Liberty didn’t need the best player, just the best team. 

Tuesday night, the Lancers overcame a dominant third set from six-foot-three-inch sophomore outside hitter Brenna Moerman and host Doherty to claim the fourth and fifth sets in a 3-2 match, 14-25, 25-15, 14-25, 25-20, 15-13.

Despite playing an uneven match, Doherty (1-1) seemed poised for victory after taking a 12-9 lead in the final set, but Liberty remained unfazed. The Lancers won the next four points after a bad Spartans’ serve and a trio of good serves from senior Noami Milovale.

Sophomore outside hitter Kaitlyn Conway completed the set and match comeback, scoring the final two points. Her actions sparked jubilation throughout the Lancers’ JV team and traveling fans as Liberty’s chants of “I believe that we just won” echoed throughout the Spartans’ gymnasium. 

It’s a win the Lancers aren’t soon to forget as Liberty improved to 6-2 on the season, one win shy of their total from last year. 

“It’s a great win. We started off pretty hot going in,” second-year coach Allan Sacdalan said. “Last year was really like a marriage, right? We were newlyweds between staff and players … that was a trial and error period in year 1 in (2025). Having a 7-16 record, but now with the 6-2 and having a tournament at Mesa Ridge where we took three out of four games, it’s a good start. They understand now my coaching philosophy and how we will train on the court during practice. The fact that they know now what the standard is and what Liberty volleyball is. They know there’s expectations and they know when to rise to the occasion.”

Sacdalan called his athletes “player-coaches” who know how to fight out of a deficit. That became evident in the later portion of the third set. Liberty had all the momentum after the second, but Doherty and Moerman in particular snatched it in the third. 

As a freshman last season, the outside hitter more than doubled her teammate who had the second most kills with 306 to 151. 

The stats are one thing but watching her live is another. Nearly every time the sophomore touched the ball in the third set it resulted in a kill either from a spike straight down into the hardwood or a blast that ricocheted off the hands of Liberty’s blockers.

“I feel we started struggling in our serve receive and then that just brought us down. We kept having error after error and we just weren’t able to side out,” Conway said. “Then we all got down on ourselves. We got down on each other and it just didn’t work out.”

The Spartans led 17-6 at one point in the set, but Liberty found a rhythm off the service of senior McKenna Nelson and scored the next four points. Liberty lost the set, but learned the lessons needed to win the match.

Sacdalan knew the team needed to begin the fourth set with momentum, so he made some adjustments to help his setters and hitters play with more consistency.

His plan worked and the Lancers responded as a collective in the fourth set. Liberty earned points with taller athletes at the net in Conway and seniors Adaleigh Winterhalter, Makenzie Praytor and McKinzey Stowers and defended would-be kills from Doherty thanks to the athletic prowess of libero Tera Buterbaugh and other setters. 

Liberty won long and short volleys alike with each point pushing the collective forward, be it a side out, an ace or a one-on-one block of Moerman in certain moments from Praytor and Stowers. 

Beyond the adjustments, trust was the biggest catalyst to the team’s success. First in themselves and then in each other.

“I feel like we recovered from (the third) set by just telling each other we all need to get our energy up,” Conway said. “We know how to play volleyball. We know we have a good connection, and we finally found it and we were able to get it up.”

Stowers and Winterhalter led the team in kills with nine while Conway finished with seven. Praytor paced the team in blocks with nine and Buterbaugh led the way in digs with 30.

“They play one team, one fight, one family,” Sacdalan said.