Flames sophomore outside hitter Zach Lamoureux spikes next to teammate Jayden Rice on Tuesday night at the Liberty Arena. (Photos by Kendall Tidwell)
Men’s volleyball pushes UVA to five games before falling in season opener at Liberty Arena
1/30/2024 10:56:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
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Liberty rallied from two games down to earn a match point, but Virginia established the early lead in the ECVA standings with the narrow win.
In its ECVA regular-season opener at the Liberty Arena, Liberty University's men's volleyball team rallied from two games down to earn a match point against the University of Virginia only to see the comeback fall just short in a 25-21, 25-20, 17-25, 25-27, 16-14 setback.
"Slow start," Flames Head Coach Josh Knapp said. "We struggled early on to find a footing in our offense. We were trying to find ways to spread that out, give us more solo block options on the pins and throughout the front row, and we had a good comeback after being down two with our backs against the wall, really having to perform. A few mental lapses, but we fought to make it close."
Flames sophomore setter Josh Culpepper had 32 assists, 6 kills, and 5 blocks.
Sophomore outside hitter Zach Lamoureux spiked 16 kills and added nine digs and two blocks while senior libero Mason Ellenberger made 30 digs and sophomore setter Josh Culpepper added six kills and five blocks to go with his 32 assists. Graduate right-side hitter Tyler Wemple (nine kills, 11 digs, two blocks) and freshman outside hitter Anthony Bernardo (seven kills, seven digs, two aces) also came up big for the Flames.
Knapp said the Cavaliers adjusted more easily to playing in the spacious Liberty Arena. in the first of four matches the Flames will host there, and their size and experience advantages showed.
"UVA's always one of our top competitors," he said, noting that the Cavaliers' setter and outside and opposite hitters were on the team when he was a senior right-side hitter for the Flames in 2021-22. "They always have solid matchups, good height on their team, so they had a lot of options to go to and a lot of experience on their roster. It was really great matchup to see early on in the season."
A block winner by Wemple helped the Flames draw even at 5-5 early in the first game before a spike off a block by Bernardo gave Liberty a 10-9 advantage. Virginia retied it before sophomore middle blocker Beau Anderson spiked a kill from the middle to put the Flames back on top.
After Ellenberger's diving dig on a service return, sophomore Jayden Rice's kill from the middle tied the match at 18 and it was tied again at 20 and 21 before UVA closed out the game on a four-point run and 8-1 surge overall.
Anderson started Game 2 with a spike kill in the middle before the Cavaliers went on a 4-1 run stopped by a solid cross-court hill by Lamoureux. That sparked a 3-0 spurt by the Flames capped by a block winner down the right line by Culpepper that gave Liberty a 5-4 lead. A kill by Bernardo off a block at the left side put the Flames up 7-6 before his service aces extended the leads to 10-7 and 12-7.
Senior libero Mason Ellenberger came up with 30 digs to lead the defense.
Lamoureux's kill from the left side kept the Flames ahead, 13-11, before Virginia tied it at 13 and 16 and closed out the game on a 9-4 scoring spurt.
"We're really looking to focus on our side of the net," Knapp said. "The first two sets, we were really down mentally. We went back to the locker room and talked about what we needed to see moving forward and we came back and responded well."
Anderson opened Game 3 with a spike kill from the left side before Wemple put the Flames up 2-1 with a dink winner into the center of the court. Lamoureux's spike kill from the left side tied it at 4 before a back-row kill by Wemple lifted Liberty to a 5-4 advantage. A left-handed kill from the middle by Culpepper stretched the lead to 7-4 before spike kills from the middle by Rice increased it to 9-4 and 10-6 and two by Bernardo from the left and right sides extended it 12-8 and 15-9, respectively.
A powerful spike kill from the middle by Lamoureux made it 19-12 and a fake set into a hole in UVA's defense and two one-handed winners by Culpepper pushed Liberty's lead to 22-13 before kills by Lamoureux from the left and Wemple from the right kept the Flames in the match, down 2-1 in games.
A cross-court kill off the face of a Cavaliers front-line player boosted Liberty to a 3-1 lead in Game 4 before UVA tied it at 4. Lamoureux's back-row spike off the net and over put the Flames up, 6-4, and his service ace stretched the lead to 7-4. A great back-row dig by Wemple and spike kill by Culpepper at the right side pushed Liberty's edge to 10-7 and a spike by Anderson into a UVA block that landed just wide made it 11-7.
Freshman Beau Anderson and graduate right-side hitter Tyler Wemple (25) celebrate.
Wemple's spike from the right side blocked into the foul pole padded the lead to 14-8 before a cross-court kill by Lamoureux and a stuff block by Anderson extended it to 20-14. A back-row kill by Lamoureux made it 22-15 before he set up game point with another from the left side at the net for a 24-22 advantage. UVA rallied to tie it at 24 before Liberty rebounded to force Game 5 on a kill by Rice off a double block at the left side.
Culpepper started the deciding game with a diving dig save in the middle of the court off a serve that rolled over the net followed by a kill from the right side. However, the Cavaliers went on a 4-0 run and prompted Liberty to use a timeout trailing 7-4. Back-to-back blocks by Lamoureux on the left side pulled the Flames back within 9-7 before a kill by Lamoureux off a block at the same spot drew them within 9-8 and a stuff block by Rice tied it at 10 before kills by Bernardo from the outside gave the Flames 11-10 and 12-11 leads and a block winner by Anderson set up match point at 14-13, but the Cavaliers went on to clinch the match with three unanswered points, including a spike off a double block that landed just wide on match point.
Flames players congratulate the Cavaliers after Tuesday night's five-game setback.
"We put ourselves into a bad spot, giving up an early run by UVA to start off the fifth game," Knapp said. "We dug ourselves into a hole, climbed our way out, but still had some errors at the end … so it was a tough end to a solid matchup against UVA. We just had too many errors and didn't feel fully comfortable in our systems tonight."
Liberty will travel to Buena Vista, Va., to challenge Southern Virginia University on Thursday at 7 p.m. before returning to the Liberty Arena to host ECVA rival Virginia Tech on Monday at 7 p.m.
"(SVU is) another NCAA (Division III) team and they're ranked fourth in the nation currently, so this will be a really big matchup and we want to see our guys rise to this occasion to really challenge themselves … against athletes that may be a little bit taller or more experienced in the game than they are," Knapp said. "We're really excited to see them on the road and getting prepped for Virginia Tech on (Feb. 5) and then our ECVA tournament," hosted by Liberty in the LaHaye Multipurpose Center on Saturday, Feb.10.
"We're really looking to clean up our side of the court, really focus on our end rather than our opponents because we can handle most of the competition that's thrown at us," Knapp added. "We just have to work on our own game and our own mentality, especially with this young team. They're not used to playing together, not used to some of these larger moments that they'll be in, so we are really working on them being confident in their systems that they're going to play."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
Players and coaches from Liberty and Virginia huddle together for a post-match prayer at Liberty Arena. (Photos by Aziz Ibrahim)
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