Men’s volleyball puts away UVA in straight sets in season opener after midnight

Friday, January 23

Lynchburg, VA

11:59 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

University of Virginia

Liberty junior middle hitter Austin Leach (4) and junior outside hitter Nathan Bremmer go up for a block against a Virginia hitter in Saturday morning's Midnight Mayhem matchup at the Liberty Arena. (Photos by Grace Greer)

Men’s volleyball puts away UVA in straight sets in season opener after midnight

1/24/2026 9:17:00 AM | Men's Volleyball

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Interim Head Coach Bryan Rigg rotated all 13 players in, and they played with consistency to make quick work of the ECVA South rival Cavaliers.

Gallery: (1-24-2026) Men's volleyball vs. UVA

Tipping off a spring season with unlimited potential, Liberty University's men's volleyball team rolled to a 25-17, 26-24, 25-17 Midnight Mayhem sweep over one of its top ECVA South rivals, the University of Virginia, early Saturday morning in front of a crowd of 1,272 mostly students at Liberty Arena.

"It was fantastic," said senior opposite hitter Zach Lamoureux, whose family from near Winston-Salem, N.C., chose to come see him play rather than fly to Chicago to see his brother, Grant, an outside hitter, compete for Pepperdine's NCAA Division I team due to the projected snowstorm. "We've got a younger lineup this year with only three seniors (and) a lot of the guys were nervous."

Interim Head Coach Bryan Rigg, who replaced Josh Knapp at the helm after his former recruit took a full-time head coaching job at the University of Lynchburg, said that nervousness didn't show.

"They definitely were composed," he said. "The seniors were on the court most of the time, (outside hitter) Zach Bell, Zach (Lamoureux), and (setter) Josh Culpepper, (but) we played all 13 guys who suited up, and there was consistency. I trust all of the guys on the court no matter the situation."

There was little to no drop-off from the starters to the reserves when they came in.

"Our serves were consistently in bounds," Rigg said. "Our defense picked it up as the game went on. They got some blocks and touches. And I thought they did a good job of being resilient, finishing in three."

Rigg said the Cavaliers are potentially their toughest opponent in the ECVA South Division this season.

"To see UVA and to beat them in three is a really good start for this season," he said. "They beat us twice in the fall and they finished above us last year in the (ECVA) South, so it gives us a lot of optimism. The only other team we're going to be very evenly matched with and going to be competitive with is Virginia Tech."

Liberty used a long service run by junior libero John Kinzler late in the first game, highlighted by a block winner by freshman middle hitter Ben Bremer and Lamoureux to pull away.

"Zach L. did a great job on the opposite side getting blocks, and (junior liberos) Andrew Milo and John Kinzler on the back row did an amazing job," Rigg said. "The defense was pretty good, but the serve-receive was terrific."

"Kinzler did fantastic," Lamoureux added. "He's really the quarterback of our rotation this year, so wherever he rotates, we kind of rotate around him."

Lamoureux started the second game with a powerful kill from the left side before the Cavaliers rallied for a 7-6 lead. Junior outside hitter Nathan Bremmer's dink tied it at 7, and his winner off a UVA block knotted it at 8.

A block by Lamoureux pulled the Flames back within 12-14, and two kills by Culpepper, the second on a block from the right side, kept them within 15-16.

Freshman outside hitter Jackson Byers' service ace cut the deficit to 18-20 and Lamoureux's perfectly timed block kill from the right side made it 19-21. Culpepper's second-ball left-handed kill from the middle caught the Cavaliers off guard before Byers' stuff block from the middle tied it at 24.

Freshman middle hitter Ian McKee's kill off a block set up a set point for the Flames before Byers' clinched the 26-24 come-from-behind win when his spike down the left sideline was blocked wide by UVA.

"We've got a deep roster," Byers said. "A lot of guys, 1 through 12, want to come off (the bench) and do their part. When we work together as a team, there's really no fault in our game. We played clean ball. We came out and executed our game plan, and we saw the fruit of that. We started hot in the first game, we rallied around our guys in the second, and stayed disciplined (and) brought a lot of lively energy to the end."

"We're not scared of depth whatsoever this year," Lamoureux added. "We'll run whatever lineup we need to, injury or not. Everybody's just excited for the next guy to go in."
Rigg said the new lineup this semester has meshed well and played larger than their size.

"We're probably a little smaller on the pins this year, our outside hitters, but what we gave up in size, I think we gained in ball control," Rigg said. "The passing was really good tonight, and when the set wasn't there, the hits were still in play, sometimes recycled off the block, sometimes hitting seams."

Culpepper started Game 3 on serve and set up Byers for a powerful kill on the outside. Junior middle blocker Austin Leach's stuff block and Byers' jump-ball winner pushed the edge to 3-0 and a stuff block by Lamoureux on the left side made it 4-2.

Bremmer's kill from the left side kept the Flames up, 5-3, before Lamoureux's powerful kill from the right side tied it at 6 and a dink winner by McKee at middle tied it at 7.

Back-to-back service aces by Bell put the Flames back on top, 9-7, before McKee's stuff block stretched the lead to 10-7.

"Ian McKee was a great pick up for us this year," Lamoureux said. "He's a tall, freshman middle who's very coachable, Ben Bremer as well. He has no volleyball experience prior to being here. He's a basketball player and he's phenomenal out there."

A back-row kill by sophomore opposite hitter Liam Reinmuth extended the advantage before kills by Byers and Lamoureux from the right side forced UVA to take a timeout, trailing 15-11.

Lamoureux's kill off a block and Leach's block winner pushed the edge to 17-11 before Bremmer's block from the left side made it 18-11. A kill from the left side by McKee stretched Liberty's lead to 22-16 before Bell's serve was returned long. Byers' kill from the left side set up match point, and Kinzler served up the winning point, returned long by the Cavaliers.

Both Byers and Lamoureux spoke highly of Rigg's coaching style and preparation in practice.

"He coached for 10 years prior to (Knapp)," Lamoureux said. "All of the guys really respect his coaching ability. He leads this team perfectly, in a spiritual way, physical way, and mental way. It's beautiful. He dissects the other team, truly, and he tells us the lineup and we go with it."

"Absolutely, he's a smart guy who knows volleyball really well," Byers added. "With him at the helm, I think we'll go far."

Lamoureux said Rigg has implemented a new defensive rotation this year.

"We picked up a lot more balls than we usually have," he said. "UVA is usually the one team we can't beat in the Arena, and this year, we really took it to them. We watched film for several days on them and made a complete defensive rotation around them."

Liberty is scheduled to host North Carolina State in the first of three successive Tuesday night matches in Liberty Arena, though snow in the forecast could cancel it.

"N.C. State's a good program," Byers said. "If we stick to our game and play disciplined, we should come out successful."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer