Owls Volleyball defeated the Liberty Flames 3-0 on Oct. 13 to extend their winning streak to four games in a row.
The Owls got off to a strong start in the game’s first set, winning 25-14, before winning the game’s second and fourth sets by narrow margins of two points each. In these sets, the Owls had to exceed 25 points to win, scoring 28 and 29 points respectively.
Junior outside hitter Manu Johnsen led the Owls in kills and digs, with 16 each, to go along with two aces.
Redshirt sophomore Olivia Burrage was close behind with 15 kills on her own to go along with five blocks.
Junior outside hitter Caroline Chastang rounded out the Owls’ kills leaders as she notched 13 kills to go along with 10 digs.
Freshman outside/right side hitter Kiernan Stamey was the Owls leader in blocks with six and sophomore middle blocker Maggie Byrd added four blocks of her own.
Freshman setter Kaeley Walz led the Owls with a game high 23 assists, while redshirt sophomore setter Kourtney Brown added 22 assists of her own.
The game stood in silence late in the first set when junior defensive specialist Leah Freeman took a spill, landing hard headfirst on the court. After a pause, Freeman was helped off the court to a round of applause. She returned and played the remainder of the game, leading the Owls with three aces, along with eight assists and 10 digs.
“Leah’s a tough kid,” Owls head coach Keith Schunzel said. “She’s always going to play hard – as soon as she was cleared by our trainer, I had no doubt she was going to come back in and play well because that’s who Leah is, so (I’m) really proud of her.”
Before the game, Leah Williams, Assistant Director of Marketing and Fan Experience was honored with giving the game’s ceremonial first serve to celebrate her contributions, as she worked her last event with Owls Athletics.
“She’s one of those people that puts a lot into it behind the scenes – she has done so much for this program,” Schunzel said. “She cares about our kids, she’s constantly going above and beyond for the volleyball team here – we’re going to miss her but we’re so thankful for her.”
The Owls are clicking on all cylinders right now, as they bring an 8-11 record (5-3 in conference play), to their next matchup at home against the Sam Houston Bearkats on Oct. 18 and 19.
“We gotta continue to be balanced on offense – our setters have to distribute the ball and have that balance on offense,” Schunzel said. “We have to stay steady over long periods of time – it’s what we’ve been talking about all year, we just want to continue to grow and that’s growth for us.”
“We’re getting better, we are clearly better than a month ago,” Schunzel said. “We’re just going to keep moving forward, one day at a time.”