Jayden Rice spikes in a match against the University of Virginia last spring in the Liberty Arena. (Photo by KJ Jugar)
Men’s indoor volleyball team set to spike ECVA foes at Virginia Tech on Saturday
10/9/2024 2:52:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
Liberty has a whole new look this season with an influx of talented freshmen and transfers, including outside hitter Josh Davis from California.
More than a month into its preseason training, Liberty University's men's volleyball team will send its Division I and II teams to Virginia Tech this Saturday to test their mettle at the first ECVA South Play Date of the year.
Flames third-year Head Coach Josh Knapp said the tournament will help determine which players land on the Division I team and which will play on Division II squad, directed by former Head Coach Bryan Rigg.
"Since it's preseason, we are looking at multiple lineups to see a few possible options during pool play and to get the team touches against outside competition," he said. "It will be a great test to see where we are at our ground level and look at the areas we need to focus on for the spring semester. With a few key positions graduating from last year's team, there will be some chances for some new faces to move up in the program so this tournament will be an exciting event … against some great opponents."
Virginia Tech advanced to the gold bracket and placed ninth at the NCVF National Championships in Kansas City last spring while Liberty made it to the silver bracket and tied for 19th overall The Flames are targeting a stronger showing at the NCVF National Championships in Phoenix next April.
"Virginia Tech is probably our rivals for our conference, so we're hoping to take them down in this preseason tournament," Liberty senior middle hitter Jayden Rice said. "We'll probably be competing for the top spot in our conference in the spring semester."
"Coming into this season, they'll be the front-runner," sophomore outside hitter Anthony Bernardo added.
Liberty lost three starters from last year's team, and two others — junior setter Josh Culpepper, who is studying abroad in Japan, and junior opposite hitter Zach Lamoureux, who is focusing on beach volleyball in the fall — will not be available this weekend but are planning to return to the indoor lineup in the spring.
"We have a lot of good recruits, so I'm looking forward to the season," Rice said, referring to players such as Josh Davis, a 6-foot, 4-inch sophomore opposite hitter from San Diego who transferred in. "He's a heavy arm and he gets up, so we're excited to have him on the team and I'm looking forward to his performance."
Another, Isaac Oden from Richmond, will fill in for Culpepper at setter this semester before likely starting at that position on the DII squad in the spring.
"He's got the same build as Josh and good decision-making skills, so we're excited to have him working with (us) as a freshman," Rice said.
Overall, the Flames feature a very young team, with 11 freshmen and only two seniors on the roster.
"We had a total of eight recruits we knew of coming into the program, some directly into the DI lineup, so that was exciting," Knapp said, noting that he took seven new walk-ons bringing the roster total to 30 players. "In the preseason, we will give athletes time to get caught up to the speed of the game and the age difference they will be seeing throughout college."
Another freshman, Nate Knickerbocker, is a No. 1 player on the men's beach team who is playing both this semester.
"He has played beach his whole life, so this will be his first season playing indoor," Rice said. "He has the knowledge and can play outside hitter or defensive specialist or libero."
With so many underclassmen, the Flames can build a solid foundation for the future.
"We will have the same team from this year next year," Rice said. "We'll have a lot of development, and I'm really looking forward to bonding with the guys. A few guys will move up from last year's DII team and we're looking at a lot of good talent and growing players, so I definitely think we'll have a solid DII team as well."
Bernardo has been inspired by the attitude and commitment of the newcomers as they gear up for this weekend's trip to Blacksburg, Va.
"I really like the work ethic for this year's team," he said. "Everyone's showing up early, ready to work hard. I'm really impressed with how they've been developing, and I think there's going to be a lot of progress by the time (Saturday's) tournament starts."
"I can see that we're already utilizing our preseason better (than last fall), so we'll be even more prepared for next semester, when we have our (Liberty) Arena matches and our big tournaments that really matter toward nationals," Rice added.
Bernardo said the Flames will likely have a rotation of four jump servers and four float servers.
"Serving is definitely something we focus on because when we get them in, the pressure's there," he said. "That's how you get the other team out of system so that we can get better defense up and side out."
"Consistency in general is something we want to work on," Rice added. "Consistency on serve, and on serve receive to get those good passes so we can spread out our offense, but also consistency in all of our play. We want to be able to rely on everybody on the team and trust them to get the job done."
He said strong spiritual bonds and an edifying team culture have been established in the preseason.
"Everybody's wanting to be a unified team, which is really exciting," Rice said. "Everybody's wanting to work together toward the same goals. Team meals and team workouts have been things we've been bonding with, and we've got team Bible studies and good attendance for those. That's exciting because the closer we can get to Christ, the closer we get together, too."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
Flames third-year Head Coach Josh Knapp said the tournament will help determine which players land on the Division I team and which will play on Division II squad, directed by former Head Coach Bryan Rigg.
"Since it's preseason, we are looking at multiple lineups to see a few possible options during pool play and to get the team touches against outside competition," he said. "It will be a great test to see where we are at our ground level and look at the areas we need to focus on for the spring semester. With a few key positions graduating from last year's team, there will be some chances for some new faces to move up in the program so this tournament will be an exciting event … against some great opponents."
Virginia Tech advanced to the gold bracket and placed ninth at the NCVF National Championships in Kansas City last spring while Liberty made it to the silver bracket and tied for 19th overall The Flames are targeting a stronger showing at the NCVF National Championships in Phoenix next April.
"Virginia Tech is probably our rivals for our conference, so we're hoping to take them down in this preseason tournament," Liberty senior middle hitter Jayden Rice said. "We'll probably be competing for the top spot in our conference in the spring semester."
"Coming into this season, they'll be the front-runner," sophomore outside hitter Anthony Bernardo added.
Liberty lost three starters from last year's team, and two others — junior setter Josh Culpepper, who is studying abroad in Japan, and junior opposite hitter Zach Lamoureux, who is focusing on beach volleyball in the fall — will not be available this weekend but are planning to return to the indoor lineup in the spring.
"We have a lot of good recruits, so I'm looking forward to the season," Rice said, referring to players such as Josh Davis, a 6-foot, 4-inch sophomore opposite hitter from San Diego who transferred in. "He's a heavy arm and he gets up, so we're excited to have him on the team and I'm looking forward to his performance."
Another, Isaac Oden from Richmond, will fill in for Culpepper at setter this semester before likely starting at that position on the DII squad in the spring.
"He's got the same build as Josh and good decision-making skills, so we're excited to have him working with (us) as a freshman," Rice said.
Overall, the Flames feature a very young team, with 11 freshmen and only two seniors on the roster.
"We had a total of eight recruits we knew of coming into the program, some directly into the DI lineup, so that was exciting," Knapp said, noting that he took seven new walk-ons bringing the roster total to 30 players. "In the preseason, we will give athletes time to get caught up to the speed of the game and the age difference they will be seeing throughout college."
Another freshman, Nate Knickerbocker, is a No. 1 player on the men's beach team who is playing both this semester.
"He has played beach his whole life, so this will be his first season playing indoor," Rice said. "He has the knowledge and can play outside hitter or defensive specialist or libero."
With so many underclassmen, the Flames can build a solid foundation for the future.
"We will have the same team from this year next year," Rice said. "We'll have a lot of development, and I'm really looking forward to bonding with the guys. A few guys will move up from last year's DII team and we're looking at a lot of good talent and growing players, so I definitely think we'll have a solid DII team as well."
Bernardo has been inspired by the attitude and commitment of the newcomers as they gear up for this weekend's trip to Blacksburg, Va.
"I really like the work ethic for this year's team," he said. "Everyone's showing up early, ready to work hard. I'm really impressed with how they've been developing, and I think there's going to be a lot of progress by the time (Saturday's) tournament starts."
"I can see that we're already utilizing our preseason better (than last fall), so we'll be even more prepared for next semester, when we have our (Liberty) Arena matches and our big tournaments that really matter toward nationals," Rice added.
Bernardo said the Flames will likely have a rotation of four jump servers and four float servers.
"Serving is definitely something we focus on because when we get them in, the pressure's there," he said. "That's how you get the other team out of system so that we can get better defense up and side out."
"Consistency in general is something we want to work on," Rice added. "Consistency on serve, and on serve receive to get those good passes so we can spread out our offense, but also consistency in all of our play. We want to be able to rely on everybody on the team and trust them to get the job done."
He said strong spiritual bonds and an edifying team culture have been established in the preseason.
"Everybody's wanting to be a unified team, which is really exciting," Rice said. "Everybody's wanting to work together toward the same goals. Team meals and team workouts have been things we've been bonding with, and we've got team Bible studies and good attendance for those. That's exciting because the closer we can get to Christ, the closer we get together, too."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
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