Lady Flames Welcome New Mexico State for Weekend Matches
10/7/2026 10:45:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
LYNCHBURG, Va. -Â Liberty (11-5, 3-1 CUSA) welcomes New Mexico State (8-9, 1-3) to Liberty Arena, Friday and Saturday.
Friday's match will be Liberty's Dig Pink match, where the Lady Flames raise funds and awareness for the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation (VCBF).
On Saturday, Liberty will participate in Conference USA's Mental Health Awareness initiative.Â
Quick Hits
Friday's match will be Liberty's Dig Pink match, where the Lady Flames raise funds and awareness for the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation (VCBF).
On Saturday, Liberty will participate in Conference USA's Mental Health Awareness initiative.Â
Quick Hits
- The Lady Flames have won three matches in a row after falling in five sets to Middle Tennessee in their CUSA opener. Liberty swept Jacksonville State in a pair of road matches this past weekend, hitting a combined .416. The Lady Flames' .339 conference-only hitting percentage leads all teams in CUSA.
- New Mexico State split a pair of matches at Sam Houston last weekend, including a 3-2 victory on Saturday.
- Liberty was predicted second in the 2026 CUSA Preseason Coaches' Poll, while New Mexico State tied for third with Kennesaw State. Three Lady Flames (Carly O'Brien, Jenna Otts, Paige Overcash) and one Aggie (Maggie Lightheart) were named to the Preseason All-Conference Team.
- Sophomore Ali Bierwagen and junior Charli Crowson were named CUSA Co-Setters of the Week on Monday. They combined for 12.84 assists, 1.0 aces and 4.83 digs per set last weekend.Â
- Freshman libero Melis Ural ranks eighth in CUSA with 3.60 digs per set overall. She has posted 14 straight 10-dig matches, the first Lady Flame since 2019 with 14 consecutive 10-dig contests.
- Senior Molly Littlefield collected her 1,000th career dig on Saturday at Jacksonville State, becoming the first Lady Flame since Erica Lowery in 2024 to reach 1,000 career digs.
- Liberty pin attackers Paige Overcash (4.00 kps, .525), Jenna Otts (4.17, .412) and Carly O'Brien (2.83, .405) all had big weekends at Jax State.
- Sophomore middle blocker Laney Daniell ranks third in CUSA with a .404 hitting percentage.Â
- The first Liberty-New Mexico State volleyball match resulted in a 3-0 Aggie sweep, Sept. 20, 2003. The Lady Flames and Aggies split a pair of matches in Lynchburg in 2023, before New Mexico State swept Liberty twice the following year. Mike Jordan has been the Aggies' head coach for all five meetings with Liberty.
- Liberty's .454 hitting percentage at Jacksonville State on Saturday was its highest hitting percentage in any true road match in the program's rally-scoring history (since 2001).
- Through the first eight matches this season, Liberty held a 4-4 record, being outhit by opponents a combined .265-.229. In the last eight matches, during which Liberty is 7-1, the Lady Flames have outhit opponents .290-.161.
- Liberty has hit .300 or better in each of the last three matches, the team's longest streak of consecutive matches hitting .300 or above since a three-match streak in November of 2022.
- Prior to last year, the last time Liberty came back from a 2-0 deficit to win a match was 2016. The Lady Flames have posted two reverse sweeps under second-year Head Coach Jeremy White, going 11-3 in five-set matches during his tenure.
- Last season, three Lady Flames (Carly O'Brien, Jenna Otts and Paige Overcash) recorded at least one double-digit kill match. This year, Liberty has already gotten at least one 10-kill match from six players (Layla Collins, Laney Daniell, Addison Hart, O'Brien, Otts and Overcash).
- After returning just 16.3 percent of its point production from 2024 to 2025, the Lady Flames bring back 86.8 percent of their point production from 2025 into this season.
Players Mentioned
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