TEMPE, Ariz.--- The Corona del Sol Aztecs picked up the win over the Liberty Lions on Wednesday night in three sets -- 25-9, 25-11 and 25-20.

The Aztecs explosive offense led by the senior duo of Julia Owens and Kierstyn Barton were no match for the Lions. 

“Playing with her last year we’ve just really connected and bonded outside of volleyball too so it really helps our connection on the court and I think we’re just thriving off each other,” Owens said. 

The two seniors thrived off each other.

Owens set the tone all night, stuffing the stat sheet with 37 assists, three aces and one kill. The biggest beneficiary of Owens' assists was Kierstyn Barton. Barton posted nine kills to add to three aces and a block.  

Barton was given a bit of early trouble by Liberty’s Tristen Raymond, who picked up a pair of blocks in the first set. Barton began to change the speed and techniques on her attempts, keeping her opponents off guard throughout the rest of the contest. Barton gave credit to assistant coach Geoff Horewitch for getting her back on track.  

“He tells me every time I forget to use my arms when I approach and always reminds me throughout each play… if I keep that in mind it will allow me to make the right adjustments so I don’t end up getting blocked,” Barton said. 

The Aztecs kept the Lions uncomfortable all night with their serves. With a total of 15 aces, nine courtesy of junior Maggie Beauer, the Aztecs took full advantage of what head coach Ben Maxfield describes as, “serving tough.” 

“We always talk about serving tough to get them out of system. We’re not necessarily looking for an ace, but we want to make them not be able to use their middle so then we can defend against one hitter. Sometimes we live and die by the serve,” Maxfield said. 

In what was a rather lopsided first two sets, the Lions began to gain momentum in the third set, never really falling far behind until the 17-14 mark as the Aztecs scored five consecutive points from there and eventually ended up closing out the final set with a 25-20 win. 

In regards to closing out a win, it was getting back to the basics. Serving remained key for Maxfield and the Aztecs to push them over the edge. 

“When we got into the third set, we started to lose our focus and make rather dumb service errors, but we made sure to address that by bearing down and trying to gather even more focus to close it out,” Maxfield said. 

With Wednesday night's win, the Aztecs pushed their record to a total overall of 19-1. However, the road ahead will be challenging as Owens, Barton and the rest of the Aztecs are set for a long tournament weekend ahead. 

“Taking care of ourselves off the court is huge as well as keeping positive reinforcement going and making sure the Chemistry doesn’t skip a beat,” Owens said.   

The Aztecs are set for a road matchup at Queen Creek on Thursday night and then the Nike tournament on Friday and Saturday.