Lady Flames Volleyball falls short to High Point University

• Liberty wins opening set against High Point University but eventually loses 3-1 on Tuesday.
• The mostly freshmen and sophomore players show that the team still needs to work out how to play together on court.

Despite winning the opening set of conference play, the inexperience of a young Lady Flames volleyball team was displayed Tuesday, Sept. 19, after dropping three straight sets to High Point University.

The Lady Flames 3-1 defeat to the defending Big South Tournament champions showcased the young team’s potential, but also revealed where improvement is needed.

“Tonight we played primarily freshman and sophomores and we asked them to compete against the top team in the league,” Head Coach Shane Pinder said. “(High Point) has everybody back. They know who they are right now. We’re still trying to figure out who we are, how to play together, how to win together, and how to execute plays. We’re not getting production from the outside, everything else we’re doing pretty well.”

Liberty began the match with a high level of intensity as they took the first point of set one, but the Lady Flames would eventually find themselves trailing 18-20 later in the set. Despite the adversity, the Lady Flames showed their fight as they rallied back with four straight points to put them ahead 22-20 late in the first set. The Panthers nearly evened the score as they brought the set within a point at 23-22, but the Lady Flames were able to finish off the first set 25-23 thanks to two late kills from sophomore right-side hitter Casey Goodwin.

Goodwin led the Lady Flames in kills for the second straight match in a row with 14.  She is also the season leader in kills with 106.

“We definitely fought,” Goodwin said. “We took that first set, and that was a glimpse of what we can do as a team. We’re a very young team out on the floor. As we get more confidence and we get more time on the court, then we’ll show more of that first set.”

The Lady Flames were also led by sophomore middle blocker Anna Gragg who recorded 11 kills and five blocks while hitting .417.

“The setting was really clicking with our middles,” Gragg said. “We got the middles, right sides and everyone involved. It helped spread out our offense.”

Liberty looked to build off its success in the first set, but the defending champs found their rhythm. They led for the majority of the second set and capitalized off of multiple Lady Flames mistakes to take set two 16-25.

“The ability to maintain focus and execute is tough for anybody,” Pinder said. “When you’re asking that much of young players who have never been in this environment to do it, you’re going to have those drop-offs. The ability to sustain a certain level of play takes time. It takes work. It takes reps in the gym. It takes leadership, but it’s nothing outside of hard work.”

The Lady Flames looked to take control after the intermission, but eventually found themselves trailing the Panthers at set point 20-24. Determined not to lose two straight sets, the Lady Flames executed a 4-0 rally to tie the set at 24. After the Panthers called a timeout, they regained their composure to score two straight points and take the third set 26-24.

“The bottom line is we have to score better to keep our energy where it needs to be,” Pinder said.

The young Liberty team gave their best effort at a comeback, but fatigue set in and they fell to the Panthers 25-19 in the fourth set.

“I think there were some swings that we didn’t get down that would have kept us in the hunt,” Pinder said. “When we didn’t get those down, it turned into easy transition plays for the opposing team, and it’s really hard to stop that.”

Though the Lady Flames lost their first match of conference play, the team is confident that they can correct their mistakes and become a contender for the Big South title.

“We had a lot better energy,” Gragg said. “We wanted to compete and our fight was there. It just came down to our lack of execution.”

The Lady Flames will have another Big South match-up against UNC Asheville in the Vines Center Saturday, Sept. 30, at 2 p.m.