Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Flames eliminated by silver bracket champion Golden Eagles
4/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Three days after moving up from No. 24 to No. 16 in the final Division I rankings before the National Collegiate Volleyball Federation (NCVF) championships, held at the Kansas City Convention Center, Liberty University's men's volleyball team finished in a tie for 24th place Saturday after being eliminated by Marquette in the first round of silver bracket tournament play.
"We came out flat in every aspect of the game," Flames Head Coach Bryan Rigg said. "Our blocking was behind where it needed to be, our passing was off, we were missing serves, and even our hits started going out of bounds as we started trying to force things. It just wasn't a good morning."
As the top seed in the silver bracket, Liberty's 25-18, 19-25, 15-6 loss to the Golden Eagles could be considered an upset. Marquette entered the tournament seeded 11th but struggled in preliminary play to wind up as the last seed in the silver bracket.
"They're a pretty good team, but not any better than Utah Valley or other teams we've faced," Rigg said. "It was the wrong game to do poorly in. Unfortunately, it was the last one that matters. That's the way it goes."
The Golden Eagles wound up going from last to first in the bracket, sweeping Texas A&M, 25-23, 25-20, in the second round before winning a three-game semifinal match against Rutgers, 19-25, 25-19, 24-22, and edging West Virginia, 21-25, 25-22, 16-14, in the silver final.
Liberty, which went 3-3 in the first two days of pool play and challenge matches, still moved 10 rungs up the ladder from last year's 34th-place overall finish in the 48-team Division I tournament. But last year's final-day performance in the bronze bracket was more satisfying as the Flames won their first two matches of tournament play before losing in the bronze final.
"I don't think we were ready for the game," Rigg said. "We ended the day yesterday with two losses and couldn't rebound from that. We got out to the same slow start we experienced every morning. It was definitely an emotionally draining tournament. Playing close match after close match eventually gets the best of you."
Only two teams from the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) advanced to the gold bracket this year — top-seeded Virginia Tech and Maryland, a team Liberty defeated in the East Coast Championships. The Hokies beat Liberty twice in the EIVA South Division I tournament and again in the East Coast Championship final before sending the Flames to the silver bracket with Friday's second setback. Liberty was one of seven EIVA schools in the silver bracket.
"The overall field of competition was better this year," Rigg said. "Next year will be better competition than this year. We took a big step up from last year and next year, we'll be looking to go from silver to gold."
The 2016 NCVF National Championships will be held in Louisville, Ky.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
