Men’s volleyball gets back on track in front of Midnight Mayhem crowd

After a slow start in the Hoosier-Illini Tournament that saw the Flames go 0-3 in pool play, Liberty University men’s volleyball Head Coach Josh Knapp knew something had to change.

“We moved our lineup around a little bit, looking at how our athletes move within our system and setting them best up for success,” Knapp said. 

Knapp deployed a new lineup, moving senior Tyler Wemple to outside hitter and sophomore Zach Lamoureux to the right side hitter position.

With the lineup change, the Flames rolled to a 2-1 record in elimination play and ended up finishing 13th out of 32 teams in the tournament. 

“It helps our defensive setup and our system there,” Knapp said. “Zach (Lamoureux) has been a big arm throughout the whole year. Moving him back to the side that he started his freshman year, he’s been huge at the net blocking for us.”

Despite the lineup change and the big home crowd advantage, the Flames quickly found themselves down 1-0 in Feb. 23’s Midnight Mayhem game after a first set filled with costly errors, as North Carolina controlled the flow of the game. However, the Flames remained confident and knew that the Tar Heels would eventually falter in front of the packed midnight crowd. 

“We already know what to expect tonight, and we know UNC is not going to be ready for the sheer number of people that are going to be here,” Lamoureux said.

The sentiment that North Carolina was not going to be able to handle the home-court advantage from the Flames was shared by fellow senior libero Mason Ellenberger.

“When we played NC State last year (in the midnight game), they clammed up immediately,” Ellenberger said. “I think we just can’t play down to their level when they clam up.” 

The Flames used the home-court advantage and stellar play from the front line to take control and dominate the rest of the way. 

With the Midnight Mayhem advantage and the effective lineup change, Wemple dominated with 13 kills, followed by freshman outside hitters Anthony Bernardo and Lamoureux, who had 12 and 10 kills, respectively. 

Liberty men’s volleyball will now look ahead to a match against the NC State Wolfpack Feb. 27, followed by the EVCA South Championship and then the East Coast Championship in April. 

The Flames already qualified for the East Coast Championship by making it to the finals of the ECVA South Play Date earlier this month. 

“The main focus is the end of the season; East Coast Championship and nationals (are) where we are looking to peak,” Knapp said. “We look to play the highest competition as early as possible so we can figure out where to find more success or change and then move that success into nationals and compete on the big stage with teams across the country.”

Knapp was optimistic that his team would be ready to compete with the best teams across the country and would be ready to win a championship when the time comes.

“We understand we are undersized, and a lot of people take that and run with it. We come in with a chip in our shoulder that nobody expects a lot out of us, and you get your guard down,” Knapp said. “That’s how we win these games and tournaments.”

Cash is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion