(Photos by Ryan Anderson)
Men’s beach team tops Tusculum, Wingate, Stevenson in home tournament
10/6/2025 6:08:00 PM | Men's Beach Volleyball
Only top-ranked Webber and Erskine defeated Liberty in the two-day event that will help the Flames qualify for the Nov. 7-9 ACVA Men’s Beach Nationals in Alabama.
Spectacular weather conditions and a positive approach allowed Liberty University's men's beach volleyball team to shine brightly over the weekend on its East Campus courts, where it finished 3-2 in an Atlantic Coast Volleyball Association conference tournament featuring six teams.
The Flames split best-of-five matches on Friday, falling to Erskine (S.C.) College, 4-1, before pulling out a 3-2 victory over Tusculum (Tenn.) University. On Saturday, Liberty was shut out by top-ranked Webber (Fla.) International, 5-0, before turning the tables to sweep Wingate (N.C.) University by the same score and defeating Stevenson (Md.) University, 3-2.
"It was a really great event with great weather and great competition across the board," Liberty Head Coach Josh Knapp said. "It's been really fun to get all of these teams out here in our conference. Our teams were slow to get started, but they still competed very well. (Against Erskine and Webber,) they just made too many errors across the board, but all of those matches were really tight and really close on a competition side."
Against Tusculum, the Flames rode a 17-21, 21-19, 16-14 come-from-behind triumph from the No. 2 pair of junior Anthony Bernardo and freshman Braddock Ryan as well as straight-set victories by its No. 4 tandem of senior John Kinzler and sophomore Wyatt Colestock (21-10, 21-13) and No. 5 duo of juniors Josh Davis and Andrew Milo (21-17, 21-14) to clinch the team win.
"Anthony and Brady, our No. 2 pair, are both working really well together, but still have a lot of room to grow," Knapp said. "They put up a great showing against some of these teams. "Josh Davis has mainly been focusing on indoor, but he's been pairing up with Andrew Milo and one of our other defenders on our No. 5 team as a full-time blocker. He saw a little more beach play over the summer, being out in North Carolina and obviously California, where he's from. He's a great athlete to have out in the sand for us."
Kinzler and Colestock put up Liberty's closest battle against Webber before falling 21-14, 19-21, 15-8. The Flames No. 1 pair of senior Colt Fitzgerald and sophomore Nate Knickerbocker — who recorded the only win over Erskine's top duo, 21-19, 19-21, 15-10 — put up a good fight against Webber's highly rated tandem of Carson Barnes and Ayden Keeter before falling, 21-17, 21-10.
"They played well, but Webber's top team is one of the best out here," Knapp said. "Seeing the guys compete and get used to different competition that really challenged them was really good. They were head-to-head (with Barnes and Keeter) until they made a few mental errors."
Knapp was impressed by the play of the Flames' No. 3 team of senior Jackson Stough and sophomore Joel Bruff, who bounced back from losing to Webber, 21-17, 21-17, by defeating Wingate's No. 3 pair, 21-13, 21-18.
"Jackson and Joel have really good chemistry together," Knapp said. "Joel has gotten a lot better over the summer from playing a lot of grass volleyball, so it's great to see them really working well together. They're a really scrappy team for us, a very positive team, and they have a really good outlook on how they want to play."
From Sept. 19-21, Bernardo and Fitzgerald represented Liberty at the USA Volleyball Collegiate Beach Challenge in Owings Mills, Md.
"They had a good showing for being thrown together last-minute," Knapp said, notingthe pair had not played together much but was seeded 13th out of 32 teams ranging from club teams to NCAA Division I programs. "It was a really great learning time for both of them to put some really intentional focus on their play and see how other teams really pressure them."
He said the competition was at a higher level than the Flames were accustomed to, but they still turned in a strong performance.
"We saw some great athletes from a team from Penn State, which had a 6-foot-11 hitter and one of the setters from their NCAA varsity indoor team, and other players who are just really comfortable in the sand," Knapp said. "It was a great time to dive further into their training and learn how to advance themselves out on the sand."
Next weekend, the Flames will travel to Stevenson to compete in their final regular-season tournament with matches against the host Mustangs on Friday and Saturday, Wingate on Friday, and Tusculum on Saturday.
"It will be the same dual format, where each school will play one another, which is how the national championships will be run," Knapp said. "After Stevenson, we will submit the match information to rank us and see which four teams make it to ACVA Beach Nationals set for Nov. 7-9 in Huntsville, Ala."
"We will use the following weeks to put in the work in the sand, making sure we're editing some of our weaknesses, working on strategy across the board to get more refined, and making sure that we are focused and primed for nationals," he added, noting he is planning to add the senior indoor tandem of setter Josh Culpepper and middle hitter Zach Lamoureux as an alternate pair for that event. "They're already both super athletic and familiar with the sand play, so they'll be on that roster for nationals to extend our size and athleticism out there."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
The Flames split best-of-five matches on Friday, falling to Erskine (S.C.) College, 4-1, before pulling out a 3-2 victory over Tusculum (Tenn.) University. On Saturday, Liberty was shut out by top-ranked Webber (Fla.) International, 5-0, before turning the tables to sweep Wingate (N.C.) University by the same score and defeating Stevenson (Md.) University, 3-2.
"It was a really great event with great weather and great competition across the board," Liberty Head Coach Josh Knapp said. "It's been really fun to get all of these teams out here in our conference. Our teams were slow to get started, but they still competed very well. (Against Erskine and Webber,) they just made too many errors across the board, but all of those matches were really tight and really close on a competition side."
Against Tusculum, the Flames rode a 17-21, 21-19, 16-14 come-from-behind triumph from the No. 2 pair of junior Anthony Bernardo and freshman Braddock Ryan as well as straight-set victories by its No. 4 tandem of senior John Kinzler and sophomore Wyatt Colestock (21-10, 21-13) and No. 5 duo of juniors Josh Davis and Andrew Milo (21-17, 21-14) to clinch the team win.
"Anthony and Brady, our No. 2 pair, are both working really well together, but still have a lot of room to grow," Knapp said. "They put up a great showing against some of these teams. "Josh Davis has mainly been focusing on indoor, but he's been pairing up with Andrew Milo and one of our other defenders on our No. 5 team as a full-time blocker. He saw a little more beach play over the summer, being out in North Carolina and obviously California, where he's from. He's a great athlete to have out in the sand for us."
Kinzler and Colestock put up Liberty's closest battle against Webber before falling 21-14, 19-21, 15-8. The Flames No. 1 pair of senior Colt Fitzgerald and sophomore Nate Knickerbocker — who recorded the only win over Erskine's top duo, 21-19, 19-21, 15-10 — put up a good fight against Webber's highly rated tandem of Carson Barnes and Ayden Keeter before falling, 21-17, 21-10.
"They played well, but Webber's top team is one of the best out here," Knapp said. "Seeing the guys compete and get used to different competition that really challenged them was really good. They were head-to-head (with Barnes and Keeter) until they made a few mental errors."
Knapp was impressed by the play of the Flames' No. 3 team of senior Jackson Stough and sophomore Joel Bruff, who bounced back from losing to Webber, 21-17, 21-17, by defeating Wingate's No. 3 pair, 21-13, 21-18.
"Jackson and Joel have really good chemistry together," Knapp said. "Joel has gotten a lot better over the summer from playing a lot of grass volleyball, so it's great to see them really working well together. They're a really scrappy team for us, a very positive team, and they have a really good outlook on how they want to play."
From Sept. 19-21, Bernardo and Fitzgerald represented Liberty at the USA Volleyball Collegiate Beach Challenge in Owings Mills, Md.
"They had a good showing for being thrown together last-minute," Knapp said, notingthe pair had not played together much but was seeded 13th out of 32 teams ranging from club teams to NCAA Division I programs. "It was a really great learning time for both of them to put some really intentional focus on their play and see how other teams really pressure them."
He said the competition was at a higher level than the Flames were accustomed to, but they still turned in a strong performance.
"We saw some great athletes from a team from Penn State, which had a 6-foot-11 hitter and one of the setters from their NCAA varsity indoor team, and other players who are just really comfortable in the sand," Knapp said. "It was a great time to dive further into their training and learn how to advance themselves out on the sand."
Next weekend, the Flames will travel to Stevenson to compete in their final regular-season tournament with matches against the host Mustangs on Friday and Saturday, Wingate on Friday, and Tusculum on Saturday.
"It will be the same dual format, where each school will play one another, which is how the national championships will be run," Knapp said. "After Stevenson, we will submit the match information to rank us and see which four teams make it to ACVA Beach Nationals set for Nov. 7-9 in Huntsville, Ala."
"We will use the following weeks to put in the work in the sand, making sure we're editing some of our weaknesses, working on strategy across the board to get more refined, and making sure that we are focused and primed for nationals," he added, noting he is planning to add the senior indoor tandem of setter Josh Culpepper and middle hitter Zach Lamoureux as an alternate pair for that event. "They're already both super athletic and familiar with the sand play, so they'll be on that roster for nationals to extend our size and athleticism out there."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
Players Mentioned
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