Deafening sounds coming from the fans, point by point, both teams neck and neck. The Eagles win the first set, however the Jaguars win the next two. Something shifted in the Eagles’ minds. They had nothing to lose, they put it all on the court and came back, defying the odds.
The Eagles rallied from down a 2-1 deficit to defeat the top-seeded district Fort Zumwalt West 3-2 to capture the program’s first ever district championship on Tuesday night at North Point High School.
The atmosphere was electric, so loud that people couldn’t hear themselves. Constant chants going back and forth between both teams and their fans. Energy from not just the team but also the fans helped to drive the team forward.
In the first set, the Eagles won 25-21. A couple aces from the Eagles helped them pull away and win the set. The second set, however, was the opposite, 20-25. The Eagles struggled with their first pass leading to large amounts of errors. The third set was the same story as the second but with a worse outcome, 16-25. However, things turned around during the fourth set, when the Eagles played aggressively, winning 25-22. Everything came down to the fifth and final set. Tied, 2-2 with sets, the Eagles continued to fight relentlessly, winning 15-10, and going home as the district champions.
“It was really cool how many people showed up and how loud the gym was at all times,” Brody Breen (11) said.
The fans got so loud at one point the athletes couldn’t even hear. The Eagles have such an amazing fanbase, they are all one big family. All of the players moms attend every game. They all bought matching shirts for the district games. Coach Veronica Kirkpatrick loves that the team has this atmosphere and fanbase.
“Of all coaching here at Liberty, that was the best supportive crowd at a game,” Kirkpatrick said.
The game-winning block by Jimmy Siterlet (11) got the crowd roaring louder than any point of the game. After the teams gave their handshakes, the fans ran down to the court, lined up almost all the way around the court. As the team ran through everyone giving them highfives. Everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs. Emotions were everywhere, some were in shock they actually won, some knew it was going to happen, and some so happy, they were speechless.
“I was so excited, so happy,” Chase Willnerd (10) said.
“The only thing going through my head after the game was that’s how it should be,” Kirkpatrick said.
Kirkpatrick felt she had prepared the team the best she could and that it was now or never when they arrived to the game. She brought the team through rigorous hours of practice and drills. Working on blocking, hitting variety, and passing. She messed with the team’s heads, got inside them and forced them to get into the mentality of so what, now what.
“It was a matter of the team being able to mentally perform. After that first set, the team was scared to make mistakes and to lose a set, we didn’t go and play our game. We had more mistakes than the other team,” Kirkpatrick said.
Jimmy Siterelet (11) now has 657 kills on the season, a career total of 1,397. As a team the Eagles kill percent is now 44% and their hitting efficiency is now 0.237 which is not great by any means however it’s good enough for them to get the job done. In the game however the teams kill percent was 42.6% and hitting efficiency was at .209. While not the most efficient, the team had 49 kills. Siterlet had four solo blocks while the rest of the team only had one total block.
The volleyball program is still relatively new to volleyball, this being its third year in existence. As a new program it can be hard to find success especially when not many people play the sport. Normally they are limited to few great athletes, however, the Eagles are not like most programs. They are gifted with talent and athleticism. Leadership also tends to be a struggle for most new programs, but the Eagles have strong leaders across the entire team.
The team will play their next game on Thursday, May 21 at 6:30 p.m. The location is still unknown and the Eagles will play the winner of Rock Bridge or Lee’s Summit North.
