The Lady Trojans’ streak of two straight district titles has been snapped as the Park Hill volleyball team (14-11-1) ran into No. 2 seeded Liberty North (28-5) in the Class 5 District 8 Semifinals and fell in three sets on Oct. 22.
Ahead of the matchup with the Lady Eagles, Park Hill had won a district championship in three of the last four years and have been in five district championship matches since 2016, but the Lady Trojans’ season came to an end one match before a chance of playing for a district title. In two matches this fall against Liberty North – including a two-set seeding match in the Blue Springs South Invite on Oct. 1 – Park Hill lost all five sets it played in.
In the postseason matchup, the Lady Trojans held their own to start as a spike from Parker Kimball gave them the first point of the match in set one. Park Hill and Liberty North swapped the next seven points until the Lady Eagles took a 5-4 margin and the Lady Trojans never led again in the set.
After a Devin Hoover spike cut the lead to 6-5, Liberty North scored nine of the next 10 points to take a comfortable 15-6 advantage. Park Hill eventually fell 25-12 in the set.
Park Hill senior Shaye Koski (#19) spikes the ball in set two of three in the Lady Trojans postseason loss to Liberty North on Oct. 22.
In set two, it was once again a competitive start with the Lady Eagles striking first as there were six ties and six lead changes in the first 14 points. Liberty North went up 8-7 and never trailed for the rest of the set, but Park Hill kept it closer than the first set.
Until the Lady Eagles led 18-14, Park Hill never trailed by more than three points, but the Lady Eagles pushed their lead to 21-15 after blocking Kimball’s spike attempt. Liberty North eventually went up 24-17, but Park Hill didn’t go down without a fight.
Shaye Koski had a spike blocked out-of-bounds to spark three consecutive points by the Lady Trojans, cutting the deficit to 24-19. Ultimately, Liberty North’s Ella Morgan spiked it to the back middle of the court to give the Lady Eagles a 25-19 set two victory to go up 2-0 on the match.
After regrouping, the Lady Trojans put up another fight but came up short by a score of 25-18 in the third set as Liberty North completed the sweep. This was only the second time this fall that Park Hill lost a match 3-0.
Koski finished her prolific Park Hill career with 14 kills, 10 digs and nine receptions. Hoover added 29 receptions and nine digs, while Reganne Reed dished out 10 assists and Emily Watson had 16 digs.
In the first postseason match, Park Hill defeated Staley (9-19) in four sets on Oct. 20. Coming into the Class 5 District 8 Tournament as the No. 3 seed with two straight wins to close out the regular season, the Lady Trojans won the first two sets against the Lady Falcons comfortably by scores of 25-12 and 25-8.
Staley forced another set by winning set three by a score of 25-11, but Park Hill eliminated the Lady Falcons with a 25-12 victory to win the set, 3-1. Koksi had 20 kills, Watson had 24 digs and Emily Pella had 20 assists in the match.
The Lady Trojans had five seniors this year that were key contributors in the last four years. Park Hill will look to find a way to replace Koski, Hoover, Reed, Pella and Sydney Stanfield next fall.