It wasn't Patriot footballs that were deflated Tuesday night.  It was the spirit of the Liberty Patriots that was deflated when the Wolverines upended tthe Pats in a four-set contest on Bellevue’s home court.

 

The Wolverines shook off a third set loss and a 23-23 tie in the fourth set to capture the win.  Individual set scores were 25-17, 25-17, 24-26, and 25-23.

 

The first set opened with the Wolverines jumping to an 11-8 lead on a four-point service run by junior opposite hitter Ally Witham. After a point lost to Liberty, Bellevue regained service on a Witham kill that was followed by a service ace by sophomore outside hitter Callie Weber and a kill by senior Katie Griffin.  Weber added to her service run with another ace to bring the score to 17-9.  Liberty closed the gap on a kill to narrow the margin to 18-12.  Bellevue beat back a late Patriot attack and a Liberty hit caromed into the antenna to end the set in Bellevue’s favor at 25-17.

 

Sophomore setter Alexis Khuu opened the second set with rocket serves and a run that saw the Wolverines jumping to a 5-0 lead.  The Pats fired back and narrowed the gap to 17-13.  Subsequent kills by Griffin and senior middle hitter Denali Conway brought Bellevue to a 20-13 advantage.  Conway added another kill to take the Wolverines to 24-16.  Conway and Griffin then teamed-up at the net to block for a 25-17 set victory.

 

After a quick Patriot run-up, Bellevue gained a 7-6 lead in the third set on a kill by Witham.  Sophomore setter Taylor Eide brought the Wolverines to a 16-12 advantage on a service run.  Liberty’s powerful serves then eroded the Wolverine lead and the score was brought even at 18-18 on a Bellevue carry.  Witham gave the Wolverines a two point margin with a kill at 20-18 but Liberty evened the score at 21 and then again at 22.  Sophomore Mina Dedijer brought Bellevue a 23-22 advantage, but the Patriots answered late, tied the set at 24-24, and then prevailed to a 24-26 victory.

 

The fourth set saw a tight contest that was even at 10-10 with Bellevue then holding on to a narrow lead until a long hit followed by a defensive miscue brought Liberty a two point advantage at 21-23.  Bellevue’s two seniors then took full command with a dink by Griffin and a block at the net by Conway to tie the set score at 23-23.  Khuu added an ace and Conway added the exclamation point with a kill to end the set 25-23 and the match 3-1 in Bellevue’s favor.

 

Head Coach Garry Currier recapped the Patriots’ performance, “They were a strong team. We lost momentum in the third game. The girls found a way to pull it out against a strong team.  They served well, and they passed well, and the kept the ball in play and that is something we had difficulty with.”

 

On the Wolverine defense he said, “We had some huge blocks.  We have been working on that. We have worked on a lot of different plays as far as our offense goes. But our defensive runs our offense and our defense did really good here.”

 

This Thursday, September 24, the Wolverines will host Kingco's 4A Eastlake High in a non-conference match-up.  Varsity play at 7:00pm is preceeded by JV and C-Team contests at 5:30pm.