Senior Emma Fredrick led a balanced Liberty attack, finishing off a 25-16, 25-21, 25-20 victory with three straight kills to close out the decisive third set and complete her team’s seventh sweep in as many SYRL games this season.
“We’re just trying to constantly get better,” Liberty coach Morgan Dake said. “So (winning league) comes along with the territory. It’s a goal for us, but the bigger goal is (a section championship). So that’s what we’re looking for and this is kind of a stepping stone.”
Liberty (26-6, 7-0) finishes league play at home against Frontier on Tuesday before traveling to Bakersfield for its final tuneup before playoff brackets are selected. The Patriots entered the night ranked second in the Central Section and 23rd in the state, according to Maxpreps.
Fresh off a strong showing in the Redondo Beach Tournament last week, and a 3-0 victory over Stockdale on Tuesday, Liberty took control of Thursday’s match with a 9-1 run to close out the first set.
Centennial (16-15, 2-4), which has two freshmen and two sophomores in its rotation, had just pulled to within 16-15 on a kill by junior Amanda Zepeda. But after senior Kamryn Briggs gave her team a sideout with a push kill, seniors Camryn Perdue and Grace Witcher each had kills to spark the Patriots’ final push for a 25-16 victory.
“This Centennial team … they battled, and what a good match,” Dake said. “I mean that was really fun. That was fun volleyball, and honestly they took us out of system the entire time. So I don’t think my girls were ready for that.”
Liberty continued the momentum into the second set, scoring eight of the first nine points, and extended the lead to 20-7 before the Golden Hawks mounted a rally.
Zepeda and freshman Ila Rose had two kills apiece as part of an 11-3 run to pull within 23-18.
Rose had three of her team-high 10 kills in the set.
“(We) definitely played better than the last time we played them, which is ultimately what we want is improvement,” Centennial coach Holly Russell said. “I’m definitely proud of the way that they played. There were definitely moments where we let them score a couple too many points, but we were able to (go on a run) and that was huge. So to be able to do that in high school volleyball is incredible.”
The Patriots regrouped after a timeout, with a Perdue block to earn a sideout, and then after three more Centennial points trimmed the lead to 24-21, she closed out the set with a kill, one of 11 on the night. She also had five blocks.
Witcher contributed nine kills and Briggs added seven, with Paige Sentes finishing with three aces.
“I think we just need to keep momentum,” Dake said. “We’ve kind of been talking about that in practice. We’re up 20-7 and we need to find ways to finish that match. We’ve been talking a lot about siding out on that first possession, and we didn’t do a great job of that tonight.”