LYNCHBURG, Va. – Jacksonville University volleyball dropped a competitive match at Liberty on Sunday, falling 3-1.
 
The Dolphins captured the first set of the day, but could not keep the momentum going on the road.
 
SET ONE
 
JU got off to a strong start, riding three early kills by Jenna McNamara to take a 7-2 lead. The Flames went on a 3-0 to tighten things up, but the Dolphins used timely scoring to stay in front, including an ace by Gyrani Rogers and a Liberty error to make it 15-11. Niccola Bozzini collected an ace later in the set to force Liberty to call a timeout, trailing 18-14.
 
After a short Liberty run, the Dolphins responded with a 3-0 one of its own, capped off by a solo block by Kyndaal Stansberry. Out of a timeout, the Flames rattled off three straight points to force the Dolphins to use a timeout of its own. Bozzini set up a Keyauna Linwood kill to make it 23-20, but Liberty scored two straight to cut it to one. Kyndaal Stansberry then closed it out with two kills to win the set 25-23.
 
SET TWO
 
After scoring the first point of the second set, JU allowed a 3-0 Liberty run to take the lead. A 3-0 of its own allowed JU to tie it at seven, with Linwood and Brianna Jackson combining for a block to knot the score up. Liberty continued to take leads, but struggled to hold them. Stansberry collected a kill and Rogers had another ace to tie it again at 10. Then, a Bozzini ace evened things back up at 13.
 
A 4-0 run by Liberty built the lead again to 17-13 and another 3-0 run pushed the advantage to 20-15, forcing Jacksonville to use a timeout. The Flames grew the lead to 24-17, but the Dolphins rallied facing set point, ripping off four straight points, but Liberty finally got the final point to win the set 25-21 and even things up at one apiece in the match.
 
SET THREE
 
Liberty took another early lead in the third set, using a 3-0 run to go up 6-3. Linwood and Stansberry combed for a block as part of a 3-0 JU run to tie things at seven, but soon after, three straight for Liberty pushed the advantage back out to three, 12-9. The Flames kept the Dolphins at bay, after JU cutting the deficit to one, building it back out to three, 15-12, and then four, 17-13.
 
The lead grew to as many as seven, 23-16, before Liberty finished things off to win 25-18 and take the match lead.
 
SET FOUR
 
Liberty scored six of the first seven points of the fourth set. The Dolphins tried multiple times to rally, but the Flames consistently found timely scoring runs to keep JU at bay and led 15-7 on the strength of a 3-0 run midway through the set.
 
Barbora Romancova had a solo block and Taylor Sanders recorded an ace as part of a 4-0 run to cut the Liberty lead to 15-11 and force the Flames to call a timeout. A Stansberry kill out of the timeout pushed the run to 5-0 before Liberty got going again on offense. They ripped off three straight to make it 19-13, and the Dolphins were not able to get within striking distance again, dropping the set 25-18.
 
Isa Dostal had a team-best 10 kills, with Camryn Honn assisting 23 times. Kariana Ayala had 15 digs, while Linwood had four blocks and both Bozzini and Rogers had three aces apiece.
 
JU returns home to host three straight matches next weekend.