Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Saturday, October 24
Blacksburg, VA
8:00 AM-6:00 PM
Liberty University Club Sports
at
Virginia Tech Invitational
Junior middle blocker Andrew 'Marine' Williams, from Camp Lejeune, N.C., spikes in a match at the LaHaye Multipurpose Center in the ECVA South play date on Oct. 10. (Photo by Grace Greer)
10/29/2026 5:36:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
The Flames’ DI and DII squads advanced to the gold brackets of their respective playoffs before being eliminated in their first-round matches.
For this past Saturday's ECVA South play date, a preseason tournament hosted by Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Liberty University men's indoor volleyball first-year Head Coach Mark Bohling shuffled his Division I lineup to stretch the Flames out of their comfort zones and challenge them to adapt to any situation.
The strategy wasn't necessarily the best option for winning matches, as Liberty split its first two against Maryland 25-21, 20-25 and Penn State's B team 25-23, 17-25 in pool play before being swept by Virginia Tech's alumni team, 25-15, 26-24.
"The competition was definitely our caliber, but we spent the weekend trying different lineups knowing we could have that win-loss ratio," Bohling said. "The goal was to try the different players to see what the response was. It was a good competitive environment to get the comfortability out of them. Sometimes, you don't know how well they will perform in different positions, but if you can interchange them, that makes us more successful when we get into higher rounds. We don't mind failure now. It was a good learning tool for us."
The Flames were eliminated in the single-set first round of the gold bracket playoffs by Penn State's A team, 25-20.
"That was probably the best competition, and the boys played the best they could have all day," Bohling said. "Penn State was legit, and it made very few errors. The match was tied at 15-15, and we had a three-service error run where we got the ball back, put the ball out, and Penn State capitalized. We fought to stay in it as much as we could (but) it was a hard hill to climb so late in the match, down 17-20."
Liberty was down a right-side hitter, which necessitated the switch in lineups, with freshman middle hitter Cole Creedle, senior outside hitter Nate Bremmer, and junior outside hitters Connor Cranage and Vann-Mikael De Leon-Bohling platooning at opposite hitter.
Bohling said Liberty's greatest downfall was its inconsistency from the service line.
"We got a little aggressive, and that led to errors," he said. "That was our biggest nemesis. Our defense was solid, our passing was solid, our setters handled setting to players in different positions, adjusting on the fly to not having their typical right-side hitters and having different voices around them."
Redshirt junior Will Radi and freshman Jack Van Hoof started as setters in the Flames' 6-2 formation.
Since taking the reins of the program in mid-August, Bohling has tried to build on the spiritual culture established by longtime Head Coach Bryan Rigg and develop an even stronger team mentality on the court.
"We were pretty consistent across the board (at Virginia Tech)," Bohling said. "Take away two errors and we're tied or winning those matches, which shows how tight the margin is. The biggest lesson learned was when playing higher-level teams, it's not about who's earning points. It's who makes the least amount of mistakes in pressure situations. We're all getting kills, all getting blocks, all showing fantastic athleticism, but the margin of error is very small at this level."
Through disciplined practice and by getting all players their share of reps in live game action, he said the Flames are progressing steadily in preparation for the spring schedule when matches count toward the team's overall record.
"We've got to push through more practices, not to do it to get it right, but to do it until you can't get it wrong," Bohling said, noting he was pleased with the team's response early this week. "It wasn't the showing they wanted (at Virginia Tech), and it was good to see that self-feedback and drive to get back in the gym right away, to not be content with what happened."
"At end of the day, we have to ask ourselves, 'How do we get back up and fight? How do we clean this up and take that next step?'" he added. "This group's talented enough to get in there, fix those errors, and go back out until we are one of the top contenders for the East Coast Championships and going onto (NCVF) Nationals"
Liberty's DII team also advanced to the gold bracket playoffs at Virginia Tech before being eliminated in the first round. Though he didn't get to see all of their matches, with Assistant Coach Tait Lapham coaching that squad, Bohling said the Flames were not altogether in sync throughout the tournament.
"The biggest thing is all six players need to be locked in at the same time," he said. "Somebody would be really on, and some others would be off. They had some good connections, the defense was awesome, the passing was fantastic, and they had some good service runs."
Senior libero Rylan Austin played exceptional defense and at one point came in and went on a clutch five-point service run.
"(Sophomore Josiah) Koch stepped up as one of our stronger outside hitters, and he showed up in all facets of being a good volleyball player, picking up balls on defense and ready to do anything he was called on to at any point," Bohling said.
After the early exit from the tournament, the DII team also showed determination and a solid work ethic in practices this week.
"Both teams have a really good mindset," Bohling said. "They went to get back in the gym. They felt they could have done better, and they're hungry."
The Flames will conclude their fall semester schedule by either hosting another ECVA tournament or traveling to Gainesville, Fla., to compete in the University of Florida's 48-team tournament in November.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
The strategy wasn't necessarily the best option for winning matches, as Liberty split its first two against Maryland 25-21, 20-25 and Penn State's B team 25-23, 17-25 in pool play before being swept by Virginia Tech's alumni team, 25-15, 26-24.
"The competition was definitely our caliber, but we spent the weekend trying different lineups knowing we could have that win-loss ratio," Bohling said. "The goal was to try the different players to see what the response was. It was a good competitive environment to get the comfortability out of them. Sometimes, you don't know how well they will perform in different positions, but if you can interchange them, that makes us more successful when we get into higher rounds. We don't mind failure now. It was a good learning tool for us."
The Flames were eliminated in the single-set first round of the gold bracket playoffs by Penn State's A team, 25-20.
"That was probably the best competition, and the boys played the best they could have all day," Bohling said. "Penn State was legit, and it made very few errors. The match was tied at 15-15, and we had a three-service error run where we got the ball back, put the ball out, and Penn State capitalized. We fought to stay in it as much as we could (but) it was a hard hill to climb so late in the match, down 17-20."
Liberty was down a right-side hitter, which necessitated the switch in lineups, with freshman middle hitter Cole Creedle, senior outside hitter Nate Bremmer, and junior outside hitters Connor Cranage and Vann-Mikael De Leon-Bohling platooning at opposite hitter.
Bohling said Liberty's greatest downfall was its inconsistency from the service line.
"We got a little aggressive, and that led to errors," he said. "That was our biggest nemesis. Our defense was solid, our passing was solid, our setters handled setting to players in different positions, adjusting on the fly to not having their typical right-side hitters and having different voices around them."
Redshirt junior Will Radi and freshman Jack Van Hoof started as setters in the Flames' 6-2 formation.
Since taking the reins of the program in mid-August, Bohling has tried to build on the spiritual culture established by longtime Head Coach Bryan Rigg and develop an even stronger team mentality on the court.
"We were pretty consistent across the board (at Virginia Tech)," Bohling said. "Take away two errors and we're tied or winning those matches, which shows how tight the margin is. The biggest lesson learned was when playing higher-level teams, it's not about who's earning points. It's who makes the least amount of mistakes in pressure situations. We're all getting kills, all getting blocks, all showing fantastic athleticism, but the margin of error is very small at this level."
Through disciplined practice and by getting all players their share of reps in live game action, he said the Flames are progressing steadily in preparation for the spring schedule when matches count toward the team's overall record.
"We've got to push through more practices, not to do it to get it right, but to do it until you can't get it wrong," Bohling said, noting he was pleased with the team's response early this week. "It wasn't the showing they wanted (at Virginia Tech), and it was good to see that self-feedback and drive to get back in the gym right away, to not be content with what happened."
"At end of the day, we have to ask ourselves, 'How do we get back up and fight? How do we clean this up and take that next step?'" he added. "This group's talented enough to get in there, fix those errors, and go back out until we are one of the top contenders for the East Coast Championships and going onto (NCVF) Nationals"
Liberty's DII team also advanced to the gold bracket playoffs at Virginia Tech before being eliminated in the first round. Though he didn't get to see all of their matches, with Assistant Coach Tait Lapham coaching that squad, Bohling said the Flames were not altogether in sync throughout the tournament.
"The biggest thing is all six players need to be locked in at the same time," he said. "Somebody would be really on, and some others would be off. They had some good connections, the defense was awesome, the passing was fantastic, and they had some good service runs."
Senior libero Rylan Austin played exceptional defense and at one point came in and went on a clutch five-point service run.
"(Sophomore Josiah) Koch stepped up as one of our stronger outside hitters, and he showed up in all facets of being a good volleyball player, picking up balls on defense and ready to do anything he was called on to at any point," Bohling said.
After the early exit from the tournament, the DII team also showed determination and a solid work ethic in practices this week.
"Both teams have a really good mindset," Bohling said. "They went to get back in the gym. They felt they could have done better, and they're hungry."
The Flames will conclude their fall semester schedule by either hosting another ECVA tournament or traveling to Gainesville, Fla., to compete in the University of Florida's 48-team tournament in November.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
Players Mentioned
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