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Liberty University Club Sports
Boise State University
Lady Flames beach team to end season by hosting Erskine, Lynchburg on Friday night
4/19/2023 2:29:38 PM | Women's Beach Volleyball
Liberty University’s women’s beach volleyball team will wrap up an action-packed spring season by hosting NCAA Division II Erskine (S.C.) College in dual matches at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. and first-year NCAA Division III University of Lynchburg at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at the East Campus courts.
The Lady Flames defeated Erskine on March 2 in Due West, S.C., 3-2 and beat the Lynchburg rival Hornets in an exhibition match on Oct. 16 at Liberty.
“We will need to take care of business against Erskine, and the Lynchburg match should be fun,” Lady Flames Head Coach Jess Nelson said.
Before the match against UL, the Lady Flames will celebrate their four graduating players on Senior Night — Kaitlyn Holbrook, a transfer from Coastal Carolina, Heather Forton, Taylor Arnold, and Audrey Antesberger, a cross-town transfer from Randolph College.
Antesberger, who had recovered from an ACL injury to her knee, has been sidelined by shoulder problems this season.
“She was starting to hit her stride before her injury, but she has really come out to serve her team this semester,” Nelson said. “Taylor (Arnold) brought a lot of personality to her matches and is a fighter on the court.”
Liberty recently returned from an April 7-9 trip to Southern California where they challenged NCAA Division I Boise State, host University of California Davis, and Sacramento State, which helped elevate their games.
“I was proud of the way they competed,” Nelson said. “We were battling against high-powered teams, and we didn’t look intimidated. We brought good energy and played with aggressive consistency.”
After being swept by Boise State in dominant fashion, with no match going to three games, Liberty seniors Holbrook and Forton were on the courts for the final matches in the duals against UC Davis and Sacramento State, teaming up with juniors Lizzy Armstrong and Cara Lecklider, respectively.
Both tandems pulled out wins, with Holbrook and Armstrong rallying for a 16-21, 21-10, 15-13 victory and Forton and Lecklider dominating the first game before fending off a persistent Sacramento State rally in the second, 21-6, 24-22. Forton and Lecklider also took UC Davis’s No. 3-seeded pair to three games before falling 12-21, 21-17, 8-15.
“Both of those pairs have been integral to the growth of the program and they were finding consistency and were rolling, bringing a lot of energy to those courts,” Nelson said.
Sophomores Jillian Kater and Emma Taylor took their No. 4-seeded opponent from Sacramento State to three games before falling, 16-21, 21-19, 4-15, as did Lady Flames No. 5-seeded sophomores Abigail Luke and Julia McGuirk against UC Davis before coming up just short, 18-21, 21-16, 13-15.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
