Garretsville OH- Tuesday evening saw a pair of 4-2 volleyball teams face off as Garfield hosted the Lady Leopards of Liberty.
Liberty would serve first with Meadow Smith sending one over the net that lead to Reese Shirkey setting up Mandy Cardinal for a kill to start the first set. Liberty continued to fight back, with both teams trading points, and eventually Montana McGranahan would get involved off another Shirkey assist.
McGranahan's kill cut into the Liberty lead, with the Lady G-men down 7-6. The Lady Leopards would eventually find themselves with a 3-point lead after Lexi Muck's serve was shanked out of play by Addison Miller, Liberty leading 11-8. Shirkey would set up Hannah Kernig this time for the kill, narrowing their deficit down to 2.
Garfield would tie the set up at 12, just in time for McGranahan to serve an ace, putting the Lady G-Men in front.
Exchanging scores, Lexi Muck would deny Mandy Cardinal's kill attempt, tying it at 17. A 4-1 Liberty run was capped off by yet another Muck rejection, forcing a Garfield timeout. The Lady G-Men fought back, an outstanding all-out dig from Lily Shay set Shirkey up with the assist to McGranahan, knotting it up at 23. Garfield would win set one 25-23 .
Garfield opened up set 2 in dominating fashion, blocks from Cardinal and a flurry of kills between Kernig and McGranahan forced a Lady Leopards timeout, down 11-5. Lexi Muck would continue to show off defensively as she rebuffed another kill from Cardinal, a continuing theme of Garfield hitters being held off by Muck.
Mandy would eventually evade Muck's denial attempt, spiking one to the front-left corner as Sara Horn was unable to make a play on it. Another dig from Shay gave Shirkey yet another assist from the Kernig kill, this time with some authority.
Following the Kernig kill, the Lady G-Men found themselves a 3 point cushion leading 19-16. As they've done a lot this season, they rode a 6-2 run to close the door on set 2, winning 25-18 that was aided by a kill from Mandy Cardinal and capped off by a pair of consecutive aces from Reese Shirkey.
Despite the 2-0 deficit, Zoey Banks ace gave Liberty the an early 1-0 lead in set 3, riding the momentum of a good start, Amira Smith deflected Kernig, being blocked for the first time tonight.
Garfield continued to battle nonstop, with the help of Muck's kill being rejected by the net, and yet another Shirkey ace tied it up at 13. Back and forth we go, Liberty led by one, but Mandy Cardinal connected for another kill. The resilience of this team shined tonight, never backing down despite the score. The Lady G-Men built a lead. Liberty returned the favor by evening the score again at 19. Hannah Kernig's three consecutive aces built a 23-19 lead, her next serve fell short giving Liberty the ball back. Leading 24-21, Reese Shirkey put an end to set 3 with a final ace, winning the match 3-0.
GARFIELD STATS:
M. McGranahan- 12K 3A 1BLK
H. Kernig- 11K 2A 2BLK
R. Shirkey- 4A 28Ast 7Dig
K. Grace- 14Dig
LIBERTY STATS:
L. Muck- 12K 6BLK 2A
Z. Banks- 3A 3Dig
M. Parker- 18Dig 1BLK
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