Liberty honored its volleyball seniors on Sunday against Kennesaw State.
Kennesaw State edged Liberty 3-1 (38-36, 20-25, 25-18, 26-24) during both teams' regular-season finale, Sunday at the Vines Center.
The Owls improved to 20-8, 13-3 in ASUN play, wrapping up second place outright for the 2019 ASUN Volleyball Championship. The Lady Flames finished the regular season at 18-10, tying with Lipscomb for third place in the ASUN at 11-5.
Notable Numbers • For the match, Liberty outhit KSU .262-.258. The Owls led in digs (58-50) and aces (9-2), while Liberty held an 11.5-7.5 advantage in blocks. It was Liberty's 13th 10-block match this season.
• Liberty honored its four seniors – Payton Carter, Casey Goodwin, Anna Gragg and Hannah Morris – with a prematch ceremony.
• Goodwin sent down a match-high 20 kills at a .444 pace, while Carter tied her career high with 12 kills, adding two aces and nine digs. Morris totaled 48 assists and four blocks. Kailey Macy posted a match-high seven blocks, while Amelia Johnson scored 10 kills.
• Lauren Chastang totaled 21 kills and 13 digs and was joined in double-figures in kills by Quin Sutphin (15), Jasmine Brown (13) and Dani Ballou (10). Lexi Broadwater dished out a match-high 59 assists and Bri Becerra served up four aces.
Head Coach Trevor Johnson "I'm proud of our seniors for competing well today. I thought Payton played a good all-around match. Casey keeps getting better and better. I thought our team fought as hard as they could for our seniors! We are now 0-0 going into next week's ASUN tournament. Our next match is our most important match."
Match Summary SET 1 • Set one featured 21 ties and eight lead changes. Liberty had nine set-point tries during the first set and the Owls cashed in on their sixth set-point attempt to win 38-36.
• The Owls outhit Liberty .333-.280 in the opening set.
SET 2 • Liberty bounced back, tying the match at one set apiece by winning set two .320-.088.
• Goodwin scored five kills on six second-set swings, while the Lady Flames posted five blocks.
SET 3 • KSU responded by hitting .480 during a 25-18 set-three victory. Chastang hit .625 with six kills during the third frame.
SET 4 • The visitors led set four 22-18 before Liberty came all the way back to tie it at 24-all. Brown then scored a kill before Broadwater served an ace to clinch the match.
Quick Hits • Liberty has posted its most conference wins in a season since going 11-5 in Big South play in 2016.
• Kennesaw State is now 4-0 all-time in volleyball against Liberty.
• Goodwin moved into sole possession of ninth place in program history with 322 career blocks.
• Today was Goodwin's sixth career 20-kill match and second this season.
• Johnson's 406 kills this season are already the fifth most in a single season in program history under the current 25-point rally-scoring system and most since Caroline Douglas' 464 kills in 2014.
• Phillips' 472 digs this season are the most by a Lady Flame since Margaret Latchford collected 477 digs in 2017.
• Carter tied her career high in kills, as she also had 12 kills at Maryland on Sept. 9, 2018.
• Today's first set was Liberty's longest set since falling 43-41 in set one at Purdue Fort Wayne on Aug. 25, 2018.
Up Next Liberty will likely be the No. 3 seed in the 2019 ASUN Volleyball Championship, which starts on Thursday at Alico Arena in Fort Myers, Fla. The official seeding and bracket will be announced later this evening.
Like Us on Facebook
Follow Us on Twitter
Follow Us on Instagram