Sophomore middle hitter Jayden Rice switched to right-side hitter to fill in for an injured Zach Lamoureux and helped spark the Flames' third-game comeback upset of Florida. (Photos by Kendall Tidwell)
Men’s volleyball battles odds to reach East Coast Championship semifinals before falling to eventual champion UCF
4/7/2024 10:33:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
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Liberty upset top-seeded Florida by winning the last seven points in a 15-13 third-game pool play triumph to advance to Sunday's playoffs, where it defeated UVA in the quarterfinals.
With its starting right-side hitter sidelined by a sprained ankle in the deciding third game of the final round of pool play against top-seeded Florida, Liberty University's Division I men's volleyball team gave up five consecutive points to fall down 13-8 before rallying for seven unanswered points in a dramatic 25-22, 25-27, 15-13 triumph on Saturday at the East Coast Championships hosted by Penn State.
That eliminated the Gators and sent the third-seeded Flames and second-seeded Nittany Lions to Sunday's playoffs.
Zach Lamoureaux spikes over Rice in a match against UVA at the Liberty Arena.
Sophomore Zach Lamoureux was among the Flames' leaders in kills up to that point with 14 in less than three matches, and Liberty Head Coach Josh Knapp scrambled his lineup to fill his void.
"Zach is an offensive weapon and a solid blocker for us," Knapp said. "We had (sophomore) Jayden Rice replace Zach on the right side and he had a huge kill, off a back-one middle tempo assist from (sophomore setter) Josh Culpepper on the right side, and that swung the momentum. We had two middles on the front row, Rice and (sophomore) Beau Anderson, and they came up huge for a defensive run with very good defense at the net and in the back row."
Rice served out the match to give the Flames a 2-1 record in pool play after losing to Penn State, 25-21, 25-20, and sweeping Carleton (Ontario) University, 25-16, 25-16.
"Guys were playing their hearts out to make the playoffs because if we didn't win that third set, we would have been out," Knapp said. "The team meshed together and played as one unit and seeing them improve in their level of play and intensity in moving about the court was impressive. They got put into a hard situation and they showed up. They put forth the effort and put up a great show against some harder odds and really impressed everybody there."
Then on Sunday, Knapp moved senior Tyler Wemple to the right side and had freshman Anthony Bernardo and sophomore Zachary Bell platoon at outside hitter with Anderson and Rice alternating in the middle.
After losing to the University of Virginia twice this semester, in five games in their Jan. 30 season opener in the Liberty Arena and in the semifinals of the March 23 ECVA South Championships at JMU, the Flames ousted the Cavaliers 25-23, 20-25, 15-9 in the quarterfinals.
"All the athletes played extremely well, and were not having any problems filling the roles they needed to," Knapp said. "They played together, filling the holes and with a lot of energy that they needed to pull out a win against UVA in the playoffs."
That set up a semifinal showdown with Central Florida, which eliminated Liberty, 25-23, 25-16, before going on to defeat Penn State in the championship match.
"In the second set, we made a few too many errors and they closed out the match," Knapp said, noting that the Flames finished tied for third out of 16 teams.
Anderson had a strong showing at middle blocker, leading the team defensively with 11 blocks in the tournament in addition to spiking 12 kills.
"He really held down the court for us moving throughout the day, showing great improvement from where he was at the start of the semester," Knapp said.
Bernardo paced the attack with 32 kills and added five blocks and four aces while Wemple contributed 27 kills and Bell added 16. Culpepper distributed 106 assists and came up defensively with eight blocks and 23 digs while senior libero Mason Ellenberger led the way with 39 digs and four aces.
"(Bernardo, Bell, and Culpepper) played with speed and athleticism," Knapp said. "They're all underclassmen, so they showed up and put in really good work and have a really bright future."
He is hopeful that Lamoureux's ankle will heal in time for him to travel with the team to the April 18-20 NCVF National Championships in Kansas City.
"It's not broken and (the doctors) classified it as a Grade 3 sprain," Knapp said. "They're checking him out this week to see the damage to tendons and ligaments, and to see that there were no smaller fractures, with hopes that they will be able to stabilize the ankle and he will be back for nationals."
With the strong showing at the East Coast Championships, Knapp expects the Flames to move back into the NCVF Top 25, which would seed them in the top half of the 48-team field at nationals.
Liberty's Division III team, ranked No. 13 in the nation, won its pool on Saturday by upsetting Grove City and Maryland before also defeating fourth-seeded Binghamton.
That sent the Flames to Sunday's playoffs where they lost to No. 9-ranked Virginia Tech in a tight quarterfinal match, dropping the third game by a 15-11 score to finish tied for fifth out of 16 teams. Liberty will find out where it is ranked and seeded for the national tournament this week.
By Ted Allen/Staff WriterSenior libero Mason Ellenberger (39 digs) congratulates freshman outside hitter Anthony Bernardo after a kill against UVA on Jan. 30.
