The Ryan Raiders saw its momentum come to a halt after being swept at home by the Lady Warriors Tuesday night, 25-23, 25-17, 25-20.

The Lady Raiders (9-6) entered their match against Liberty looking to continue their solid play after winning four straight matches to win the silver bracket at the Arlington Invitational on Saturday.

Liberty (16-6), though, had other ideas, as it jumped out early to set the stage for its second sweep of a Denton public school in the past two weeks.

The Lady Warriors were led by Betsy Smith, who had a team-high 20 digs while recording nine kills. Ashley Price, meanwhile, had a team high 13 kills while Cassie Okland had seven to go along with 18 digs. Sophie Asprey led Liberty in assists with 30.

After going point-for-point with Ryan early, the Lady Warriors separated themselves with the help of a 10-3 run to take a seven-point lead midway through the first set. Ryan fought back and, after trailing by as many as eight, rallied with a 10-3 run of its own to pull within a point. On set point, however, Liberty managed to break the rally and bring an end to the comeback.

The second set was more of the same, as the Lady Warriors charged out to a 10-3 lead early and led by as many as nine before Ryan started to close the gap again with a 7-3 run of its own. Before the Lady Raiders could complete to a comeback, however, Liberty scored four straight points to go up 24-15 and finished off the set moments later.

“It was a good effort tonight,” Liberty head coach Lisa Deaver said. “I was proud of the focus tonight. Ryan is a good team. We got the momentum in our favor and our defense really helped us out. When we needed someone to make a play, someone stepped up for us.”

The Lady Raiders appeared to catch their second wind in the third set, jumping out to an 11-5 lead. As it had all night, however, Liberty broke Ryan’s rally and proceeded to score eight straight points in the middle of a 12-1 run to take a five-point lead. The Lady Raiders rallied again to tie the set at 20, but the Lady Warriors finished the set off with five straight points to win the match.

Deaver couldn’t help but be pleased with the win. After taking second place at the Argyle Invitational over the weekend, the Lady Warriors appear to be picking up steam heading into TAPPS district play.

“I like where we are,” Deaver said. “I like our progression. I think that we’re going to be very competitive.”

Thank you to the Denton Record-Chronicle for the story.

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/sports/highschools/stories/DRC_ryan-liberty_volleyball_0901.acbc725e.html