With a close 3-0 victory over the Herndon Hornets in the championship match, the top-seed McLean Highlanders won the girls Liberty District volleyball tournament the night of Oct. 28.
McLean won by scores of 25-23, 25-22 and 25-21, as the Highlanders trailed at some point in every set of the high-school match.
The Liberty tourney crown was McLean’s first since 2001.
The Highlanders were behind 20-17 in the first set, 4-1 and 18-17 in the second, and 18-16 in the third. Third seed Herndon made three unforced errors for McLean’s final points in the last set.
McLean was 2-0 in the competition, earning a first-round bye. The Highlanders defeated No. 5 seed Washington-Liberty in the semifinals.
With the tournament wins, coach Samantha Stewart’s McLean improved its record to 21-1 with 19 wins in a row entering the region tournament.
McLean was led in the tournament by all-district players Nicole Mallus, Ella Park, Alice Holoubek, Charlotte Carson, Zaylie Tamashiro, Park Eaton, Farah Eljazzar and Alexa Sribar.
The second-seed Langley Saxons (15-4) were 1-1 in the tourney, routing Yorktown 3-0 in the first round and losing to Herndon, 3-2, in the semifinals, falling 15-13 in the fifth set.
n The second-seeded Oakton Cougars (14-5) finished second in the Concorde District girls volleyball tournament, losing to top seed and host Chantilly in the championship match.
Oakton defeated the No. 3 seed Madison Warhawks in the semifinals.
All of the teams finishing among the top four of district tournaments advance to play in the eight-team 6D North Region tournament, which began earlier this week.
Langley is the defending region champion.