Flames men's volleyball weathers Tar Heels’ comeback bid, storm to five-game victory

Friday, February 7

Lynchburg, VA

11:59 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Flames freshman middle hitter Austin Leach follows through on a spike against UNC Chapel Hill, early Saturday morning in the Liberty Arena. (Photos by Ryan Anderson)

Flames men's volleyball weathers Tar Heels’ comeback bid, storm to five-game victory

2/8/2025 10:48:00 AM | Men's Volleyball

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Liberty won the first two games before experimenting with its lineup and putting its starters back in for Game 5 to top UNC.

Gallery: (2-8-2025) Men's volleyball vs. UNC Midnight Mayhem

Liberty University's men's volleyball team used powerful spiking and blocking performances from its top three hitters and excellent distribution from its top two setters to stage a 25-15, 27-25, 26-28, 20-25, 15-9 triumph over the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill early Saturday morning in its Midnight Mayhem match at the Liberty Arena.

The Flames evened their record at 2-2 in matches held in Liberty Arena this season, and will play at least that many more times in the season's first ECVA South Play Date on at JMU in Harrisionburg, Va.

"We have some great offensive weapons at that net and they continue to advance what they're able to do throughout the week," Liberty Head Coach Josh Knapp said. "We had some ups and downs on the service line which affected some of those (games), but in the end, those guys really knew how to take it back over. I really liked to see that intention and the hustle they showed out on the court."

Sophomore outside hitter Anthony Bernardo paced the Flames with 20 kills and added 5 digs and 3 blocks, while sophomore opposite hitter Josh Davis spiked 19 kills, 3 digs, and 2 blocks and junior middle hitter Zach Lamoureux contributed 11 kills and 3 blocks.

Meanwhile, junior setter Josh Culpepper distributed 42 assists and made 9 digs, freshman setter Isaac Oden dished out 14 assists, and sophomore libero John Kinzler added 23 digs and 5 assists.

"Both setters did a great job of distributing that ball and moving that throughout our offense," Knapp said. "Our offense looked really clean. We just lost some points on personal errors on our side. It was great to see our offense keep moving forward, but we have some work still to do on our defensive side and just some extra touches to control."

"They set a little bit differently, but they're both great setters and very skilled at what they do," Bernardo added. "I enjoy playing with both of them and receiving both their sets to hit."

The Flames won the first two games before letting the Tar Heels back into the contest.

Junior middle hitter Jayden Rice won a jump ball kill at the middle on the opening point of the match and Bernardo spiked two kills to tie it at 5 and put the Flames up 7-6 and start a seven-point run highlighted by Lamoureux's dink winner. Bernardo served an ace to give Liberty a 15-7 advantage before a powerful kill by Davis stretched it to 16-9. Davis then stuff blocked the Tar Heels before spiking a kill from the same side.

Junior outside hitter Zach Bell spiked a kill from the left side before Culpepper hit a winner from the middle, padding the lead to 22-13. Bernardo's kill off a block on the left side made it 23-14 before another from the middle onto the floor put Game 1 away at 25-15.

In Game 2, Bernardo spiked a kill off a block at the left side before blocking a winner at the right to give the Flames a 20-19 lead. A Bernardo back-row dig and Culpepper set assisted Lamoureux for another kill and a 21-20 lead before Davis stretched it to 23-21 with a perfectly timed diagonal block from the right side.

UNC tied the contest at 23, prompting Knapp to call a time out. The teams traded service errors before freshman middle hitter Austin Leach gave Liberty a game point with a powerful spike from the middle and Bernardo set up another by reaching high for a cross-court kill from the left pin and Lamoureux one-timed a kill for a 27-25 tie-breaker.

Oden fired up the crowd with a back flip before the start of Game 3, when Knapp gave his reserves opportunities to play. Oden set up a kill by Davis from the left side with a cross-court assist from the back right corner before Leach spiked a kill off a block to lift Liberty to a 15-13 advantage. Davis hit off a Tar Heels' blocker's face and Leach stuff blocked a winner before Lamoureux smacked a winner from the left side and a kill off a UNC block from the middle to stretch Liberty's lead to 22-17.

A 5-0 run by the Tar Heels tied the match and forced the Flames to take a timeout. Lamoureux's spike off a block at the left side tied it at 23 before a service error gave the Tar Heels a game point. Lamoureux tied it at 24 with a clean kill, but UNC returned the favor. A power kill by Davis off a back set at the right side tied it at 25, and an Oden spike tied it at 26 before UNC put Game 3 away with back-to-back kills.

"That third set, we slipped up with a few extra subs," Knapp said. "The guys we had on that court were capable of (clinching the win) and we trust them in those systems. We wanted to give them that experience, we had a few seniors we wanted in, but when it came down to it, we put that (starting) lineup back out there and those guys did what they needed to do."

Lamoureux tied Game 4 at 10 with back-to-back blocks at middle before Davis knotted it at 11 with a cross-court kill from the left side. Leach spiked a short set from Culpepper at the middle before Bell tied it at 15 with an ace from the right side.

However, the Tar Heels went on a 5-1 run to seize a 21-16 advantage before Bernardo's kill from the right side stopped the bleeding. A block at the right of the net landed wide for a 23-18 UNC lead before Bernardo spiked a back-row kill off a block at middle and Davis blocked a winner at the right to pull Liberty back within 23-20. Unfortunately, the Tar Heels closed out the 25-20 triumph with a double stuff block at the left side, forcing Game 5.

In the decisive Game 5, which started just before 2 a.m., the majority student crowd got its second wind at the urging of sophomore PA announcer Micah Witt and fanned the Flames to victory.

"We get great support from the fans," Bernardo said. "It was a big turnout, and we are super grateful to have a great Liberty community here. It was awesome."

"The energy from the crowd tonight really sets us forward of winning in our home gym," Knapp added. "In that fifth set, those guys really needed to see that they could stick through it in the long run, even though they were tired, even through a late match and everything else they could be worried about afterwards, they were able to focus. That gives us a lot of confidence going into (Saturday's tournament at JMU)."

Bernardo got Game 5 off on the right foot with a cross-court kill and winner off a block at the left side before spiking a kill off a block at the right for a 3-1 advantage. He put the Flames up 4-1 on his serve before Lamoureux's stuff block made it 5-1 and prompted a UNC timeout.

Lamoureux's authoritative kill from the middle extended it to 6-2, but the Tar Heels trimmed the deficit to 6-5 and 7-6. A Davis kill from the right side off a back set from Culpepper landed inside the baseline and one-time kill by Bernardo on the right sideline put the Flames back up 9-8 before a dink winner by Lamoureux and hit by Bernardo off a block on the left side pushed it to 11-8 and prompted another UNC timeout.
Bernardo's off-balance cross-court spike from the left pin turned out to be a winner and his clean kill and stuff block from around the same spot gave the Flames six match points, up 14-9, and Davis spiked the final nail from the right side, just inside the baseline.

Knapp said playing in high pressure situations such as Midnight Mayhem is great preparation for when the Flames get to the postseason with the ECVA South and East Coast Championships in March and NCVF National Championships April 17-19 in Phoenix.

"It's just about giving our guys experiences in big moments," he said. "In some big moments, the guys need to be ready to take care of it. A lot of teams won't be used to a big stage and when you come to the national championships in that final match that we want to get to, that is going to be a large stage for everybody."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer