Northern Tier WEST Sports ReportLIBERTY, PA — An inexperienced North Penn-Liberty volleyball team saw their 7 year dynasty come to a close in 2024, as a core of first-year senior starters joined a number of underclassmen in a rebuilding season for the Lady Mounties.
First year Head Coach Bill Grega and the Mounties saw a couple of highly impressive streaks end during the season, including NP-Liberty’s run of seven straight league titles and a 99 match streak of NTL victories.
NPL came into the season having won 96 straight league matches, and ran that streak to 99 with wins over Sayre, Wyalusing and Athens. The Mounties also topped Galeton early on, and suffered their first loss of the year, 3-0 to 4A Williamsport, before going for league win 100 against Wellsboro.
The Lady Hornets, the eventual District champs, beat NPL 3-1 to end the streak, and NEB handed the Mounties their second league loss two days later. NPL wins over Athens and Galeton were once again followed by a pair of NTL losses, as Wellsboro edged the Mounties 3-2 and eventual large school champion Troy beat NPL 3-1.
The Mounties would finish the season on a 5-2 run, with yet another two-game skid coming against league-foes Williamson and Troy, and wins over Towanda, non-league Loyalsock and Canton to finish the regular season 11-7 and as the No. 5 seed in the 2A playoffs. A first-round match with No. 4 seed Williamson would go to the Warriors and Liberty’s season came to an end.
NPL had two starters who had any significant varsity playing time previous to the ’24 season in senior libero Rylie Smith (368 digs, 104 pts., 24 aces, 19 kills) and junior Haley Litzelman (209 kills, 112 pts., 46 aces, 46 blocks, 156 digs).
Junior Kameron Lightner (198 kills, 103 pts., 33 aces, 259 digs) and sophomore Claire Dominick (144 kills, 201 pts., 64 aces, 301 digs) will form a strong core of returning players next season, along with Litzelman and sophomore Kendall Graham (40 kills, 16 blocks).
Senior Kaylee Graham (59 kills, 25 blocks, 73 digs, 45 assists) joined classmates Maddy Youmans (302 assists, 164 pts., 23 aces, 183 digs), Phoebe Ruth (24 kills, 10 blocks, 53 digs) and Addison Weightman (190 assists, 156 pts., 41 aces, 105 digs) as first-time contributors and assisted the Mounties in their rebuild effort.
A number of underclassmen saw limited action for NPL throughout the season and will look to contribute in the future, including juniors Emma Route and Alayna Martin, sophomores Maddie Smith, Gabby Bubeck and Elaina Shaw and freshman Maddie McNamara.
