Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Liberty tandems vie for men's, women's beach tourney titles
4/29/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Beach Volleyball
A total of 23 teams — 12 women's pairs and 11 men's tandems — battled through intense heat and solid competition in Saturday's National Collegiate Sand Volleyball Association (NCSVA) sanctioned tournament held on Liberty University's eight East Campus beach volleyball courts.
"I really like it for the new guys because it is good preparation for what the summer is like," Flames Assistant Coach Kaleb VanDePerre said. "This was the best way to break them in and to teach them that hydrating and eating well the week before and the day of the tournament is key."
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| Matt Jones spikes past Eli Plasterer, backed up by David Hong (back) and Nathan Jensen, respectively. |
The men's bracket, contested on the four courts behind Liberty's Field Hockey and Lacrosse Fields, attracted perhaps its strongest field since the sport was added in 2012 with an influx of players off Liberty's indoor team, a few alumni including former assistant coaches Jonathan Willis and Mike Morrison, as well as senior Division II men's hockey forwards Devon Docksteader and Ben Freymond.
"There were no easy wins at this tournament," VanDePerre said. "All the teams were pretty solid, even the hockey guys, who were so scrappy."
Two Flames' Division I indoor sophomore teammates, setter Kaden Knepper and middle hitter Brady Quakenbush, rallied to win a back-and-forth three-game duel with graduate David Hong, a defensive specialist for the indoor squad, and newcomer Matt Jones in the final, 11-21, 21-18, 15-13.
Jones and Hong defeated two pairs of Division II indoor teammates en route to the finals — junior Caleb Pitcher and sophomore David Muller in the quarterfinals and sophomore Eli Plasterer and freshman Nathan Jensen in the semis. Quakenbush and Knepper ousted senior Stephen Leong and junior indoor player Gene Dejesus in the quarterfinals and sophomore Josh Talamoa and junior Matt Fritz in the semis. Fritz and Talamoa defeated Morrison and former indoor and beach player Kevin Snyder in the quarterfinals while Plasterer and Jensen eliminated the senior tandem of Paul Brueckner and Justin Bias.
Two pools of six teams played in the women's bracket, held on the courts beyond the intramural fields.
Liberty Head Coach Rachel Willis, playing with senior Morgan Horne in her last tournament with the Lady Flames, swept senior Michelle Melendez and freshman Olivia Jensen in the semifinals before falling to freshman Sallie Robertson and senior Maribeth Kern in the final, 21-19, 18-21, 15-9. Robertson and Kern dominated Virginia Tech's tandem of Lubna Mustafa and Rachel Wadsworth in the other semifinal.
Willis will miss Horne, who represented Liberty at the NCSVA Championships the past three summers.
"She showed commitment and talent and she continued to get better," Willis said, noting that Horne inspired her younger teammates. "When you see a player like Morgan who really does make it look easy, you realize, ‘I can be that good,' so it's good for our other players to see."
Robertson, who painted the left sideline with the game-winning shot in the final, and Kern are early favorites to play for Liberty at the July 15 NCSVA Championships in Long Beach, Calif.
Liberty will next travel to Raleigh, N.C., on May 20 for the NCSVA Regional tournament, with the men's and women's overall champions earning $500 stipends to go toward their travels to nationals.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
