This year, the Liberty girls’ volleyball team is switching its momentum, sweeping new schools and powering through the new season in order to preserve another chance at state.

Over the past few seasons, the volleyball team has been dominant–defeating the same schools and remaining unchanged in the standings.

To shift gears, the KingCo league has decided to create a ‘Crown-Crest’ division, merging the co-existing leagues together. 

“The KingCo League goes by divisions now, and we made one large division of the top 12 teams called “Crown-Crest”. Combining the six teams in the Crown division and the six teams in the Crest division,” athletic director Matthew Stuart said.

This has led to introducing new teams such as North Creek, Skyline, Bellevue, Mount Si, and Eastlake to Liberty’s pool of competition.

“KingCo has such an uneven distribution of the different classifications that there had to be some changes made,” Varsity coach Shea O’Brien said.

Many of the players have agreed it’s time for some different competition.

“The teams we have been playing recently have been on a lower level than us, which can make games seem a bit easier than we want them to,” junior co-captain Gabriela Catherall said.

However, with the new division, the volleyball team gets to face new challenges, and test their teamwork and communication.

“Currently, we are enjoying that we get to play such a wide variety of schools and some of the best teams in the state on a weekly basis,” O’Brien said.

One team that stood out in particular that challenged Liberty’s teamwork and communication during their pre-season was the 2024 4A state champions, Curtis High School. 

Ultimately, the Liberty team faced a loss, but it seems the loss only propelled them forward and set a solid tone for the new division, placing 2nd overall and having a record of 12-2.

“I am proud of our record and these past few games. After playing Curtis, we really showed how our team grew from that loss,” senior co-captain Charlize Espinosa said.

Overall, the feedback for the new division has been positive from the volleyball team, whether it be revisiting old teams or playing schools for the first time. This new division has been testing their teamwork and their drive to compete in order to get another chance to make it to state.

“If we keep the same effort and work ethic, I feel like our record will continue to improve,” Espinosa said.