But the Patriots' senior leaders stamped that life out in short order.
Outside hitter Grace Witcher tallied seven critical kills in the decisive fourth set as she racked up 17 on the night. Teammate Emma Fredrick claimed the team lead with 18 more, and middle blocker Camryn Perdue threw in 14 for good measure. The trio fueled a powerful Liberty offense that simply outpaced Clovis West on its way to a 25-21, 16-25, 25-22, 25-16 victory.
"I mean, it's been all season, so I'm not really surprised," Liberty coach Morgan Dake said of the seniors' performances, "but just really excited for them to be able to step up in a moment as big as this."
The win gave Liberty its first section championship in volleyball since 2016, and the first under Dake, who joined the team in 2021. The Patriots entered the Division I bracket as a No. 3 seed but knocked off No. 2 Clovis North on the road Tuesday.
"This has kind of been a year in the making," Dake said. "I have six seniors this year and they all start and contribute, so this is really just kind of a tribute to them and their hard work, and finishing it off with a valley championship."
Clovis West was led by 12 kills from Haley Rangel and 11 more from Kalani Soares, both sophomores.
The Patriots did the Golden Eagles a few favors with some long strings of errors, the main one coming early in their second-set defeat.
"It's a really good Clovis West team," Dake said." but if you give them any momentum, it can shift really quickly, so our girls did a good job of starting with a lead and kind of keeping it."
Liberty also committed a trio of attack errors and a net violation as Clovis West closed its deficit from 20-12 to 20-17 in the third set, but sophomore middle blocker Lauren Weis came up with a clutch kill to the back left corner and then a solo block in a joust at the net to get the Patriots back on track. Witcher closed out that set with a pair of kills.
She was the closer again in the decisive fourth frame, with three kills and a pair of aces in a 14-4 run after Liberty started out trailing 5-2. Then Perdue assisted in a pair of blocks late, Fredrick added two more kills of her own and Weis scored the winning point to send the Golden Eagles home.
Besides the Division I championship, the victory also gives Liberty prime positioning entering the CIF regional playoffs. Brackets are expected to be announced Sunday, with the first matches played Tuesday.