Liberty University Club Sports
Fall Tournament
Flames spike LU alumni team in A bracket final at home tournament
11/10/2021 5:24:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
Liberty University’s men’s volleyball team enjoyed an extremely successful Fall Tournament played Saturday at the LaHaye Multipurpose Center courts. Returning a few injured players who were unavailable for last weekend’s season-opening tournament at Virginia Tech, the Flames won both the eight-team A division and the 12-team B bracket, with their A team defeating Liberty alumni team in the championship match.
“It was great to get some guys back from missing last weekend to see what both teams look like mostly healthy,” Flames Head Coach Kaleb VanDePerre said.
Liberty’s top team swept pool play matches against JMU, North Carolina, and Virginia before prevailing in its only three-game match of the day in a semifinal showdown with Penn State, winning 15-12 in the third game.
“We came from seven points down to win the first game,” said senior middle hitter Luke Marine, who had 15 kills in the tournament and a key stuff block late in the third game against the Nittany Lions. “Everything was on point, including the defense and our serve receive. This is just a little appetizer of what we’re going to do this season.”
Senior opposite hitter Josh Knapp, who missed last weekend’s tournament at Virginia Tech with a knee injury, led the Flames with 47 kills, followed by Cody Reinsma (30) and Cross Edwards (26).
“Josh Knapp played unreal,” Marine said. “He came up with some clutch blocks, some clutch kills, and some clutch aces, so it was a very good comeback for him.
“Cody was unreal with his front-row attack on the outside,” Marine added. “Logan Spieker, who was playing DS (defensive specialist) for Cody (Reinsma) is clicking right now. The boys are buzzing. Then Tommy (Speelmen) is just setting absolute nails, so it’s very easy to thump on them.”
As a team, the Flames passed at a 2.47 mark for the tournament, a stat VanDePerre called “unreal.” They also hit at a .357 kill percentage, which is “very, very good.”
“I was so excited to see us start to defend, expecting to get ups (dig saves) and turning those into points,” VanDePerre said. “Against Penn State, we battled and played the brand of volleyball we expect to produce great results, staying disciplined, focused, and intense. We started to feel that court trust and chemistry and a good week of practice paid off big-time.”
Sophomore libero Mason Ellenberger made 43 digs and passed and serve-received well while sophomore middle blocker Jared Vazquez, playing up from the DII team in place of injured senior Ben Dowd, blocked well.
The final featured a showdown between the Flames and a band of recent alumni who swept A teams from Duke, VCU, and Penn State in pool play as well as UVA in the semifinals. Liberty’s current lineup swept their former teammates in dominating fashion.
“It was absolutely fun. That’s the way it should have been,” outside hitter James Morton (’21), who now works in financial planning in Knoxville, Tenn., said of the all-LU final. “We knew what they were doing, and they knew what we were doing. I am just surprised that we did not fall apart through all of those games. We have never practiced together and most of us haven’t played in months, so it was really just for fun. We were 8-0 coming into the final (so) we played well. But 10 sets is a lot and those guys played great. With Tommy (Speelman) setting and Josh (Knapp) hitting, they’re a good combo.”
Other alumni team members included setter Kaden Knepper, now in his third season as assistant coach on Liberty’s NCAA Division I women’s volleyball team, Gene DeJesus, Nate Jensen, Zach Martyn, and Sean Taggart, who is an assistant coach working with the Flames.
Liberty’s B team swept past UNC and Richmond before splitting two games with ODU in pool play before defeating Duke in two games in the quarterfinals, Christopher Newport, 2-0, in the semifinals, and sweeping a rematch with ODU in the championship final.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Videos edited by Caitlyn Brown and Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
