A week on the road for the Lady Eagles

The Liberty Lady Eagles had a week on the road where they fell to the Lady Bulldogs, but came out on top in three against the Lady Tigers.

 

On Tuesday, Oct. 1 the Lady Eagles travelled to Cabool to face the 16-1 Lady Bulldogs. The game was a battle from the start to the finish, but in the end, Liberty fell in four sets 27-29, 25-21, 16-25, 24-26. For the game: (unofficial stats) Brinley Duckett (2) had 4 kills and 2 digs; Jade Acklin (3) had 2 serving aces, 1 kill and 17 digs; Jayli Tharp (6) had 1 serving ace, 9 kills, 1 assist and 6 digs; Kaylie Wagner (5) had 25 digs and 2 assists; Jordyn Tune (8) had 2 serving aces, 1 kill, 35 assists and 14 digs; Bryleigh Wallace (9) had 1 serving ace, 13 kills, 2 assists and 16 digs; Kelbie Smith (10) had 3 kills and 4 digs; Korie Lind (13) had 1 serving ace, 2 blocks, 14 kills and 2 digs; Kinsey Shoup (15) had 1 serving ace, and 14 digs.

 

"Tuesday was not a good night for us," reflect Head Coach Shari Tune on the loss. "We could not -not- make errors. Unfortunately, that has been our biggest weakness this year so far. I do think the girls are making progress, but some games you just feel like you take some steps backwards. I will say it was a new rotation for us, once again, so I do believe once we get this one comfortable it will be good for us. It has been so hard this season to find the rotation with the most consistency, but I do believe the girls are working hard and we are figuring it out."

 

Travelling again, the Lady Eagles faced off against the Houston Lady Tigers. The Lady Eagles swept the Lady Tigers in three 25-23, 25-11 and 25-13.

 

For the game: (unofficial stats) Duckett had 4 kills and 1 block; Acklin had 1 kill and 7 digs; Tharp had 2 serving aces, 8 kills, 11 digs; Wagner had 1 service ace, 2 kills, 12 digs; Tune had 1 serving ace, 1 kill and 4 digs; Wallace had 2 serving aces, 8 kills and 10 digs; Smith had 2 kills and 1 dig; Lind had 1 serving ace, 15 kills, 3 blocks and 8 digs; and Shoup had 5 digs.

 

"Thursday night against Houston was a big confidence booster for us," stated Coach Tune. "The girls came out fired up and played extremely well. I was pleased with our serve and pass game in the decrease of errors compared to Tuesday."

 

Wrapping the week the Lady Eagles competed at the Mt. Vernon Varsity Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 5. "Saturday’s tournament we started out playing Glendale, Clever, and McDonald in our pool," explained Coach Tune on the tournament. "We split with both Glendale and Clever, and beat McDonald County to come out second place in our pool. I was very pleased to make it to the bracket as I was hoping to see some tough competition later in the day. That indeed is what we got we matched up with, Clever in the quarterfinals and beat them in two sets, and then had to face Camdenton. They are a very large team. The first set was not pretty, but I was impressed with the grit that we came out within the second set. Even though we ended with the loss, I feel like this past week we have made some huge strides. My favorite thing about this group of girls is the unwavering support and work I get from them. There is definitely no “I” in this team and I am thoroughly enjoying this group of girls."

 

Next up for the Lady Eagles are two homes games. The Lady Eagles will host Poplar Bluff on Tuesday, Oct. 8 and then Ellington on Thursday, Oct. 10.