Flames start off 4-1 at NCVF tournament before being ousted by Grand Canyon in Gold bracket Round of 16

Friday, April 18

Phoenix, AZ

12:30 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Georgia Tech

Flames sophomore outside hitter Anthony Bernardo jump serves against UNC Chapel Hill in the Midnight Game at Liberty Arena. (Photos by Ryan Anderson)

Flames start off 4-1 at NCVF tournament before being ousted by Grand Canyon in Gold bracket Round of 16

4/18/2025 10:40:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

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Liberty defeated Georgia Tech in two games and Texas A&M in three to secure the No. 2 overall seed going into Saturday's playoffs.

Gallery: (4-18-2025) Men's volleyball training for NCVF

Liberty University's Division I men's volleyball team built off its success from Thursday's National Collegiate Volleyball Federation (NCVF) Championships pool play by winning both of its crossover challenge matches on Friday afternoon at the Phoenix Convention Center.

The Flames improved to 4-1 in the 48-team tournament and qualified as the No. 2 seed in the 16-team Gold bracket of Saturday's playoffs by sweeping Georgia Tech, 25-21, 29-27, and surviving and advancing past Texas A&M, 30-32, 25-19, 15-11. Meanwhile, Liberty's DIII team, which finished 0-3 in pool play Thursday, dropped its first crossover challenge match on Thursday to Texas A&M, 25-15, 19-25, 15-9, before rebounding to defeat the University of Washington, 25-18, 27-25. On Saturday, it will face Dayton at 2:45 p.m. EST in the first round of Copper bracket playoffs.

"We definitely had some competitive matches today," Liberty third-year Head Coach Josh Knapp said, referring to the Division I team. "Our goal this weekend is to use super aggressive serving, and those scores may have been a little closer than we'd like to see because of some of our service errors. Overall, that's the game plan we're moving forward with, and that we want to see in the finals of the national championship, playing high-level volleyball."

Liberty won four in a row after being edged by UC-Irvine in Thursday's opening round of pool play.

"That early drop was definitely a great wake-up call for the guys, who were still figuring out a few things on the court," Knapp said. "That showed them the level of competition they needed to be playing at, and they ended up getting comfortable in the environment at nationals and since then have found a rhythm together. It's that focus on more than just playing volleyball but (realizing) Who they're playing for. It is a blessing to play over Easter Weekend and to represent (the Lord)."

The Flames finally caved in against Grand Canyon University — practically the tournament host with its campus based in Phoenix — in Saturday's Round of 16 Gold bracket match, 21-25, 25-15, 15-13.

Other Gold bracket matches pit UC Santa Barbara against Colorado; Ohio State against the University of Texas at Austin; Notre Dame against Florida; UC Berkeley against Cal Poly; Texas A&M against Virginia Tech; University of Wisconsin-Madison against San Diego State; and Missouri against Minnesota.

Liberty's Division III team, meanwhile, was eliminated by the University of Dayton (Ohio), 25-21, 25-22, in the opening round of the Copper Division playoffs Complete results and tournament brackets are available online. All matches are being streamed live on the NCVF.org website.

Knapp said leading up to Saturday's playoffs, all the DI Flames played their roles extremely well with unity of mind and purpose.

"It has definitely been a team effort out here," Knapp said. "Everyone's doing their part and stepping up to the job they're required to do. Really, everyone is playing to a high level as one unit together."

Junior setter Josh Culpepper helped orchestrate the attack with well-placed sets leading to 56 assists in Friday's two matches.

"Our offense is pretty well spread out, and our middles are very proficient right now with their attacks," Knapp said, noting junior middle blocker Zach Lamoureux led the way Friday with 19 kills and four blocks followed by sophomore outside hitter Anthony Bernardo's 15 kills and three aces. Sophomore opposite hitter Josh Davis and senior middle blocker both have 11 kills followed by freshman middle hitter Austin Leach's eight kills plus three blocks. "Josh (Culpepper) is running the offense well and distributing very evenly across the net. Plus, we are playing very good defense with our blocks at the net and very good defense on the back row."

Sophomore libero John Kinzler (20 digs) has been complemented by sophomore Nathan Bremmer to help clean up on the back row.

"John is definitely doing a very good job on service receive, and Nathan has been filling as a backup for Josh Davis to help with defense and serve receive," Knapp said. "His play paired with John's (at defensive specialist) has been working very well."

He said the Flames, who spent several sessions in the weight room in the weeks leading up to nationals, haven't been overmatched or intimidated by any of their opponents so far.

"We are matching up pretty comparable with the other teams," Knapp said. "There is some great size out here, and some really great athletes with their vertical leaping. They may be outperforming us with their jumping ability, but we have countered that with our systems and the mindset that we have the defensive ability to adjust to their hitters."

The Flames are hoping to become the first East Coast team to capture an NCVF national championship, with Virginia Tech in the opposite side of the bracket having reached the final before.

"We've seen a lot of growth within our team already, and we are in really good position to make a run, with the potential for four more matches including the final," Knapp said. "It has been a huge blessing and a great time to see these guys peaking and being together as a team, especially over a weekend that we get to celebrate our faith and be a light for the other teams out here."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer