Lipscomb already carried some hardware heading into Friday night’s matchup against No. 5 USC Upstate in the semifinal of the ASUN Conference Tournament in Allen Arena.
The Bisons lived up to those expectations once again with a 3-0 sweep of USC Upstate.
“A lot of it was just building the culture we wanted,” Lipscomb head coach Brandon Rosenthal said. “It is about the program as a whole.”
The No. 1-seeded Bisons headed into Friday’s match with a number of recent accolades.
Rosenthal was named Coach of the Year for the 3rd time along with multiple accolades for his players. Carlyle Nusbaum took the title of ASUN Player of the Year and unanimous First Team All-Conference selection; Kayla Ostrom received the ASUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year for volleyball and a member of the All-Academic Team, and Taylor Racich, Brittany Thomas, Lauren Anderson, Morgan Elmore and Maddie Phillips received the honor of being Second Team All-ASUN selections.
“We have put ourselves in a great position,” Rosenthal said. “If you look at the last five or six weeks, we have worked really hard to really find our identity.”
After a grueling 5-set match last night, USC Upstate appeared to be out of gas and out of luck. This ASUN semi-final game was an elimination game, and the Bisons conquered the Spartans easily in three sets. The win allows the Bisons to clinch their fourth straight year in the ASUN championship game.
Tonight’s starters, Anderson, Nusbaum, Phillips, Katie Bradley, Morgan Elmore, Chloe Rogers and Brittany Thomas played most of the night and put up scores of 25-19, 25-15 and 25-18.
The first set was a nail-biter in comparison to the other two, with the set being head-to-head with Lipscomb barely holding onto the lead all the way to the finish.
At 17-15, Racich shook Allen Arena with a killer ace that forced Upstate into a timeout to re-gather themselves.
Sloppy play by the Bisons allowed the Spartans to gain some momentum pushing the score to 22-19 with Lipscomb still barely ahead.
Katie Bradley took control of the game point by sliding across the net and smashing the ball off of the block. The Bisons took set one 25-19 and then took control of set two early and ran with the lead.
Lipscomb outsmarted Upstate’s defense by slamming the ball long when the defense pulled in, and then tipping it short when the defense sunk back, allowing the Bisons to jump ahead 12-5 with the help of Carly Nusbaum.
Nusbaum moved so quickly on the net that the Spartans could not even put a block up, leaving the defense defenseless.
Even Lipscomb’s back row kills were too fast for the Spartans to defend. Lipscomb took the second set with ease 25-15.
The Bisons came out in set three with tons of energy and determination to defeat the Spartans as the Bisons continued to shock the Spartans with their speed and agility. Upstate could not find an answer.
Lipscomb held the lead the entire third set and let some other players see the court to try and close out the set. Lipscomb took the third set 25-18 to claim the match and send the Spartans home.
The Bisons will play the winner of the match between No. 2 seed Kennesaw State and No. 3 seed FGCU at 5 p.m. on Saturday in the ASUN Championship Finals.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics