The Park Hill South Panthers girls volleyball team saw its season come to an end on Oct. 25, losing to the Liberty Blue Jays in three sets at North Kansas City High School in the Class 5 District 8 semifinal.
The season-ending district defeat to the Blue Jays was a feeling the Panthers have become quite familiar with in recent years. Liberty ended top-seeded Park Hill South’s promising run last year in the district championship — also in straight sets — and South has been eliminated by Liberty in the district tournament five of the past six years.
Park Hill South entered as the No. 1 seed in the district for the second straight year last week, but was unable to match the expectations after taking six of seven regular-season sets in two wins against Liberty in the regular season. A troublesome opening set put the Panthers in a hole they found difficulty navigating out of.
The signs came early in the first set as No. 5-seeded Liberty quickly ran out to a 3-0 lead, and an early timeout did little to sway momentum in the Panthers’ favor. For every point the Panthers managed to score, the Blue Jays multiplied as they took a commanding 22-9 before closing the first set with a 25-13 win.
Park Hill South sophomore Sophie Feder tips the ball over the net against Liberty on Oct. 25.
South offered a better test in the second set, falling behind early before taking its first lead of the day at 8-7 with sophomore Breanna Verdi serving. The lead flipped back and forth numerous times before Liberty gained firm control and took the 25-20 win in set two.
Liberty jumped ahead 10-4 in the third set, but Park Hill South clawed back into it to retake the lead, jumping ahead by as many as three points. The Blue Jays went on a 4-0 run to grab the lead back, eventually taking the third set 25-23 to end the Panthers’ season.
Prior to the semifinal, the Panthers defeated St. Joseph Central in straight sets at Park Hill South on Oct. 23 in the district quarterfinals. South cruised through the first pair of sets 25-7 and 25-10 before sealing the victory with a 25-19 win in the third set.
The Panthers end the year with a 23-10 record. The conclusion of this season marks the end of a remarkable era for the Panthers’ program with four seniors departing, including Sydni Lafasciano, Brynna Fox, Vada Brattin and Brooklyn Verdi.
Lafasciano amassed just shy of 1,300 kills and Brattin completed more than 800 returns in four years as varsity contributors. Fox had over 1,400 digs in four years while Verdi had over 300 receptions in two years.
The seniors played an instrumental role in bringing their program back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2019.