Lady Flames set to Host Liberty Invitational, This Weekend
9/8/2021 11:21:34 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Liberty volleyball team, off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2015, hosts the five-team Liberty Invitational, Friday and Saturday at the Liberty Arena. The Lady Flames take on Old Dominion (2-4) and Navy (3-3) on Friday before meeting Purdue Fort Wayne (1-5) and Loyola Marymount (4-1) on Saturday.
Matchday Central Links
Liberty Invitational
Liberty Arena
Lynchburg, Va.
Liberty vs. Old Dominion
Match Date: Friday, Sept. 1
Match Time: 10 a.m.
Location: Liberty Arena
Live Video: ESPN+
Liberty vs. Navy
Match Date: Friday, Sept. 10
Match Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Liberty Arena
Live Video: ESPN+
Liberty vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
Match Date: Saturday, Sept. 11
Match Time: 10 a.m.
Location: Liberty Arena
Live Video: ESPN+
Liberty vs. Loyola Marymount
Match Date: Saturday, Sept 11
Match Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Liberty Arena
Live Video: ESPN+
The Lady Flames opened the season by winning all three matches at the RMU Classic. Trinity Watts was named Tournament MVP and was joined on the all-tournament team by Rajini Fitzmaurice and Amaya Williams. Liberty had to come back from a 2-1 deficit to beat Duquesne last Friday, hitting .500 in the fifth set to take the 3-2 match victory.
Saturday’s 7 p.m. match between Liberty and Loyola Marymount will feature this week’s ASUN Player of the Week (Trinity Watts) and WCC Offensive Player of the Week (Kari Geissberger). Watts averaged 4.0 kills per set at the RMU Classic, including a career-high 21 kills and four aces against Duquesne in a 3-1 win, last Friday.
STARTING ROTATION
1. Liberty is hosting a home invitational for the first time since Sept. 7-8, 2019, when the Lady Flames defeated Elon, Virginia Tech and Davidson to claim the Liberty Volleyball Classic.
2. Liberty was dominant from the service line last week, as the team’s 2.08 aces per set currently rank 28th nationally. The Lady Flames served up 10 aces against both Duquesne and Idaho, the first time since Aug. 24, 2012 that Liberty posted 10 or more aces in back-to-back matches.
3. Redshirt senior Amelia Preston returns after missing the spring season with an injury. A 2019 All-ASUN first team selection and ASUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year, her last match was Dec. 10, 2019 at Georgia Tech. It will have been 640 days since she has played a match.
4. Trinity Watts, a 2021 VaSD All-State second team player, returns after leading the Lady Flames with 137 kills this spring. She is the first Lady Flame since Casey Goodwin in 2019 to score 10 or more kills in each of the first three matches of a season.
5. Junior Rajini Fitzmaurice scored a career-high 18 kills in the 2021 season opener at Robert Morris, hitting .300. She finished the weekend with 11 kills and nine digs against Idaho on Saturday.
6. Amaya Williams led the team in assists as a freshman in 2017, and this spring marked her second season as the team’s assists leader. She is ranked second in the ASUN with 10.38 assists per set and dished out 56 assists last Friday against Duquesne.
7. Aspen Thompson posted a rare kills-blocks double-double last Friday against Duquesne, with career highs in both kills (11) and blocks (10). It was Liberty’s fifth kills-blocks double-double since 2000, and first since Loren Thomas (12 kills, 10 blocks) on Oct. 21, 2011 at Winthrop.
