Liberty Volleyball Falls to Kennesaw State in Five Sets

Energized and in front of a rowdy home crowd, the Lady Flames women’s volleyball team battled for five sets against the skilled Kennesaw State Owls but came up short in an emotional back-and-forth game Oct. 29.   

The Lady Flames faced off against the seasoned  Kennesaw State Owls and took them to five sets. Liberty got off to a fast start in the game by winning the first set, but the Owls gathered their bearings in order to win the next two sets. In the fourth set, Liberty roared back by winning the set with the largest margin of victory for the night (25-17), but the Owls held off an attempted comeback by the Flames in the fifth set and won 15-11. 

After his team’s loss, Head Coach Trevor Johnson encouraged his team to focus on one play at a time. 

“We just stopped being aggressive, and we started to play tentative,” Johnson said. “Once we realize that we can hang with teams and beat teams, that’s when we get going. It’s just trying to instill confidence in them.”

Throughout the game, the home crowd was key to Liberty’s success.  The game was held during Liberty’s College for a Weekend event, and many  energized fans cheered throughout the Lady Flames’ ups and downs. Johnson believed the crowd played a large part in instilling a sense of urgency into his team. 

The  Lady Flames started the game aggressive in a close first set with no large lead for either team. After a long volley, the Lady Flames would win the set after attempting five set points. Kennesaw State responded with its experienced team in the second set by making consecutive key plays throughout. Even though the Owls head coach would get a yellow card for excessively arguing with one of the floor referees, Kennesaw State remained unrelenting and took the third set. 

Lady Flames’ setter Amaya Williams noted the dangers Kennesaw State presented as a team.

“They have two great outside and right-side players, and they are really scrappy,” Williams said. “If you think a ball is down, don’t ever think that because they will somehow get it up.”

After the Lady Flames spent some time in their locker room, they retaliated in the fourth set by stringing together smart plays and fast kills. The lead never changed in the fourth set as Liberty carried momentum into the fifth and final set. 

The Owls, however, dug deep and made key digs and kills to overwhelm the Lady Flames and take the game. A standout for the Flames was outside hitter Kate Phillips, and she would finish as one of her team’s leaders in kills. Her goal was to leave everything on the floor. 

“Because the team came with a collective agreement to come out aggressive and to just keep swinging, I think that kind of changed how I played, too,” Phillips said. “They are a good blocking team. So, finding different ways to score and moving the ball around against this team was my mindset throughout the whole match.”

Johnson saw several signs of growth for the team and is optimistic for the future. 

“We worked on shots with certain hitters, and they’re putting in some extra reps,” Johnson said. “I’m impressed with the two right sides — Kennedy Sutter and Trinity Watts. They’ve been getting better and better, and they took some really big swings near the end of the match. I’m really impressed with the team overall.”

Both Kennesaw State and Liberty are in the East division of the ASUN conference. The Owls remain in third place and the Lady Flames are in fifth. 

Liberty’s next home game is Friday, Nov. 5 against Florida Gulf Coast University, who currently stands undefeated in conference play . 

Satterthwaite is a sports reporter.