Iowa City Liberty’s Mariah Rollins, Asta Hildebrand flourish in expanded roles

NORTH LIBERTY — Allie Kelly knew she had hitters.

One of her first primary roles as the undisputed leader of this program was to find a defensive anchor.

“We lost a lot of defense from last year,” said Kelly, now the sole head coach of the Class 5A top-ranked volleyball team from Iowa City Liberty. “We had to find our best passer and defender, and Mariah (Rollins) was at the top of our chart.”

And thus, Rollins — who shared setting duties with Asta Hildebrand last year — put on the libero jersey for the first time Tuesday.

“It’s kind of scary,” Rollins said. “I’m trying my best. It’s a big change.”

With Rollins leading the back row and Hildebrand running the show offensively, Liberty kicked off the season with a four-set MVC Mississippi Division victory over No. 9 Cedar Rapids Prairie on Tuesday.

Scores were 25-11, 25-20, 22-25 and 25-13.

“This was the match we needed,” Kelly said. “Prairie put some pressure on us. We’re going to see everybody’s best game.”

Kelly is in her first year as the sole head coach. A former assistant under Randy Dolson, she was elevated to co-head coach last year, then assumed complete control when Dolson retired after the 2021 season.

She inherited plenty of offense, spearheaded by two-time Elite all-state selection Cassidy Hartman, who led all attackers with 18 kills, including nine in the first set.

Another returning first-team all-stater, Shelby Kimm added 11 kills to help lead the Lightning (1-0 overall, 1-0 division) to a 49-28 kills advantage.

Liberty had a third-set hiccup, and Prairie (0-1, 0-1) capitalized.

First-year Prairie coach Rachel Combs said, “We had a lot of connections there in the third set. But overall, we struggled to make everything connect at the same time.

“We had a lot of unforced errors, and we’ll address that tomorrow.”

The Lightning never trailed in the final set.

Hildebrand accounted for 42 assists.

“We had a lot more communication in that last set,” she said. “With Mariah has our libero, this was a good opportunity for our back row to step up.

“She’s the person we need back there.”

Jacey Miller led Prairie with 11 kills.

Iowa City Liberty 3, Cedar Rapids Prairie 1

(25-11, 25-20, 22-25, 25-13)

At North Liberty

Serving: Prairie 62-69 (.899), Liberty 86-96 (.896)

Aces: Prairie 8 (Olivia Benson 4), Liberty 13 (Asta Hildebrand 5)

Kills: Prairie 28 (Jacey Miller 11), Liberty 49 (Cassidy Hartman 18)

Assists: Prairie 27 (Taylor Ray 26), Liberty 47 (Hildebrand 42)

Blocks: Prairie 5 (McKenna Murray 3), Liberty 8 (Hartman 3)

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com