The eighth-annual LUV Invite has concluded, and the Lipscomb Bisons (2-0) stand as the ultimate victors in the tournament hosted in Allen Arena. A 3-2 victory for the Bisons capped off the weekend, which featured visiting teams SMU and Iowa.
“It’s great just to get that momentum from the start of the year,” Lipscomb senior outside hitter Lauren Anderson said. “And playing on your home court is incredible, too.”
SMU (0-2) got the short end of the stick in the tournament. The Bisons opened with a 3-0 win over the Mustangs on Friday night. Senior outside hitter Carlyle Nusbaum and junior middle blocker Maddie Phillips tied for a Lipscomb-leading 10 kills.
Iowa then took down SMU with a 3-1 win on Saturday afternoon. Senior outside hitter Taylor Louis provided the Hawkeyes with a team-leading 19 kills.
The final contest proved to be the closest one of the trilogy.
The Bisons carried most of the momentum throughout the first set, with the outside hitter Anderson featured as the Bisons’ libero. Nusbaum and sophomore outside hitter Megan Kuper both contributed four kills each for Lipscomb as the Bisons ultimately took the first set 25-13. This included a 15-3 run to cap things off.
The Hawkeyes shut down the Bisons’ momentum in the next two sets. They controlled much of the second set, finishing with a 25-20 victory. Iowa also dominated for most of the third set, aided by six unanswered points when they were down 6-7. The Bisons struggled to prevent Iowa’s persistent kill attempts, and they fell 16-25.
“I didn’t think we passed extremely well,” Lipscomb coach Brandon Rosenthal said. He also criticized his team’s serving as “what I would call soft.”
The Bisons re-stabilized and regained traction with a 25-18 win in the fourth. Although Iowa did present a challenge during some parts of the set, Lipscomb clearly held the momentum.
“The thing that we did is we moved Lauren Anderson from the libero position to the outside position,” Rosenthal said. This switch ended up being the key for Lipscomb in the fourth and fifth sets.
“From the outside looking in, if you’re a new fan, that’s a weird move,” Rosenthal said. “But Lauren Anderson’s a three-year starter on the outside, and has done it over and over and over again.”
In the fifth set, both teams started out practically trading points. Down 7-6, the Bisons put on a four-point run. The Hawkeyes narrowed Lipscomb’s deficit to 12-10, but the Bisons finished with three unanswered points.
Nusbaum won the game on a kill.
Louis led Iowa with 22 kills, and freshman middle blocker Hannah Clayton finished with seven blocks for the Hawkeyes. Nusbaum gave the Bisons a team-leading 21 kills, with senior middle blocker Ca’Layci Coffey providing six blocks.
The LUV Invite named its All-Tournament team for the Lipscomb Bisons, with Nusbaum (MVP), Anderson, and Kuper receiving honors.
The Bisons move on to Arizona for a few games next weekend, starting with Pacific.
“One of our freshman’s from Arizona,” Anderson said. “So we get to go to her homeland, and we played Arizona last year; so it’ll be interesting to take a new squad out there.”
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics