Addison Lenhart is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication student assigned to cover Sandra Day O’Connor for AZPreps365.com

The Sandra Day O’Connor girls volleyball team suffered their fourth defeat of the season at Liberty on Thursday. 

The Lions took down the Eagles in straight sets, 25-23, 25-21, 25-18, securing their sixth win of the season.  

Liberty coach Carl DeFriez saw his team take a significant step forward in the victory.

“We’ve had some good practices but it’s been a little bit of a struggle to find the consistency,” DeFriez said. “Tonight I started to see some things come together in the way that I know they should for this group.” 

The Lions jumped out to big leads in all  three sets, leading 6-2 in the first, 6-0 in the second, and 4-1 in the third. DeFriez credited his team's focus leading up to the match. 

“I think it was some of our senior leadership. They had a good pregame and were locked in today,” DeFriez said. “We knew this was a big match for us, so they just came out prepared. I think it was their preparedness.” 

Lauren Forelli was a standout for the Lions. The junior tallied four kills and a block to power her squad to victory in the first set. Forelli followed that up with another four kills and an ace in the second set, and finished her night with three kills in the third. 

O’Connor coach Amanda Burbridge thought the Lions’ offense challenged her team. 

“They did a nice job of putting the ball in a place their attackers could do a few different things with it,” Burbridge said. “They took some good swings, and they stayed really consistent the whole day.” 

Despite the defeat, junior Kristen Sheehy tallied 13 kills for the Eagles, and made some key plays to keep her team within striking distance in each of the three sets. Sheehy credited libero Anabelle Cummings for her strong performance. 

“She does a great job at getting those perfect passes to my  setter to set me up,” Sheehy said. “She’s covering half the court and that’s what really is helping me get those balls whether it’s in service or a transition.” 

Sheehy trusts this loss will motivate her team in the long run. 

“We had a big loss a couple years ago when we ended up winning state,” Sheehy said. “I feel like we’re going to come back so much stronger from this because we’re going to use this as fuel.” 

Burbridge believes her team will continue to improve due to their youth.

“I’ve got a freshman setting, I’ve got sophomores all over the place, so for us we knew we were going to take some losses this year,” Burbridge said. “I think Liberty’s got some pretty strong attackers and we’re going to need to match.” 

Liberty and O’Connor will meet once more this season on Oct. 21 when the Lions visit the Eagles. 

Liberty (6-4) will host Canyon View (11-5)  at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. 

O’Connor (12-4) hosts Boulder Creek (13-11) at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.