Liberty University Club Sports
University of Virginia
Men’s volleyball lets UVA rally for a four-game win; falls to 0-3 in Liberty Arena
2/17/2023 10:56:05 PM | Men's Volleyball
After putting on a blocking exhibition in the opening game of Thursday night’s ECVA match against the University of Virginia, Liberty University’s men’s volleyball team couldn’t find the knock-out punch it needed in the final three sets, falling to the Cavaliers, 14-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-22 to drop to 0-3 at the Liberty Arena this season.
“We blew them out of the water in the first set, and then we lost the next three,” said graduate Cross Edwards, who paced the Flames with 15 kills on the night. “Blocks were our big thing in the first game. We got so many, were just blocking them off the court and after that they were swinging high hands and we couldn’t get a block going after that. In each of the last three games, we were leading the whole way up until the last five points and dropped the ball right at the end.”
Junior libero Mason Ellenberger made 23 digs and senior setter Chase Keith distributed more than 30 assists on the night, spreading his sets to junior middle hitter Jared Vazquez (9 kills, 5 blocks), senior middle hitter John Sauder (5 kills), and freshmen outside hitter Josh Culpepper (5 kills, 3 aces) and opposite hitter Zach Lamoureux (5 kills).
Liberty first-year Head Coach Josh Knapp said the team came out playing the same way it did this past weekend at the season’s first ECVA tournament at JMU, where the Flames went 6-0 to capture first place.
“We had a really strong push in the first set and then we kind of got comfortable and a little bit complacent with our systems and our setups,” Knapp said. “The second set, we tried to push too much pressure on the service line and changed the way our systems look and didn’t stay consistent through that and they were able to get a foothold and start pressuring us a little more. They put a lot more pressure on us and they changed the way they swung. We got a ton of blocks that first set … so they started swinging nice and deep off our block and challenged us a little more at spots we weren’t quite covering.”
With Culpepper serving in Game 3, the Flames seized a 3-2 lead before a stuff block by Lamoureux and kills by Edwards from the left side and Lamoureux from the right stretched it to 7-2.
“Josh (Culpepper) is the most versatile player I’ve ever played with,” Edwards said. “He’s actually a primary setter playing outside hitter now and he’s probably got the best jump serve on the team. Zach is another good freshman who’s up and coming, so two really good freshmen that are going to lead the program in the near future.”
The Cavaliers rallied to seize a 9-8 lead before Sauder tied it with a deceptive spike from the left side and Edwards served an ace inside the left sideline.
Edwards lifted Liberty to a 13-12 lead with a spike kill from the middle before Vazquez’s powerful stuff block from the middle made it 14-12.
Consecutive kills by Sauder and Culpepper from the middle and Edwards from the back row extended Liberty’s lead to 19-16 before UVA tied it at 19 with three straight kills of its own.
A joust winner by Keith off a back-row set ended the run before Vasquez smacked a kill down off the face of a Cavalier back-row player and Lamoureux’s stuff block prompted a UVA timeout, trailing 22-20. The Cavaliers went on a 4-0 run to set up two game points and capitalized on the second for the 25-23 win.
A spike kill by Vazquez in the middle started the Game 4 scoring before a stuff block by Culpepper at the left side brought the Flames back within 9-8. Three back-row spikes by Edwards, the last for a kill, kept the Flames within 11-10 before a kill and stuff block by Vazquez and a spike winner by Vazquez kept them within 14-13. Edwards’ kill down the left sideline gave Liberty its first lead of the game, 15-14, before a cross-court kill by UVA tied it and stuff block from the left side put the visitors back on top.
Virginia dug Lamoureux’s spike down the right line, but right to Vazquez in the middle for a one-timed winner to tie it at 17 before a spike kill by Sauder from the middle tied it at 18. Another kill by Edwards off a block out of bounds knotted it at 19 before Culpepper spiked a kill off a block at the left pin for a 20-19 lead. The Cavaliers tied it at 20 with a kill off a block by Culpepper, who put Liberty up 21-20 with a powerful kill from the left side. UVA re-tied it with a dink winner into a hole in the middle and seized a 22-21 lead with a kill off a Vazquez block in the middle. Edwards hit long before Vazquez stuffed a block winner to keep the Flames within 23-22 before the Cavaliers clinched the match by winning the last two points.
“We’re still finding a little hard to put that last ball away and pressure them on the offensive side, so we’re looking to keep on working on the offensive potential of this team,” Knapp said. “That’s kind of our focus moving forward. We’ve moved through the defensive side and our back-row defense where we’re looking good.”
“Chase was doing really well spreading it out and he and I were firing on all cylinders connecting-wise tonight,” Edwards added. “The biggest thing we need to work on right now is the first-ball side out. We’re giving Chase good quick passes and he’s setting it up for us, all we have to do is execute and we’re not really executing right now. We’re letting too much get past us. We’re a good team, we know what we’re doing, but we’re not executing in the Arena.”
Liberty opted not to travel to this weekend’s Hoosier-Illini Classic in Bloomington, Ind., due to a couple players being sick and Ellenberger not being available due to academic obligations.
The Flames’ next competition will be the Midnight Mayhem match on March 4 against North Carolina State, a team they defeated twice at JMU.
“They’re a great, competitive team and we’re excited to see them again,” Knapp said. “They’ll challenge us again in the Arena like all of these teams have. A lot of teams love coming out here and playing the hardest they can and teams really put on a show for us. That Midnight game will be a lot fuller on our fans side of things, so having that packed will bring up that noise in the arena and will bring up the intensity level and give our guys that extra boost.”
This Saturday, Liberty’s Division II team will get its first official competition of the spring semester when it hosts as may as 14 other teams in an ECVA Division II Play Date at the LaHaye Multipurpose Center.
“We’re excited to see them play and compete in an actual tournament,” Knapp said. “If they can keep their errors down to a minimum … and stay consistent and level-headed, they have some really great pieces, so I think they’ll do very well at the DII level.”
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
