by Danny Kotula | Sep 19, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
The ASUN Conference has accepted Austin Peay State University’s athletics program as a full member starting in July 2022, as confirmed by ESPN Saturday. Known as the Governors, Austin Peay sponsors six men’s sports and nine women’s sports, including football and men’s and women’s basketball. The new addition from Clarksville, Tennessee will give Lipscomb an in-state conference rival for the first time since East Tennessee State left to join the Southern Conference in 2014. Austin Peay will also be Lipscomb’s closest ASUN opponent geographically; the two campuses are separated by just over an hour by car. The Bisons have played the Governors in men’s basketball nine times, winning eight of those games. With the addition, the ASUN adds its 13th full-time member school and its fourth in two years. Austin Peay will be the third program to leave the Ohio Valley Conference for the ASUN in that same span, joining Jacksonville State and Eastern Kentucky. Austin Peay’s membership will begin on July 1, 2022, in time for the 2022-2023 athletics calendar in all...
by Micah Kennedy | Sep 18, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
The regular season picture is clear for the Bisons basketball team after their full schedule was released Thursday. The season opens at home on Nov. 9 against the Birmingham Southern Panthers, a Division III opponent that the Bisons used to regularly play during their time in the NAIA. Later in the week, the team will head to Charleston, South Carolina, for the College of Charleston Multiteam Event. There, the team will face College of Charleston on Nov. 12, South Carolina State on Nov. 13, and Loyola University-Maryland on Nov. 14. To close out the month of November, the Bisons face a Dayton team that appeared in the NIT last season on Nov. 17, neighboring Cookeville’s Tennessee Tech on Nov. 23, and NAIA member Kentucky Christian in a return home on Nov. 28. December’s slate of games opens with the anticipated Battle of the Boulevard game versus the Belmont Bruins at the Curb Event Center on Dec. 2. Third-year head coach Lennie Acuff is still seeking his first win in this historic rivalry against the Bruins. The home schedule for the remainder of the month sees Lipscomb host Chattanooga on Dec. 5, Tennessee State on Dec. 12, Tennessee Wesleyan on Dec. 19, and Alabama A&M on Dec. 30. The remaining December road schedule will arguably feature the team’s toughest competition all season. On Dec. 8, the team will travel to South Beach to play the University of Miami Hurricanes. The Hurricanes played three ASUN opponents last season with a notable loss to FGCU, an opponent the Bisons split games with in regular season play last year. The next road game...
by Danny Kotula | Sep 15, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb women’s volleyball team swept archrivals Belmont by a 3-0 score on Tuesday at Allen Arena. In the latest volleyball edition of the Battle of the Boulevard, the nickname for the rivalry between Lipscomb and Belmont athletics that has been contested since 1953, the Bisons took down the Bruins for the eighth consecutive time, tied with women’s tennis for the longest active winning streak for either side in any sport. For the second straight match, the clear offensive focal point was sophomore hitter Kam Bacus. An Edmond, Oklahoma native, Bacus accrued 17 kills to lead the Bisons on the night. Joining her with double digits in the kill category was fellow sophomore Meg Mersman, who contributed 10 of her own. Freshman Anna Aubele continued her impressive fledgling season with the Bisons, putting up six kills and a dig. Leading the team in digs were senior libero Delaney Smith with 11 and senior defensive specialist Logan Gish. Sophomore setter Delaney Dilfer continued to light up the scoreboard in the assist category as she has done since she first arrived in Nashville, putting up 34 assists and reaching the 30-assist mark for the seventh time in eight matches thus far. The Austin, Texas-born All-South Region and All-ASUN Freshman of the Year also landed two kills against the Bruins and five digs. With the win, Lipscomb advances to 2-6 on the year in one of their strongest-ever non-conference slates. Belmont drops to 2-5 after yet another loss to Lipscomb. The Bisons go back on the road for their final tournament weekend when they face St. John’s on Friday and Ohio on...
by Danny Kotula | Sep 14, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb men’s soccer team is ranked 22nd in the Week 3 NCAA Division I Top 25 released by United Soccer Coaches on Tuesday. After being unranked in preseason, the Bisons entered the ranking at #23 in Week One and made it to #21 in Week 2. This week, the team’s only match was a dramatic comeback from 3-1 down to earn a 3-3 draw at ETSU on Friday, marking the first week without a win for Lipscomb this year. The Bisons will make two more bids to stay undefeated on the year this week. They bring a 4-0-1 record into Tuesday night’s Battle of the Boulevard against Belmont followed by their ASUN opener at Bellarmine on...
by Danny Kotula | Sep 12, 2021 | News Slider, Sports, Uncategorized
The Lipscomb women’s soccer team drew with the East Tennessee State Buccaneers 1-1 at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex in Nashville. Two golden goal overtime periods were not sufficient to find a winner in the Sept. 12 game, after each side grabbed a goal in the first half. ETSU defender Raffaella Giuliano opened the scoring on a perfectly placed free kick. The graduate student from Italy picked out the top left corner on a 25-yard free kick on the right side of the goal, shooting across Bisons goalkeeper CJ Graham and beating her outstretched glove. That goal was Graham’s fifth allowed in 8 matches this year for Lipscomb. Graham, a sophomore from Swannanoa, North Carolina, added 7 saves to her total against the Bucs to reach 37 on the season. The home team would rectify the situation in the 36th minute when true freshman striker Shadia Valenzuela equalized. Valenzuela, a native of Buenaventura in the Colombian province of Cali, blasted a shot into the back of the ETSU net from close range, finishing off a quality service from fellow substitute Tori Wheeler on the left flank. Wheeler, a sophomore from Seattle, Washington, put up her first assist of the year in her seventh appearance this season. Despite a valiant effort from both sides, neither Lipscomb nor ETSU could find a goal after Valenzuela’s finish in the first 45. Sophomore defender Summer Ellmore came the closest for the Bisons, striking the post on a low effort inside the box. The Mount Juliet, Tennessee native found space at the top of the box and shot across freshman goalkeeper Shu Ohba’s goal, but a...
by Gracie Simpson | Sep 11, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
Sophomore golf standout Jack Morris — a Franklin native who chose to stay close to home for his college career — says he is looking to improve his game with the help of some competition from some new faces on the team. “We’ve got four new guys, two freshmen and then two transfers,” Morris said. “One of the transfers is from Purdue, one of the transfers was D2, All-American, we’ve got a much more competitive team,” adding that competition pushes him to work on his own skills every day. Morris is something of a hometown boy, choosing to be a Bison over other opportunities for a variety of reasons. “I chose Lipscomb, partially because the weather is a lot warmer…great business school…and we’ve got a great coaching staff along with a great program,” said the sophomore, who decided to accept Lipscomb’s offer in 2019. Family ties also played a role, since both of his parents are Lipscomb graduates. In high school, he led Franklin High School to a state championship while also earning the title Williamson County Golfer of the Year. He was named the 2019 Junior Cup MVP and the 2020 Tennessee Junior Amateur Champion. Such honors set him apart from those teeing up with him. College has been different, but he’s embracing it. “One of the things was playing for a team, not just individually,” he said. “This was kind of one of the things I had to adjust to, but I’m looking forward to this year and making improvements and getting better.” The team will head to Birmingham on Sept. 27 for the UAB Invitational. Photo...
