‘Super Spring’ schedule in store for Liberty’s NCAA teams

The Spring 2021 semester in sports will be a season like no other for Liberty University Athletics, with all but one of its 20 programs (football) competing over the next four months.

“It will be a busy spring,” said Ian McCaw, Director of Athletics. “We are packing almost a year’s worth of competition into one semester, so that will stress our staff and our facilities and our COVID testing at a high level, but I think everyone is up for the challenge, and we are looking forward to it.”

Liberty will host approximately 140 events this semester, including some championship events. The CCSA women’s swimming championships will be held Feb. 15-17 at the Liberty Natatorium and the ASUN men’s and women’s indoor track and field championships are scheduled for Feb. 26-27 at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex.

“The ‘Super Spring’ schedule, as we are calling it, will stretch all aspects of the Athletics department,” said Todd Wetmore, Associate AD for Communications. He noted that the ASUN Conference, in which 17 of Liberty’s 20 programs compete, is still evaluating schedules in various sports. “There are a lot of moving parts to the spring sport schedules, which change nearly day by day or hour by hour at this point in time. At some point in the spring, 19 of our 20 NCAA Division I programs will be competing at the same time.”

BASKETBALL

The men’s and women’s basketball teams christened the sparkling new Liberty Arena with grand-opening wins over Norfolk State on Dec. 1 and St. Francis on Dec. 3, respectively.

To reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission, Liberty’s basketball teams have shifted to home-and-away scheduling within ASUN conference play, with its men’s and women’s teams often traveling to and hosting common opponents for two-game series over the same weekends. The ASUN Championships will be played exclusively in Jacksonville, Fla. (men, March 3-7) and Kennesaw, Ga. (women, March 10-14).

VOLLEYBALL

The Lady Flames’ volleyball team made its debut in the Liberty Arena at 10 a.m. on Friday, clashing with the VCU on the state-of-the-art Taraflex sports flooring placed over the hardcourt. They were dealt a 25-18, 25-15, 25-17 setback to the 2019 NCAA qualifying Rams in the season-opener for both teams. Liberty will host ODU next Friday at 1:30 p.m. before beginning ASUN play with a similar approach as men’s and women’s basketball teams, hosting and traveling to play two matches over the same weekend against Lipscomb (Feb. 6-7 at Liberty Arena); North Alabama (Feb. 13-14 away, March 19-20 home); Kennesaw State (Feb. 19-20 home, March 5-6 away); and Bellarmine (March 12-13 in Louisville, Ky.).

BASEBALL

The ASUN has separated its nine programs into two divisions, with the Flames’ 24-game conference schedule primarily against teams from the North. After opening the season with a series at Campbell University on Feb. 19-21 and hosting North Carolina A&T on Feb. 24, the Flames will play their first conference game against North Alabama on March 12-14 at home and also host three-game series against Lipscomb (April 9-11), Bellarmine (April 30-May 2), and Kennesaw State (May 7-9).

The Flames will only play two games against South Division opponent Stetson and one against Florida Gulf Coast University at neutral sites over the regular-season-ending weekend of May 14-16. The only opportunity they could have to face Jacksonville or North Florida will be in the ASUN Championships (dates and location have yet to be determined), with the conference’s lone NCAA Regional autobid at stake.

Liberty will play home-and-away series against five ACC opponents — North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Duke, and Wake Forest — and will host former Big South Conference rival Coastal Carolina, the 2016 College World Series champion, from April 23-25.

TENNIS

Liberty’s men’s tennis team, projected to finish second in the ASUN this spring behind defending champion Florida Gulf Coast University, are making its first-ever appearance in the ITA National Indoor Kickoff Weekend, facing some of the top programs in the nation. On Friday at 3 p.m., the Flames challenge No. 6-ranked, defending national champion Texas at the Texas Tennis Center, with Saturday’s championship and consolation match to be played against the winner or loser of Friday’s other semifinal between No. 9 Florida and Arizona.

The Lady Flames, forecast to finish second in the ASUN behind five-time defending champion North Florida, will open their spring season at Georgia State on Saturday and against Mercer on Sunday, near Atlanta. Both the men’s and women’s teams will play their first matches in Liberty’s second new venue to debut in the 2020-21 school year, a 48,000 square-foot indoor tennis facility, in February.

CROSS COUNTRY/TRACK & FIELD

The indoor track and field team started their season on Thursday with the season-opening Liberty Elite Invitational at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex. That season will culminate with the March 11-13 NCAA Division I Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., before the outdoor season kicks off at the March 19-20 CSU Spring Break Invitational in Charleston, S.C. Jacksonville, Fla., will host both the May 14-15 ASUN Championships and the May 27-29 NCAA Division I East Preliminaries before qualifiers travel to the NCAA Division I National Championships in Eugene, Ore., also site of the June 18-27 Olympic Trials for the 2021 Summer Games in Tokyo.

Cross country runners will begin a shortened season on Saturday at the CSU Buccaneer Invitational in Charleston, S.C., before competing at the FSU Winter Cross Country Classic on Feb. 5 in Tallahassee, Fla., their final tune-up for the March 5 ASUN Championships in Macon, Ga., and the March 15 NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Okla.

OTHER SPORTS:

• Men’s golf, which won its season-opening match at Charleston Southern on Jan. 15, competes in seven multiple-day tournaments, capped by the April 12-13 Liberty Invitational at Poplar Grove Golf Club in nearby Amherst, Va., before traveling to the April 18-20 ASUN Championships in Athens, Ga.
• Softball will play six teams ranked in the 2021 preseason NFCA National poll: Oklahoma (No. 4), LSU (No. 5), Alabama (No. 8), Oklahoma State (No. 11), Virginia Tech (No. 15) and Arkansas (No. 18). The Lady Flames will play 23 home games at the 1,000-seat Liberty Softball Stadium and host two in-season tournaments, the Liberty Softball Classic (Feb. 26-Feb. 28) and Liberty Softball Invitational (March 5-7) before opening a 22-game ASUN schedule March 20 at Bellarmine in Louisville, Ky.
• Women’s lacrosse opens a 17-game, mostly non-conference schedule Feb. 12 at Virginia Tech
• Men’s soccer will open a 13-game schedule against Belmont Abbey on Feb. 6, leading up to the April 10-17 ASUN Championships in Jacksonville
• Women’s soccer opens Feb. 7 at VCU and welcomes Western Carolina in their home opener on Feb. 25 before starting ASUN play against Bellarmine on Feb. 28, also at Osborne Stadium.

The Lady Flames’ field hockey team, which competes in the BIG EAST Conference, has yet to announce its spring schedule.

Flames fans are encouraged to visit the Liberty Athletics website and the individual team webpages as well as follow the social media accounts for timely updates regarding schedule changes throughout the spring. Fans are directed to the Spring Sports Admission page for information on Liberty’s attendance policy and social distancing guidelines due to COVID-19 and state regulations.