No. 5 Seed Liberty to Open CUSA Volleyball Championship at No. 4 Seed FIU, Friday
11/20/2025 11:15:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Liberty (20-9, 8-8 CUSA) begins the 2025 CUSA Volleyball Championship against FIU (18-11, 12-4). The fourth-seeded Panthers host this year's championship, taking on No. 5 seed Liberty on Friday at 2 p.m.
Quick Hits
Quick Hits
- These two teams met on Oct. 24-25 at Liberty Arena, with the Panthers prevailing in four sets both days.
- Liberty's Carly O'Brien, Jenna Otts and Paige Overcash all made the 2025 CUSA All-Conference second team, while Alison Bierwagen received CUSA all-Freshman Team honors. Otts and Overcash were both named to the CUSA All-Academic Team.
- The Lady Flames have secured their 24th 20-win season in program history and first since 2022 (22-9), when the team won the ASUN regular-season title.
- Jenna Otts leads Liberty with 24 double-digit kill matches, while Paige Overcash has recorded 22 double-digit kill contests.
- Liberty (Carly O'Brien - 31 at Houston; Paige Overcash - 30 vs. ECU) is the only NCAA Division I volleyball team with two players who have 30-kill matches this year.
- Carly O'Brien has posted a team-high 14 double-doubles, totaling 28 kills and 20 digs on Nov. 7 at Missouri State before recording 15 kills and 24 digs, Nov. 8.
- Freshman setter Alison Bierwagen recorded her 10th double-double of the season, Saturday against WKU. This is the first time since 2022 that two Lady Flames have posted 10+ double-doubles in the same year.
- Liberty is looking for its eighth-ever conference tournament championship and first since winning back-to-back Big South titles in 2011 and 2012. The Lady Flames' last conference final appearance came in 2022, winning the ASUN regular-season title before falling to No. 2 seed FGCU in the championship match.
- There have been 13 matches this season in which Carly O'Brien, Jenna Otts and Paige Overcash have all reached double figures in kills, including in four out of the last six matches.
- Liberty went 4-4 in both the first half and second half of its conference schedule, while FIU posted 6-2 records in both halves of Conference USA play.
- Liberty opened its season with a 14-1 record, its best 15-match start to a season. On Oct. 2, Liberty and BYU were tied for the most wins of any NCAA Division I volleyball team to that point.
- Liberty is one of nine NCAA Division I volleyball programs who enter this week with a first-year head coach and 20 or more wins, joining Creighton (Brian Rosen), Eastern Illinois (Ryan Millar), Kansas (Matt Ulmer), Louisville (Dan Meske), Nebraska (Dani Busboom Kelly), North Texas (Dave Fleming, Southeastern Louisiana (Lee McBride) and Toledo (Brian Wright).
- Liberty went 9-2 in five-set matches this season, beginning with a reverse sweep against Rutgers on Aug. 30. That was Liberty's first reverse sweep since 2016 at UNC Asheville.
- The team is 17-14 in sets decided by two points and 4-5 in extended sets this season. Liberty's longest set this season was a 35-33 set-two loss during a 3-2 win over East Carolina, Sept. 13.
- The Lady Flames have hit .300 or better eight times in 2025 after hitting .300 just twice last year.
- On Nov. 7 at Missouri State, Liberty's 82 kills were its most since scoring 82 at Presbyterian College on Nov. 2, 2007. The Lady Flames' 98 digs were their most since collecting 100 digs at UC Irvine, Sept. 16, 2010.
- Liberty has three players (Carly O'Brien, Jenna Otts, Paige Overcash) with 350 or more kills. The last time three Lady Flames had 350 or more kills in the same season was 2007 (Jessica Nelson, Nicki Scripko, Chelaine McCarty), the last year that sets went to 30 points.
- Liberty has posted its first-ever volleyball win over a Big Ten team (Rutgers) and Big 12 team (Houston) this season.
- Liberty received Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week honors each of the first five weeks of this season, in Paige Overcash (three times), Carly O'Brien (Sept. 22) and Jenna Otts (Sept. 29).
- eremy White is in his first season at Liberty. He served as head coach at Southeastern Louisiana for the last six years, posting a 113-58 record and leading the Lions to two NCAA Tournaments. Last year, Southeastern posted a nation-leading 24-match winning streak.
- Former Tulsa head coach Ryan Wills (2014-22) serves as an assistant at Liberty. Mackenzie Martin is in her first year as an assistant after finishing her playing career at The Citadel last season.
- Liberty welcomes 11 newcomers this season, including four transfers. Graduate students Zoe Hall (TCU) and Shyia Richardson (Louisiana) join the Lady Flames, along with junior Molly Littlefield (Gardner-Webb) and sophomore Layla Collins (Virginia Tech).
- All but one of Liberty's players are in either their first or second season with the team. Only Charli Morris remains from the 2023 roster.
- Liberty's Carly O'Brien and Kayla O'Brien are the first pair of sisters to play for Liberty volleyball during the same season since Abby and Kate Phillips in 2021.
Players Mentioned
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