Udall’s Liberty Mason said one of the things she enjoys most about volleyball is the feeling she gets when she is competing.
“I am most excited about the thrill of playing this season,” Mason said. “I love the high I feel being on the court playing a sport I am so passionate about.”
Mason also is looking forward to becoming more of an outside hitter this season, giving her an opportunity to become a more well-rounded player.
To prepare, Mason played club volleyball for Alpha Volleyball Academy, participating in open gyms with the club and other programs. She also took part in Udall’s summer weights program to improve her strength and attended skills clinics at Cowley College and Butler Community College.
One of the highlights of her offseason was attending her first volleyball prospect camp. Mason participated in KSVB’s 23rd prospect camp, where she had the opportunity to learn from college coaches and compete in scrimmages throughout the day.
“It was super cool,” Mason said.
As the season gets underway, Mason has a clear goal for her game: Stay aggressive.
“I want to stay aggressive and keep the other teams on defense,” Mason said. “I want teams to say, ‘Man, I hope Liberty doesn’t hit it at me.’”
Mason has worked toward that goal by focusing on running the offense quickly during practice and putting herself in position to attack. Just as importantly, she said she is working on playing with confidence.
“I am practicing this by working hard in practice on running my offense quickly and setting myself up for success by not playing scared and swinging hard at my opponents,” Mason said.
Mason also hopes her individual development can help Udall continue to take the next step as a team. The Eagles have had to rely on young players in recent seasons, but Mason said the experience gained by the program’s younger players is beginning to pay off.
“All my years at Udall we have had to work really hard considering we have always been a young team, and now we are all seniors and juniors all looking for good wins,” Mason said.
Her individual goals include improving on her statistics from last season and beginning the college recruiting process. Mason has aspirations of continuing her volleyball career beyond high school.
“My personal goals for this season would be to build my stats higher than last season and to start talking to colleges to start looking for recruiting opportunities because I really do have the ambitions of playing at the college level,” Mason said.
Mason’s development has been noticeable since she first entered high school. She credits club volleyball with giving her additional repetitions and helping her better understand the game.
“Comparing my freshman year to my sophomore year, you can see I really did figure it out and improve a lot,” Mason said. “Club volleyball definitely helped me get a lot more reps and court IQ to help with my game.”
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