Champions of the month: Bella Smuda and Trevor Granzow

Bella Smuda: Center

After former Flame Mya Berkman graduated in 2023, it became Bella Smuda’s job to step up and take over as Liberty University basketball’s go-to post player. Beyond that, however, the redshirt junior center has also been asked to take on a crucial leadership role for the team. 

“We lost Dee Brown, Kennedi Williams, Mya Berkman, who are all three big voices,” Smuda said. “(Becoming a leader) was definitely a process, and I think I’m still learning a lot. That is something that this season, I think I’m still learning how to effectively communicate with everyone and effectively what’s the best thing to say to who and all that. But it’s definitely something … (assistant coach Katie Mattera) has helped and telling me, like, ‘Hey, make sure you talk to this person’ or ‘Make sure they know what’s going on.’ … We have great people on the team. Everyone’s very receptive to learn, and so that’s been also very great and helpful.”

In January, Smuda averaged 13.5 points per game, 9.4 rebounds and an average of 1.2 assists, with one of Smuda’s best showings against Jacksonville State Jan. 10. The center posted 26 points and 17 rebounds.

In February, however, the Pennsylvania native surmounted that performance with a career-best, notching 27 points in the team’s victory over the UTEP Miners. Smuda’s dominance will be crucial as the team heads into the final stretch of the season before the CUSA Championship in Huntsville, Alabama March 12-16.

Trevor Granzow: Left-winger

It takes a true Champion to average just under three points per game like senior forward Trevor Granzow is currently. The left-winger is in his fourth year with the Liberty hockey program and first with the D3 squad, loving the relationships he’s built with his teammates over the past season. 

“The guys on this D3 team have made this year so fun,” Granzow said. “That’s the best part for me, actually, is building those relationships.” 

Granzow lit the lamp often in the month of January, with his biggest weekend coming against Christopher Newport University, where he notched five goals and three assists in the series and recorded his 100th point as a Flame. The majority of those points, however, stem from the assists the forward dishes out on the ice.

“I think I have like 60, 70 assists. That’s just how my game is. I will pass the puck all the time, and that just shows you my style of play. But my whole life I’ve always been a passing guy — a giving guy, I guess you could say.”

After notching a goal in the team’s most recent series split with High Point University, Granzow looks ahead to nationals with both anticipation and confidence. 

“I firmly believe we will win nationals this year,” Granzow said. “You’re always told on teams that ‘We have the guys in this room, let’s go.’ But it’s a different thing to believe that … we seriously have a chance to do this.”

Johnson is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion