Lynchburg, Va. (September 16, 2026) – The University of North Alabama volleyball team will take their 10-1 record on the road again this week, as the Lions will face Liberty in two matches on Thursday and Friday in Lynchburg, Va.
North Alabama has been on the road for four straight matches. The two matches at Liberty this week will conclude the six-match road swing.
UNA was originally scheduled to end the road trip at High Point University on Sept. 19, but due to logistical changes, that match has been canceled.
The matches will be played at Liberty Arena located on the campus of Liberty University and are free of charge to all fans. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+, with Corey Spector on play-by-play, Karyl Wiese as the analyst. Live stats will be available on StatBroadcast for both matches.
MATCH ONE
North Alabama at Liberty
Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026
5:00 p.m. CT
Watch | Live Stats
MATCH TWO
North Alabama at Liberty
Friday, Sept. 18, 2026
4:00 p.m. CT
Watch | Live Stats
NOTES
SCOUTING THE LIONS: North Alabama has an overall record of 10-1 so far and has a team hitting percentage of .279 with 481 kills. Junior Reese Ricketts leads the team in kills with 123 and has a hitting percentage of .238. The Lions also limit opponents well, putting up an opponent hitting percentage of .141. The team has 453 assists, which junior Kinslee McGowan is mostly responsible for, recording 346 assists to lead the team. UNA so far has 570 digs, 58 blocks and 50 service aces.
SCOUTING THE FLAMES: Liberty enters the match with a 6-4 record and has won its last two matches. The Flames were picked second in the CUSA preseason poll with one vote for first place. Junior Carly O'Brien, senior Jenna Otts and junior Paige Overcash were Preseason All-CUSA members. Liberty currently has a hitting percentage of .225 to rank fifth in its conference. The Flames rank second in assists per set, averaging 12.47 and lead the conference with 501 kills.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST LIBERTY: Liberty has never lost to North Alabama, putting up a perfect 11-0 record against the Lions. Liberty and North Alabama used to compete in the same conference, the Atlantic Sun Conference. Liberty left the ASUN in 2023, while North Alabama left at the end of the 2026 academic year to join the United Athletic Conference. The last time the two teams faced off was last season, where UNA went up 2-1, but the Flames came back to win in a five-set battle in a neutral site game in Houston, Texas.
LIONS IN THE UAC RANKINGS: The Lions are leading 10 out of 13 tracked categories in the UAC as a team. Some key categories include kills (481), assists (453), hitting percentage (.279) and digs (570). Individually, there are three Lions leading in their own respective categories. Junior Reese Ricketts leads in kills and kills per set with 123 and averaging 3.62. She also leads the conference with 140 points. Junior Kinslee McGowan has led the conference in assists the entire season and now has 346 to average 10.48 per set. Senior Ava Martindale leads in digs with 175 and is averaging 5 per set.
LIONS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS: Junior Kinslee McGowan currently ranks 19th in the NCAA in assists per set, averaging 10.48. She ranks 17th in total assists with 346. Senior Ava Martindale, who leads the conference in digs per set, ranks eighth in the NCAA in that category with an average of 5.00 digs per set. She is tied for 13th in total digs with 175.
BLOCK PARTY: Freshman Anna Hoffmayer continues to lead the Lions in blocks, totaling 30 blocks this season to rank sixth in the UAC. Her season high is five blocks, which she has done twice this season, once against Alabama State and once against Tennessee State. She also recorded two against Florida State on Monday. Right behind her in blocks is sophomore Jenna Kolosta, recording 24.
TRANSFER IMPACT: North Alabama brought in one transfer this year, senior Phoebe Reyes Fortunato. The Dominican Republic native transferred from South Carolina, but prior to that spent two years at Barton Community College where she was a two-time NJCAA All-American. So far this season she has 105 kills and puts up a sharp .324 hitting percentage. She also has 41 digs and 13 blocks.
ROARING START: The Lions had one of their best starts in program history this year. They started off with eight straight sweeps, which broke the record that was held by the 2002 team that started with six. They also started 10-0 before their loss at Florida State, which had not happened since the 2005 team's 14-0 start.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
