Lady Flames Set for Pair of Weekend Matches at CSU, Coastal Carolina
10/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Complete Match Notes
Liberty (18-5, 5-0 Big South), leading the Big South and carrying a nine-match winning streak, will take a weekend trip to South Carolina. The Lady Flames will play at Charleston Southern (9-14, 0-5) on Friday at 7 p.m., before competing at Coastal Carolina (14-4, 4-1), Saturday at 2 p.m. The Buccaneers remain in search of their first conference win, while the Chanticleers are in a three-way tie for second in the Big South. The 2014 Big South Volleyball Championship will be held at Coastal Carolina's The HTC Center.
Liberty leads CSU, 36-4, all-time, as the Lady Flames have won 13 straight meetings. The Lady Flames are 32-18 against Coastal Carolina.
How to Follow the Lady Flames
Live stats will be available for each of this weekend's matches. Additionally, both matches can be viewed online, free of charge, through video streaming on the Big South Network.
Starting Rotation
1. 11th-year head coach Shane Pinder became the program's all-time winningest coach on Oct. 3 at Gardner-Webb. He then became the fourth volleyball coach in Big South history to record 200 or more career wins, with a 3-1 win at UNC Asheville on Oct. 4.
2. The Lady Flames extended their winning streak to nine matches with a 3-0 sweep over William & Mary on Tuesday at the Vines Center. Liberty's winning streak is its longest since taking a 10-match streak into the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
3. Junior Jade Vorster was named Big South Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, after averaging 1.88 blocks per set last weekend. For the year, she ranks second in the Big South with 1.24 blocks per set. She has posted four nine-block matches this year.
4. Freshman right-side attacker Hannah Weidner was named Big South Freshman of the Week for the third time this season on Monday. She has posted 17 straight 10-kill matches, reaching double-figures in kills in 22 out of Liberty's first 23 matches.
5. Redshirt junior Caroline Douglas leads the conference with 4.39 kills per set. She scored 20 kills against William & Mary on Tuesday, her ninth 20-kill match of the season.
6. Junior setter Caila Stapleton paces all conference players with 11.00 assists per set. She has recorded nine straight 40-assist matches.
7. On Tuesday, senior Gabrielle Shipe passed Lara Bartolomeo (2004-07) into fifth place in program history with 1,569 career digs.
Weidner Earns 3rd Big South Freshman of Week Honor
Right-side attacker Hannah Weidner was named Big South Freshman of the Week for the third time, Monday. She averaged 2.62 kills per set during Liberty's 2-0 week.
Weidner is ranked sixth in the Big South with 3.37 kills per set. She has reached double figures in kills in 17 straight matches. Jennifer Belk posted 19 straight 10-kill matches in 2004, the longest streak of 10-kill contests in Liberty's rally-scoring history.
Vorster Named Big South Defensive Player of the Week
Junior middle blocker Jade Vorster was named Big South Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, after averaging 1.88 blocks per set last week.
Last Friday against Campbell, she posted her fourth nine-block match, helping hold the Camels to a .139 attack percentage. She is now ranked second in the Big South with 1.24 blocks per set this year. Her 110 blocks rank seventh in program history for a single season during the rally-scoring era (since 2001).
Top of the List
Liberty head coach Shane Pinder is in his 11th season and holds a 203-144 (.585) overall career record, including 110-39 (.738) in Big South play.
On Oct. 3 at Gardner-Webb, he passed Chris Phillips (1992-97, 99-03) into first place on Liberty's all-time volleyball wins list. With a 3-1 win at UNC Asheville on Oct. 4, he became the fourth volleyball coach in Big South history with 200 or more career wins.
Pinder is now tied with former Coastal Carolina head coach Kristen Bauer for the second most Big South regular-season volleyball victories all-time, at 110.
Douglas Strikes Again
Redshirt junior Caroline Douglas leads the Big South with 4.39 kills per set, and 5.21 kills per set in conference play only.
Douglas scored a match-high 20 kills on Tuesday in a 3-0 win over William & Mary. It marked her ninth 20-kill match this season, and seventh in the last eight contests.
The only Lady Flame to post nine or more 20-kill matches in a single season since 2001 was Jennifer Belk, who recorded 11 20-kill matches in 2004.
Dishing it Out
Junior Caila Stapleton leads the Big South with 11.00 assists per set. In conference play, she is averaging 12.79 assists per set, the highest average in the Big South.
Her career-high 63 assists against Central Connecticut on Sept. 12 were the most by a Lady Flame since Courtney Boggs had 64 at UNC Asheville, Nov. 7, 2008.
Stapleton has totaled 40 or more assists during each of Liberty's last nine contests, all wins. It marks Liberty's longest streak of 40-assist matches since Kallie Corbin had 11 straight 40-assist contests from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, 2007.
Climbing the Charts
Senior Gabrielle Shipe ranks seventh in the Big South with 4.48 digs per set. With 17 digs on Tuesday against William & Mary, Shipe passed Lara Bartolomeo (2004-07) into fifth place in program history with 1,569 career digs. She needs 26 more digs to surpass Jennifer Belk's (2001-04) total, which ranks fourth.
Double-Doubles All Around
On Tuesday against William & Mary, junior Caila Stapleton and redshirt junior Caroline Douglas both registered a double-double. It marked the sixth match this season in which two Lady Flames recorded a double-double. Stapleton leads the Lady Flames with nine double-doubles this season, followed by Douglas, with eight. Gabrielle Shipe has posted two double-doubles, and freshman Anna Willey has recorded one double-double.
The last time the four Lady Flames had at least one double-double in the same season was in 2011 (Courtney Boggs, Jade Craycraft, Lillie Happel and Loren Thomas).
1-2 Punch
Redshirt junior Caroline Douglas and freshman Hannah Weidner have both reached double figures in kills during each of Liberty's last 16 matches.
Liberty vs. Charleston Southern
Charleston Southern (9-14, 0-5 Big South) is in search of its first Big South victory. Junior Meredith Parrott ranks third in the Big South with 3.46 kills per set, while teammate Siraya Windsor (3.31) is in 7th place. Sophomore Taylor Allman is ranked sixth in the Big South with 4.51 digs per set, while junior Cassidy Greer is seventh with 9.00 assists per set. Ashley Higginbothem collected her 1,000th career dig on Wednesday at N.C. Central.
Second-year CSU head coach Christy Mooberry is 15-38 at Charleston Southern. She has gone 116-133 in seven seasons as a collegiate head coach, as she has also coached at Montreat and Union (Tenn,).
Liberty is 36-4 all-time against Charleston Southern, including 18-1 under Pinder. The Lady Flames have won each of the last 13 meetings, with Charleston Southern's last win over Liberty coming Oct. 21, 2006 in Charleston. Each of Liberty's last three matches at Charleston Southern (in 2009, 2010, 2012) has ended in a 3-2 win over the Buccaneers.
Last season, Liberty swept CSU, 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-13) on Oct. 18, 2013 in the Vines Center. Lillie Happel and Nzea McQuitery tied for the match high with 12 kills, while CSU's Katrina Houston scored 11 kills.
Liberty vs. Coastal Carolina
Coastal Carolina (14-4, 4-1) enters the weekend in a three-way tie for second in the Big South. The Chanticleers lead the Big South in hitting percentage (.247), opponents' hitting percentage (.134) and digs (16.31 per set). Junior Eszter Nagy leads the Big South with a .425 attack percentage, averaging 2.42 kills per set. Freshman Leah Hardeman, four-time Big south Freshman of the Week, ranks second in the Big south with 3.96 kills per set. Sam Skryd is ranked fourth in the conference with 9.66 assists per set.
Third-year head coach Jozsef Forman is 47-30 at Coastal Carolina, and is 105-69 as a collegiate head coach. Forman spent 2007-09 as head coach at New Orleans.
Liberty holds a 32-18 record in the all-time series against Coastal Carolina. The Lady Flames had posted 11 straight regular-season wins over the Chanticleers before falling at Coastal, 3-1, in their first visit to the HTC Center, Oct. 13, 2012. Liberty won its most recent Big South title, with a 3-1 victory over Coastal Carolina in the 2012 Big South final.
The Lady Flames outhit Coastal Carolina, .283-.104, in a 3-0 Lady Flames sweep on Oct. 19, 2013 at the Vines Center. Caroline Douglas scored a match-high 11 kills.
