Lady Flames end season with final home game, senior night
Hail to the chief — Standout freshman outside hitter Lillie Happel and the Liberty Lady Flames volleyball squad honored its senior captain Karyl Bacon in a 3-2 win over UNC-Asheville.
As the minutes counted down and senior captain Karyl Bacon bumped, set, and spiked for the last time in the Vines Center as a Lady Flame, the Liberty Lady Flames volleyball team defeated UNC-Asheville, 3-2.
“I would not have wanted to end the season any other way with any other team,” Bacon said. “These girls are awesome. They flew around. It was great to go out with a win.”
It was an emotional game and the impact of Bacon completing her final regular season game hung bittersweet in the air.
“First of all (we are) proud of Karyl Bacon, not only being out there and her career,” head coach Shane Pinder said. “She made key plays down the strip and the last play ended with her getting it off the block.”
The last home game means a celebration of seniors and their careers. Bacon, the only senior, had all the attention, celebration and emotions focused on her with the win.
“Since we have one senior, which is Karyl, we kind of focused on it being her day, but all around a great team effort,” Pinder said.
The Lady Flames ended the season with an all around exciting match. With impressive plays throughout the match, the Lady Flames fought to destroy the Bulldog’s defense.
“It’s always a dogfight with (UNC-Asheville), and we knew they were going to bring their A-game and be scrappy,” Bacon said. “They weren’t going to roll over for anything.”
The Lady Flames clinched victory only after playing a fifth set to settle the tie with the Bulldogs. During overtime, everything seemed to be in the Lady Flames favor as they gathered points building a lead over the Bulldogs.
“We would have definitely liked to do it quicker, but we came out and fought through everything,” freshman Jade Craycraft said. “We knew they bring a lot of energy to the court and we just tried to match that.”
Craycraft was another essential player throughout the match picking up 46 assists. Freshman Lillie Happel provided 13 kills and was a critical component in the Lady Flames effort to dominate over the Bulldogs
“I thought we did really well,” Happel said. “It was rough at points, but we pulled together at the end.”
Junior Kelly Hasemen contributed with 35 digs, leading all players defensively. The Lady Flames displayed a flawless teamwork effort which worked well against the Bulldogs.
“We played with so much fight and were pretty consistent emotionally and physically,” Bacon said. “It was an all-out hustle and effort from everybody.”
A crucial player for the Lady Flames, Bacon upheld strong values and portrayed the qualities of a strong leader.
“Karyl has been a great leader and has always been behind us,” Craycraft said. “Picking us up in the middle of the game, she’s really a great girl and will really be missed.”
The Lady Flames will enter the Big South Volleyball Championship as the No. 1 seed after securing their fourth consecutive regular-season conference title, ending their season with 23-8 overall and 14-2 in the conference. They have won the Big South Tournament three times when playing as No. 1.
The Lady Flames volleyball team will go head to head with the No. 8 seed Gardner-Webb at 5 p.m. Thursday in Rock Hill, S.C.