Men’s volleyball A and B teams mix it up well indoors during debut at Virginia Tech
10/31/2022 12:34:18 PM | Men's Volleyball
Liberty University’s men’s indoor volleyball team opened its fall season at an Eastern Collegiate Volleyball Association (ECVA) tournament hosted by Virginia Tech, with the Flames’ A and B teams competing in the 11-team event against three Virginia Tech teams and two alumni squads, among others.
The Flames' A team swept two of its three matches in pool play, dominating Virginia Tech’s Orange squad (25-20, 25-7) and Radford (25-17, 25-10). It bounced back from a 19-25 first-game loss to a mixed alumni team of Roanoke- and Lynchburg-area players, including two former Flames, to win the second, 25-20.
Liberty advanced to the playoffs as the fourth seed and received a bye to the quarterfinals before winning a quarterfinal match against Virginia Tech’s Maroon squad in an extremely competitive sweep, 25-23, 29-27. However, Virginia Tech’s alumni team knocked the Flames out in the semifinals, 25-21, 25-19, before going on to meet the University of Virginia in the final.
“They had a lot of (familiar) faces, and were very experienced and out-matched us in size,” said Liberty Assistant Coach Josh Knapp, who played the past five seasons for the Flames and filled in for Head Coach Kaleb VanDePerre, who traveled with the women’s beach volleyball team to a dual match at Eastern Kentucky. “We did very well for our first time out with not having much time to play so far. We have been hitting the sand more than indoor, so this was a great start to give us some future looks. We have a lot of creativity we can play with and speeding things up (on the indoor courts) can help them.”
Tyler Wemple, from Hawaii, totaled 26 kills on 61 attempts, followed by fellow senior outside hitter Matthew Marcinko (25 kills on 52 attempts), and 6-foot, 5-inch freshman right-side hitter Zach Lamoureux (20 kills on 52 attempts).
“Tyler and Matt were our primary outside hitters and, especially in playoffs, played well,” Knapp said. “They had some very big looks, even playing against teams bigger in size for blocking. Zach Lamoureux, bringing him up as a freshman, he did well throughout the entire day and our middies (6-9 junior Jared Vasquez, senior John Sauder, and senior Noah Marine) had a high and consistent hitting percentage all tournament and were great options and effective for us as well.”
Defensively, Vasquez led the Flames in blocks with nine and Knapp said junior libero Mason Ellenberger “was effective on the defensive side with 54 digs, extending our rallies and keeping us alive in games."
"He was very consistent in serve-receive and gives us a very good first look,” Knapp added.
Setters Chase Keith, a senior from Guam, and freshman Josh Culpepper platooned at that position and both ran the offense effectively.
“Chase and Josh played extremely well in the setting position,” Knapp said. “Our starting lineup changed each set, and both performed very well and were able to lead the team on the court. Against Virginia Tech’s alumni team, the first set we started Josh, who plays with excitement, to bring energy to the court. We lost that set and switched it up to put Chase in there to get a nice look of consistency with a guy familiar with our options.”
Playing in a three-team pool, Liberty’s B squad dropped three-game matches to VCU in its first round, 28-26, 25-12, 25-22, before falling to Virginia Tech’s alumni team, 25-17, 25-17, 25-17, and being eliminated by the University of Virginia in the playoffs’ first-round play-in match, 25-17, 25-21.
“UVA has a lot of returners and played well,” Knapp said. “They made it to the finals against the Virginia Tech alumni team after beating Virginia Tech’s A team in the quarterfinals. Our guys had a lot of defensive touches and digs and scramble plays that kept the games close, led by (sophomores) Micah (Syswerda) and Bryce (Weenink) and with good looks from (freshman) Stephen (Dayton), our new libero, who was bringing up a lot of hustle on the defensive side.
Liberty will host its fall ECVA Play Date on Nov 12, with a few of the same teams on hand at the LaHaye Multipurpose Center, including Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Penn State.
“We’re looking forward to that and hoping to match up better with the collegiate teams in our conference,” Knapp said.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
