Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Flames men's volleyball swept at NCAA DIII Southern Virginia
2/2/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Volleyball is a game of highs and lows and momentum swings, as Liberty University's men's Division I club team experienced this week. Still savoring the euphoria of having swept Virginia Tech for the first time in Saturday morning's "Midnight Mayhem" match in the Vines Center, the Flames suffered a three-game sweep at the hands of Southern Virginia on Thursday night in the Knight Sports Arena in Buena Vista, Va., falling 25-21, 25-21, 25-22.
"We were definitely not where we needed to be," Liberty Head Coach Bryan Rigg said. "It was a hard preparation week. Part of it is the after-Midnight game letdown. It was probably our worst match of the season as far as our individual performances go."
Liberty was led by junior outside hitters T.J. Forsythe (9 kills) and Gene Dejesus (7 kills) as well as junior libero Sam Wyman (7 kills), who were set up by sophomore Kaden Knepper (24 assists). Junior opposite hitter Scott Zalizniak paced Liberty with three aces and seven digs.
"It was a collective effort," Rigg said. "Everybody had their struggles. Our passing, which is usually our go-to bread and butter, was off, our blocking wasn't there. Our aggressive (jump) servers couldn't get it over the net."
Southern Virginia (7-4), which hosts Virginia Tech next Wednesday, won its fifth consecutive match and improved to 2-0 at home. Its offense was sparked by Paul Clark (14 kills) and Alma Ray (13 kills), feeding off sets from Kaipo Tagaloa (32 assists).
"They're a good team," Rigg said. "We're familiar with them, we've practiced together, I'm pretty good friends with their coach. It's a lesson that should motivate us.
"They're not a club team, so it doesn't count toward our (ECVA) conference record or toward our (NCVF Division I) rankings," he added of the first national poll due to be released on Wednesday. "So there's no real huge impact other than on our morale. We've just got to find a way to use it to motivate us to get better."
The Flames (20-14 including fall matches, 3-3 in spring play) will host the East Coast Volleyball Association (ECVA) South Division tournament on Feb. 11 in the LaHaye Multipurpose Center. They will get another shot at Southern Virginia when they host the NCAA Division III program on March 2, exactly a month away.
