Lady Flames finish 4-0 in first home beach volleyball event of spring season

Friday, February 28

Lynchburg, VA

TBD

Liberty University Club Sports

Southern Virginia University

(Photos by Carson Gobble)

Lady Flames finish 4-0 in first home beach volleyball event of spring season

3/4/2025 11:33:00 AM | Women's Beach Volleyball

Liberty bested competition from DIII and junior college programs Friday-Saturday

Gallery: (3-4-2025) beach vball

Fresh off a tough weekend of matchups against NCAA Division I competition at the Grand Sands tournament in Ohio Feb. 21-22, Liberty University's women's beach volleyball team returned to the Mountain to sweep its four competitors Friday and Saturday on its East Campus courts.

The Lady Flames opened the weekend's competition with a 5-0 victory over DIII Southern Virginia University early Friday morning. Later that evening, Liberty battled crosstown rival University of Lynchburg, besting the NCAA DIII Hornets 4-1.

Liberty carried this success into both bouts on Saturday, defeating NCAA DII Carson-Newman 4-1 before concluding the weekend with a 5-0 rout of Richard Bland College.
Head Coach Payton Carter said she was pleased with the Lady Flames' performance in their first home tournament of 2025. She added that playing home matches provided opportunities for student-athletes who don't travel with the team to gain game experience.

"Any player who doesn't travel still contributes so greatly to our team in practices," she said, noting every player on the roster competed in at least one match last weekend (some exhibition). "We hold each other accountable to playing at a high level, and those people who don't travel still put in so much hard work to try to earn a travel spot and that in turn makes everybody better. Seeing them get their chance this weekend was awesome. A lot of their parents were able to come and see them, so that was a lot of fun."

Carter specifically highlighted Sydney Whitfield, who adapted well to competing with different partners, and Liberty's No. 3 pair of fellow seniors Brenna Rae Bentley and Taylor Bates as high performers for the Lady Flames.

"Bentley and Bates fought so hard this weekend because the majority of their games went to three sets or extra points," she said. "They dug deep to pull out the wins, so that was super exciting. They made it very exciting and pushed each other to grow."

Carter credited the overall team's success at home in part to the trial by fire the Lady Flames faced in Loveland, Ohio, the previous weekend. Matched up against DI programs Eastern Kentucky, Austin Peay State, Morehead State, and Tennessee Tech, the Lady Flames held their own and even picked up a couple of set and match wins.

Liberty's No. 4 pair of sophomore Avaree Kellert and freshman Jo Malone headlined the competition by snatching victories against their respective pairs from Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech. Seniors Grace Cropper and Brooke Elliot also earned a two-set win against the No. 1 pair from Moorehead, with junior Kinley Phillips and junior Brie Olson doing the same against Tennessee Tech's No. 2 pair.

"The tournament at Grand Sands in Ohio was an awesome way to prepare for (last weekend's) games because they were all DI," Carter said. "We pulled out some matches against them and that was really impressive."

"That tournament was a turning point for our season because the level of play even in practices now has skyrocketed."

The Lady Flames will next travel to St. Petersburg, Fla., for the Triton Invite March 14-15 at Eckerd College.

Liberty 5, SVU 0