By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
DELTA (September 9, 2025) – The Liberty Center Tigers took the victory in Delta against the Panthers after taking three consecutive sets in convincing fashion Tuesday night.
Play started relatively balanced, with each team coming up with a pair of single points and one run of three, where the Tigers added theirs with a pair of unreturned serves, two untouched kills from senior Aletha Fausnight, and one from sophomore Arianah Brown, while the Panthers’ points came from Tiger errors and solid blocking at the net.
Liberty Center (7-3, 2-1 NWOAL) went on to take seven out of the next 10 points including a pair of three-point runs, with more scoring coming from Brown along with an ace from junior Mackenzie Fuller.
Delta then put together its own three-point run which included a kill by senior Keagyn Gillen and an ace by senior Claire Bates, to put the score at 12-11, Liberty Center.
After another point by each, the Tigers went on a seven-point run, including a kill by Brown and two attacks from the same turned faults by the Panthers, who only managed four more points as Liberty Center marched to their first set win with a score of 25-16.
The second set began with a battle in which Liberty Center went on a four-point run, followed immediately by a four-point Delta run, which featured an untouched kill by freshman Willa Rosene.
The Tigers maintained dominance, trading two points for one from the Panthers, then three points for one, two for one, three for one, two for one, then another three, bringing the score to 19-9.
Scoring on both sides during the lopsided back-and-forth came almost exclusively from faults, along with aces by Tiger juniors Chloe Mohler and Hope Atkinson.
After three more Panther points and two more Tiger points, Delta made a run at a comeback with a four-point run courtesy of four Liberty Center errors but were met with a four-point Tiger run to seal the match at 25-17.
Liberty Center kept its momentum going to start the third set with a four-point run, including a kill from Fausnight and an ace from junior Aubree Zeiter. Delta fought back, taking five out of the next six points, including a kill by Rosene to tie it at five.
After another four-point Tiger run, the Panthers (2-8, 0-3 NWOAL) took six out of nine points, including an ace from senior Mackenzie Clapp to keep it close at 12-11, Liberty Center, but it would be Delta’s last bit of momentum.
Liberty Center went on a six-point run made up of mostly Panther errors plus a kill by Fausnight, gave up four points while gaining two.
The Tigers closed the match with a final five-point run including a successful tip by senior Gabbie Conrad and kills by Fuller and Zeiter to take the set 25-15 and the match 3-0.