Iman Abraham is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Liberty High School for AZPreps365.com

The No. 5 Liberty volleyball team bounced back with another win Wednesday night at Mountain Ridge, giving the Lions back-to-back wins this week after enduring a three-game losing streak.

The Lions swept Mountain Ridge, 25-21, 25-16, 25-19. 

Mountain Ridge coach Christina Jensen said the loss was not easy but she was pleased with how much growth she saw from her team's overall performance and mindset shift of fighting and not giving up. 

“The loss tonight is tough but Liberty is number five in the state and right now they are absolutely incredible,” Jensen said. “To be perfectly honest, the showing that we did when we were at Liberty was not good. Today we fought back, the girls adapted and we were not going down without a fight and I was very proud of them.” 

The first set was a challenge for both teams exchanging points in the beginning. Liberty went on a  4-0 run to take a 22-18 lead.  However, the Mountain Lions were not going down without a fight as they went on a 3-0 run, making it  22-21. 

The Mountain Lions fell short as Liberty went on another 3-0 run, closing the first set 25-21. 

The Lions came out to a hot start with two kills from senior Tristen Raymond as they built a 7-4 lead in the second set.  

The energy had shifted on both teams. Mountain Ridge had a dip in confidence after losing the first set. The Lions were more aggressive, not letting go of the lead the entire second set en route to a  25-16 win. 

Liberty Coach Chris Brown was pleased with the energy shift between sets.  

“First set to the second set, one thing we talked about between sets was do not let that outside energy get to us,” Brown said. “ They were loud, and credit to them because they stuck with it. We came out flat and it was more so let's control our side and let's meet that energy but exceed that energy and then our play will get better with that. They(Liberty) came out that second set with a lot more energy and it showed.” 

Liberty carried that energy from the second set into the third set. 

At the beginning of the third set Liberty took the lead 6-2 with a 5-0 run. 

Mountain Ridge was down six points when they fought back with a 5-0 run in an attempt to diminish the Lions’ lead. Despite their efforts to come back, the Mountain Lions ended the third set 25-19.

The Lions worked as a team to be aggressive with several digs and kills. 

Senior Tristen Raymond had seven kills, 11 assists, and 10 digs. In addition, senior Ellie Trimble had eight kills and 11 digs. 

Trimble said the Lions learned last week how to push through hard times. 

“I think from last week we had a rough week, so we bounced back, definitely working through some things, and I think our practice yesterday showed us that we could push through,” Trimble said. “ So just continuing to trust our training that we are putting in and knowing that we always have more to give.”

Liberty (9-4,8-4) will host Boulder Creek (4-7,4-7) on Thursday at 6 p.m. Mountain Ridge (7-6,7-6) will be traveling to Chandler to play in the Battle of the Realm invitational on Oct.13.