Flames swept by ECVA South favorite Hokies in Liberty Arena

Tuesday, February 3

Lynchburg, VA

7:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Virginia Tech

Freshman outside hitter Jackson Byers (left) and junior middle blocker Austin Leach put up a block against Virginia Tech on Tuesday night in the Liberty Arena. (Photos by Emily Cuthrell)

Flames swept by ECVA South favorite Hokies in Liberty Arena

2/3/2026 10:37:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

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Virginia Tech, which finished third in the nation last season, jumped on Liberty early and withstood the Flames’ comeback bids.

Gallery: (2-3-2026) Men's volleyball vs. Virginia Tech

In a battle between the two frontrunners in the ECVA South, Liberty University's No. 19-ranked men's volleyball team met its match in No. 9 Virginia Tech, Tuesday night in Liberty Arena, falling 25-18, 25-22, 25-22.

"We came out slow, missed some serves, and struggled on serve-receive the first game," Flames interim Head Coach Bryan Rigg said, noting the lukewarm start made it difficult to fire up the student-based crowd. "We've got to generate our own energy. That's the goal. But we picked it up the second game and played well as a team."

He admitted that the Hokies presented some matchup problems for Liberty, especially on the outside.

"We had some taller pin hitters who were struggling with passing or some smaller pin hitters who were passing but struggling with the block, so we kept going back and forth and we just weren't finding the right matchups," Rigg said.

A three-point run by Virginia Tech tied the second game at 21 and prompted the Flames to take a timeout. When the Hokies seized a 22-21 lead with a tool off freshman outside hitter Jackson Byers' block attempt, Liberty burned another timeout.

A kill by junior middle blocker Austin Leach ended the Virginia Tech run at five points, but the Flames couldn't stop the bleeding and the Hokies closed out the set.

Liberty started the third game on a short service run by senior outside hitter Zachary Bell, sparked by a block by freshman middle blocker Benjamin Bremer. Senior setter Josh Culpepper helped keep the Flames on top with a kill and set over the net for a winner before Virginia Tech rallied for an 11-10 lead.

An authoritative kill by junior outside hitter Nate Bremmer and block winner by Culpepper tied it at 13 before back-to-back blocks by the Hokies gave them a 15-13 advantage which they stretched to 18-14.

After a Liberty timeout, a kill by Flames senior opposite hitter Zach Lamoureux gave him the serve before back-to-back block winners by Culpepper pulled the Flames back within 21-20 and prompted the Hokies to take a timeout.

"It took Culpepper a while to get going," Rigg said. "His sets weren't quite where they needed to be the first set, but they came along, so the locations got better. He finally found his rhythm, his location, he started to read the outside hitter. Just a little too little, too late."

A block by freshman middle hitter Ian McKee tied the game at 21 and his subsequent kill from the middle tied it at 22 before Virginia Tech closed out the match with three unanswered points to complete the sweep.

"They finished third in the nation last year and that's the same seven guys. We're probably going to be going back and forth with them … and I do hope we play them in the ECVA South Championships and the East Coast Championships," Rigg said.

The Flames need to finish in the top two at either the Feb. 21 ECVA South Play Date at James Madison University or the ECVA South Championships at Liberty on March 7 to qualify for the March 21 East Coast Championships at the University of Maryland in College Park, Md.

"It's going to be busy," Rigg said of the upcoming stretch of tournaments that will conclude with the April 2-4 NCVF National Championships in Kansas City, Mo. "We're not as deep as we were. We were playing basically the same 7-8 guys tonight. There wasn't a bunch of variation. Our starting (six) is good, but we have to navigate weeks where we have multiple games and tournaments, it's going to be hard. We'll have to get a little creative. I think we'll be fine."

The Flames found out on Tuesday that last week's match against North Carolina State in the Liberty Arena that was postponed by snow will be rescheduled for Feb. 24.

This week, Liberty will test its resilience with another match on Wednesday at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista, Va., streamed live from Knight Arena at 7 p.m. SVU is off to an 8-0 start, dropping only one set, to Randolph-Macon College.

"They won the NCAA Division III National Championship last year, and they graduated nine seniors, but they're still really good," Rigg said. "It'll be a great test, so I'm excited. Emotionally, we're ready. It's in their barn, which is always really hard. It's a non-conference matchup, and it doesn't matter for our rankings, so we're probably going to get all of our guys in."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer