by Erika Plunkett | Aug 14, 2020 | COVID-19, News, News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb volleyball head coach Brandon Rosenthal was being hopeful that a season on the brink of COVID extinction would be rescued when he was interviewed recently. Now that the season has been postponed — the ASUN on Friday announced it was halting all fall sports because of the COVID epidemic and hoping to reschedule them for the spring — his and his players’ hopes have been dashed. Or at least delayed. In the interview prior to Friday’s news, Rosenthal said being “resilient” is a key factor for the team because the pandemic already had thrown the games and even practice into an uproar. At the time, possibilities being tossed around included playing only in-conference or moving the season into the spring. In making Friday’s announcement, ASUN Commissioner Ted Gumbart, called it “a huge disappointment.” “Anyone who follows college sports understands the dynamics that brought us to this decision, but that doesn’t mean we like it. My feelings right now? COVID stinks. If you weren’t putting my words into a public release, I might put it another way.” The postponement of competition in conference-sponsored fall semester sports includes men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball. So far, the basketball seasons for men and women remain unaffected, at least in terms of scheduling games. Scheduling will be a big issue for the fall sports, though, now that they have to wait until spring, if the disease allows for play then. “We will make every effort to provide a quality competitive experience for our fall student-athletes during the spring semester,” Gumbart said in the conference press release. “We’re...
by Erika Plunkett | Aug 2, 2020 | News, News Slider, Sports
Staying in touch with his basketball team during this COVID summer has been so unpredictable and new that it’s been like “building the bridge as we go,” said coach Lennie Acuff, describing the frustrations and adaptations that have been necessary to try to get the team ready from a distance rather than the sidelines. “It’s just really been like nothing we’ve ever encountered,” said Acuff. “We work really hard to stay in contact with our guys. We do Zoom calls once a week with them, and then we are also trying to recruit, which has been really hard.” By this point in the summer, the upcoming year’s team has typically been together for over a month, living on campus in the month of June for summer classes, practices and basketball camp. But this year, Acuff has not even been allowed to enter his office for almost four months. “Tomorrow’s going to be the first day we’re going to be allowed to go back to the office,” said Acuff on Tuesday, July 30. “So we’ve been doing everything remotely. It is for sure something we’ve never experienced, and I hope and pray we never have to again.” Coaches and staff already face challenges to stay connected virtually with the returning players. It is a more difficult task when it comes to the incoming players, according to Acuff. “It’s hard — really, really, really hard. I think that there’s only so much you can do on the phone,” said Acuff. “We signed two kids early in November that we know really well: Tommy Murr and Will Pruitt. “We know them well...
by Mckenzi Harris | Jul 14, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb men’s soccer has announced a new roster for the coming season, and the eyes of the coach were focused on ability to attack offensively. “We’ve historically been known as a team that has a really potent offense and some really dynamic attacking pieces,” said head coach Charles Morrow. The coaches were looking for more of that attacking force with this signing class, with high hopes to improve that sting in their offense. “In addition to filling some key positions like Ben Loche as our holding midfielder, that we lost last year, really the focus of this group was finding attacking players that could give us more of a threat in the attack and scoring goals,” said Morrow. “We’re really happy with the group that we got and the quality they bring as players and really excited with the quality of people that we’re seeing so far,” said Morrow. Here is more on the signing class and some of their notable achievements. Gerik Jakubowksi is a forward from Phoenix, Arizona. 1st-Team All-Region at Sunnyslope High School. He Led TSV Allershausen in assists, second in goals for a season. Won U16 State Cup Championship with Real Salt Lake AZ and he will be joining his brother Zarek Jakubowksi, an upcoming junior, on the Bisons roster. Austin Marfell is a winger from Warner Robins, Georgia. He is a first-team advanced to ECNL National Championship Final and a Team MVP for Houston County High School. Marfell is a two-year team captain and won the regional championship with HCHS. Marlon Grossman is a forward from Schwaebisch Gmueno, Germany. Grossman made 26 appearances in...
by Lumination Staff | May 15, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
By Megan Kuper, Shelby Talbert and Rose Schaddelee The Lady Bisons softball team looks for its 12th win of the 2020 season, approaching the fourth inning ahead by 10. Less than an inning later, Lipscomb defeats the Lady Tarheels due to the “mercy” run rule. The girls celebrate the big win and give hope to having the best season yet… until the unimaginable happened. The day after the Bisons big win, all winter and spring sports were brought to an end by the NCAA, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak that became a national emergency. “There’s no way that it’s over,” said Jenna Endris, a Bison whose junior season abruptly ended. “We did not see it coming at all,” she said, drawing a long, slow breath. “And it doesn’t seem real….” Hearing the season is over sprung many “Whys?” to Endris and the team: ”Why did we want to kill ourselves in the fall from conditioning and weights? And why did we go to practice for four hours every single day to not even compete for a championship?” Every day gets easier for the junior, she explained. The Lipscomb Bisons are reigning conference champions, and her positive attitude was fueled by cracking light-hearted jokes about going “back-to-pause-back (instead of “back-to-back”) conference champs” in her final season as a Lady Bison next season. Endris was not the only one feeling the impact of the season’s cancellation. “There were lots of tears and many expressed frustration, you know some having worked their whole softball careers and to have it end like this….,” said coach Kristin Ryman. “However we tried to remind...
by Lumination Staff | May 8, 2020 | News Slider, Opinion, Sports
By Anica Gilbert, Ben Browning, Riley Hoag and Casey King Lipscomb men’s golf team had a lot of potential before the COVID-19 national emergency ended the season and cut those hopes short. “We were on a trajectory to the postseason,” said coach Will Brewer. “That’s what our goal was at the beginning of August and we had a great shot. “Everyone was coming together and playing well. The team was really gelling.” Brewer said.”The team was stunned as they watched a canceled match turn into a canceled season. The team had high hopes and a promising chance at continuing to the postseason.” Then came COVID-19. “They were very emotional, very shocked and a lot of disbelief,” said coach Brewer. “The best part of the season was before everything got shut down because the team was working hard and pushing each other,” said freshman Gregor Mckenzie. “We had something nice going with the team, where everybody was concerned about each other, and everyone was accountable for what they were doing.” For senior Conner McKay, relationships with his teammates were especially important, he started adding that the talks with his teammates led him to redefine his faith and relationship with God. “This year was different because of the chemistry. I started to grow in my faith and a couple of guys on the team introduced me to the Bible for the first time,” McKay said. “About a month ago I accepted Christ as my Lord and savior.” Despite the ups and downs, the team is continuing to move forward in training for next year’s matches, but with all golf courses being...
by Lumination Staff | May 7, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
By. Makena Sneed, Alex Newsome and Erika Plunkett The 2020 Lipscomb Bison baseball team was off to the best start in program history when its season — along with the rest of the country — came to a crashing halt as the coronavirus concern grew. “I don’t think any of us knew the magnitude of what was going on, and to have the season canceled at first it was like, ‘wow, that is that really what we’re doing,’” said Bisons head coach Jeff Forehand. “And then as the thing has played out a little bit more we’ve all recognized that it was probably the best decision.” While the shock of the sudden decision has faded into understanding and respect for the safety of players, coaches and fans, the pain of losing such a promising season is still fresh on the Bisons’ minds. “My heart dropped when I heard the news,” said sophomore catcher Chaz Bertolani. “It was a total letdown to hear from our coach that our season was terminated. I felt heartbroken looking at my teammates, as we sat in the bullpen in silence.” “We were just super disappointed because we knew we had a really good thing going,” said senior infielder Haddon Adams. On March 30, the NCAA made an unprecedented decision to try and ease the heartbreak from the impact of COVID-19 when it was announced that all spring athletes will receive an extra year of eligibility. The catcher said that certainly won’t hurt the team next season: “Preparation will be the same [for next season], but with all the returning and new players, our team...
