Liberty Volleyball Wraps Up Regular Season with Florida Trip
11/7/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Complete Match Notes
Liberty at Stetson
DeLand, Fla.
Match Date: Thursday, Nov. 8
Match Time: 6 p.m.
Live Video: Facebook Live
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Liberty at FGCU
Fort Myers, Fla.
Match Date: Saturday, Nov. 10
Match Time: 7 p.m.
Live Video: Facebook Live
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Liberty (13-15, 9-5 ASUN), winner of six out of its last eight matches, finishes up its regular-season schedule this weekend in Florida. The Lady Flames take on Stetson (16-11, 8-7) on Thursday, before playing at ASUN-leading FGCU (23-6, 14-1) on Saturday. Thursday's match at Stetson will be a preview of the conference quarterfinal, as the Lady Flames and Hatters are set to meet in the 4 vs. 5 match to begin the 2018 ASUN Volleyball Championship, next Thursday.
FGCU has secured the top seed for the six-team 2018 ASUN Volleyball Championship, to be held next Thursday through Saturday at Kennesaw State's Convocation Center, while Kennesaw State and Lipscomb will be second and third seeds, in that order.
Starting Rotation
1. First-year head coach Trevor Johnson needs one more win to give him 100 career wins as a collegiate head coach. During his time at Concordia (Calif.) and Liberty, he has posted a 99-29 combined record as a head coach.
2. Liberty needs one more win to reach double digits in conference victories for the 13th time in program history, and first since going 11-5 in Big South play in 2016. Liberty's nine conference wins are the most by an ASUN team in its first year in the conference since Northern Kentucky (12-6) in 2012.
3. Outside hitter Lilly Kruse was named ASUN Freshman of the Week on Oct. 29. On Sunday at Lipscomb, she scored a career-high 17 kills and Victoria Baptista tallied a career-high 15 kills. It was the first time since Nov. 11, 2017 at Gardner-Webb that two Lady Flames scored 15 or more kills in the same match. That night, Gabrielle Vess had 17 kills and Casey Goodwin had 16.
4. Margaret Latchford passed Gabrielle Shipe (2011-14) into third place in program history with 1,715 career digs. Latchford, who collected a season-high 24 digs at Lipscomb, needs just 25 more digs to move into second place. Latchford has posted 21 double-digit dig matches this season.
5. Junior Casey Goodwin has been named ASUN Player of the Week twice this year. She scored a career-high 25 kills on Oct. 21 against North Florida, becoming the 10th Liberty player in rally-scoring history with a 25-kill match.
6. Junior Anna Gragg hit 6-0-6 in back-to-back wins over NJIT and North Alabama to close out October. Gragg is ranked third in the ASUN in hitting percentage both overall (.354) and during conference play (.431) this season.
7. Lilly Kruse became the ninth Liberty player to score at least 10 kills in a single match this season. The Lady Flames have now set a program record for most players to record a 10-kill match in a single season, breaking the previous mark of eight, last set in 2013.
Team Notes
- The Lady Flames have posted 10 or more blocks 11 times this season, tying last year's output. The Lady Flames rank 61st nationally with 2.38 blocks per set.
- Liberty has hit .300 or better six times in conference play. The Lady Flames' .238 overall hitting percentage ranks 65th in the nation.
- The Lady Flames hit a season-best .433 against North Alabama on Oct. 28, the sixth-highest hitting percentage in the program's rally-scoring history.
- Liberty is 2-0 in the state of Florida this year, sweeping North Florida and Jacksonville. Liberty has won five straight matches in the Sunshine State, beginning by going 3-0 at the 2012 UCF Classic
- Junior Anna Gragg scored a season-high 13 kills at a .619 pace against North Florida on Oct. 21, joining classmates Kainah Williams (career-high 14 kills - .619 against FGCU) and Casey Goodwin (19 kills - .684 at Jacksonville) as Lady Flames to hit .600 or better this season.
- On Sept. 8 against Colgate, Liberty placed five players (Jenna Culhan, Amelia Johnson, Kailey Macy, Victoria Baptista and Anna Gragg) in double figures in kills. Then, Oct. 12 vs. FGCU, four Lady Flames (Johnson, Gragg, Goodwin and Kainah Williams) reached double digits.
- Jenna Culhan collected a season-high 13 digs on Oct. 5 against Lipscomb, giving Liberty seven players with at least one double-digit dig match this season.
- Casey Goodwin's career-high sixth ace of the match clinched set five, 18-16, against Oakland on Aug. 24, sealing Trevor Johnson's first win as head coach of the Lady Flames.
- Liberty welcomes five newcomers to the roster in freshmen Madi Furtado, Lilly Kruse, Sydney Street and Aspen Thompson and transfer Amelia Johnson (North Dakota).
