindset that has helped them perform at a better level every game. 

“We have been doing a lot of work with our mindset,” Burbridge said.” So for us, it is just continuing to practice and execute so we get more efficient at what we do. Then keep working to stay united as a group and stay true to our core values as a team. That's really important to us.” 

Junior Devyn Weist, outside hitter for the Eagles, is ranked seventh in the 6A conference in hitting percentage. Her performance was dominant from the outside with 13 kills against the Lions.

The Eagles worked well together getting several kills and having confidence that overall showed in their performance. 

 “I think our performance was great,” Weist said. “We were all confident and calm and we knew it was going to be a good game. We brought all the energy and just dominated from the beginning.” 

In the second set, Liberty started strong with three kills and two aces, taking a 4-3  lead. The Eagles then went on an 8-0 run, en route to winning the set, 25-16. 

Freshman outside hitter Lauren Forelli showed determination in wanting to win. 

“I know that we are human and everyone is gonna make errors so I think it's important to stay in the moment, “ Forelli said., “I think it was just a good learning experience, and I am glad it happened.”

Brown was impressed with Forelli. He understood that as a freshman playing in this environment, against a rival school was challenging and something new to her. 

Liberty (7-4, 6-4) will travel to Mesa to compete in the Nike TOC invitational on Friday. Sandra Day O’Connor will host Boulder Creek on Wednesday at 6 p.m.