Women’s Volleyball Loses In Final Home Series to UTEP

The Liberty University Volleyball team celebrated Senior Night with a hard-fought match against UTEP in its last home series of the season Nov. 8-9. The Flames fell to the Miners both Friday and Saturday (3-1 and 3-0).

On Friday, the Flames honored their six seniors. Kate Gammer, Kamryn Bacus, Madison Blane, Erica Lowery, Autumn Flowers and Elizabeth Helmich were all recognized for their leadership on and off the court.

“The legacy that they’re leaving is awesome,” Head Coach Nolan Albrecht said. “I’m just really proud of the seniors and everything they’ve been doing.”

The Flames traded points with the Miners in all four sets on Friday night, keeping each one close. Liberty led by a few points near the end of the first set, but UTEP capitalized on errors made by the Flames and came back from a 2-point deficit for a 25-23 win.

Gammer, one of the Flames’ outside hitters, was an offensive leader in the second set, making several crucial kills. Neither the Flames nor the Miners could pull ahead for a lead, resulting in no more than a 1-point gap until a tie at 12-12. Liberty went on a 4-point run after that tie, and middle hitters Blane and Flowers put down multiple kills to secure the win for the Flames.

The third and fourth sets were equally as intense, but the Miners came out on top of both. Their scrappy defense, led by a rare two-libero system, created a wall that Liberty’s offense could not break through. The Flames went home on Friday to reset before their second chance on Saturday.

“They’re well-rounded offensively. They put us into positions that made it difficult to score,” Albrecht said.

The first set of Saturday’s match did not reflect the competition seen in Friday’s high-intensity match. The Flames started slow, and UTEP’s offensive took advantage, driving several kills into Liberty’s defense. By the time the Flames began to gain momentum, it was too late, as they narrowed the point deficit but could not close the gap.

During the second set, Albrecht made an offensive adjustment. Rather than using both setters, he gave freshman Charli Crowson the task of running a true 5-1. This switch created some much-needed offensive pressure from the Flames.

“Charli Kate does a great job of decision-making and side-out,” Albrecht said. “So I think when we’re passing really well, she makes good decisions.”

The Flames and the Miners swapped point for point, swing for swing and dig for dig during the second set. Helmich was a key leader and had multiple crucial kills that brought Liberty to only a 1-point deficit in the middle of the set. At UTEP’s set point, Helmich cut the Miners’ lead to only 2 points from the service line. But despite the effort, UTEP’s Sara Pustahija finished the set 25-22 with a kill.

“Our second set was really the brand of Liberty Volleyball that we want to play,” Albrecht said. “I think that in that second set not only were we passing well, but we were going up fearless with our swings.”

The Flames did not give up after losing that hard-fought set. The third set was just as competitive as the second, and the Flames were leading during its first half. The Miners chipped away at that lead when UTEP’s Danika Washington made a major block that shifted momentum. The Miners kept that momentum and finished out the set with a 25-20 win over the Flames.

“Obviously not the outcome we wanted, and that was a hard way to finish our careers in our home gym, but we’re confident that we’re going to come back next weekend, and we want this to ignite us,” Gammer said.

Gammer said that while losing the last game at home was a hard reality to face, she could not be more thankful for her time at Liberty. She expressed her gratefulness for the program’s intentionality in reminding her that her worth is not found in volleyball, but rather in the Lord.

“It’s been truly the best four years by far of my life. I’ve learned a lot,” Gammer said. “The most important thing is just being a good teammate and a reflection of the Lord on the court.” 

Mullet is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion.