by Parker O'Neal | Feb 13, 2022 | News Slider, Sports
NASHVILLE – The Lipscomb women’s tennis team bumped up their record to 2-2 after sneaking out with a 4-3 victory against Murray State at the Ensworth High School Tennis Center. The Bisons fell at the start after losing in the doubles round competition, but that did not stop their momentum heading into the singles round. Last week’s ASUN Women’s Tennis Player of the Week, Sasha Dobranos, dominated in her singles match, allowing her opponent to only win two games across two sets. Chattanooga native Maddox Brandy was the next Bison to win after surviving a tiebreaker in the first set. With the score tied at 2-2, seniors Eleanor Chapman and Kate Popova found themselves in competitive sets with the match on the line. Down 3-2 in the second set, Chapman looked to find momentum. When asked what was said to Chapman to turn the set around, head coach Jamie Aid indicated it was a mentality more than a strategy. “[I told her to] just have fun and play your game…if we’re gonna win or lose, let’s win or lose by playing our [style of] tennis,” Aid said. Chapman went from trailing a game in the second set to winning her match in a tiebreaker of 7-3. With a chance to win the matchup against the Racers, Popova forced a third set after losing 7-5 in the first. Popova exhibited great resilience as a back-and-forth set resulted in a 7-5 third set win for Popova, and the match win for the Bisons as a team. “Kate played phenomenal tonight…she’s been a three time all-conference [player] and freshman of the year. [She’s...
by Danny Kotula | Feb 11, 2022 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb women’s tennis head coach Jamie Aid will be the first to mention the fact that Lipscomb has unfinished business to deal with this season. “Two years ago, we should have won [the ASUN Conference championship,” Aid said, “and we’re always building towards that. We’ve been in that position for the last eight years.” After three straight ASUN Tournament appearances but no conference titles to show for them, Aid is ready to change that narrative with a lineup made up of exuberance and experience alike. Two years removed from one of the more senior lineups Lipscomb has seen under Aid, including a top-30 ranked player in the nation in Vika Dzyuba, the squad has three underclassmen in the rotation this year. After eight years of watching young women come through her program, though, Aid isn’t concerned about their maturity. “We don’t really deal with some of the immature things that [other sports’] freshman do; they’re often more worldly than even I am.” Tennis is frequently one of the more international sports on campus, and this season, the Bisons boast seven internationally-born players on a roster of nine. “It’s neat to hear their stories, and they’re more similar than you’d think. The tennis world is pretty small; everybody seems to know everybody else.” For the Lipscomb tennis program, much of the success they find on the court is a secondary byproduct of a larger mentality of long-term development. “Finding players isn’t necessarily the problem,” Aid said. “Finding players that want to invest in Lipscomb that are going to take the most from the scholarship academically and put it into practice,...
by CJ Arndt | Feb 7, 2022 | News Slider, Sports
With the fall season well behind them, the Lipscomb softball team looks forward to regular season play in 2022. The team is once again led by head coach Kristin Ryman in her 17th season with the team, who graduated in 2004 from Lipscomb with 122 wins and a career batting average of .300 during her playing years. Assistant coach Laura Dukes joins Ryman in her 3rd season with the Bisons and her 7th year of coaching experience. Adding to the experienced Bisons bullpen, Ken Hunt, who sports National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s highest classification as a Four Star Master Coach, adds 30 years of fastpitch experience. The season starts out with a string of away tournaments, two in South Carolina and one in Youngsville, Louisiana. The first home action of 2022 comes on March 2nd against the University of Northern Iowa, who went 32-20 last season. The Bisons will then host a pair of tournaments at Draper Diamond, starting with the Purple/Gold Challenge on March 4-6. This year’s Bisons squad has fourteen juniors and seniors. One upperclassmen to watch is fielding utility senior Amy Vetula from Canton, Georgia. Vetula posted a .333 batting average and a .920 fielding percentage last year. Behind the plate, redshirt junior Kamrie Rich has a solid glove behind the plate with a .977 fielding percentage on 176 chances. In the box, Rich is one to fear with a .416 slugging percentage last year. The Bisons have a solid setup for the future of the team with eight freshman and sophomore players. Backing up Rich behind the plate is catcher and infielder Avery Cox from Puryear,...
by Parker O'Neal | Feb 7, 2022 | News Slider, Sports
NASHVILLE – The Lipscomb men’s tennis team came away with only one point Sunday morning at in-city rivals Vanderbilt in a 6-1 decision. The Commodores started off with the early 1-0 lead after sweeping Lipscomb in the doubles round. International graduate students Pedro Uribe and Gonzalo Garcia-Nieto had an early grudge match in the doubles round as they lost in a close tie-break set. Maksim Bogdanovich, who recently won his second career ASUN Conference Men’s Tennis Player of the Week, played national 34th-ranked George Harwell competitively throughout the match. However, Harwell was able to win with a come-from-behind effort in the second set. The most intriguing match of the day was also the longest played. Alex Mesquida, a junior from Ciutadella de Menorca, Spain, finished his game to grab the Bisons sole point of the competition. Commodore Jermie Casabon forced both sets to go into a tiebreak, but Mesquida was able to come out on top in both. Mesquida exhibited a miraculous effort as he fought back to win an incredible 14-12 tie-break score in the first set. Lipscomb drops to 1-3 and Vanderbilt improves to 2-0 after their home opener. Lipscomb will play their next few matches at Richland Country Club, including two matches this weekend. The Bisons match up with Tennessee Tech 6 p.m. Friday and against Tennessee State at 5 p.m. Saturday. Results Singles: #34 Harwell, George (VANDY) def. Bogdanovich, Maksim (LIP) 6-4, 6-4#93 Klopper, Joubert (VANDY) def. Uribe, Pedro (LIP) 6-2, 6-1Ferreira, Marcus (VANDY) def. Stojanovic, Luka (LIP) 6-2, 6-1Freeman, Max (VANDY) def. Gracia-Nieto, Gonzalo (LIP) 6-4, 6-4Mesquida, Alex (LIP) def. Casabon, Jeremie (VANDY) 7-6...
by Parker O'Neal | Feb 6, 2022 | News Slider, Sports
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The Lipscomb men’s basketball team lost to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles 77-68 Saturday evening at Allen Arena A frustrating second half saw Lipscomb lose a 16-point lead early in the second period, the fifth double-digit this year that Lipscomb has gone on to lose. The Bisons had three players score in double figures, including junior center Ahsan Asadullah with 18 points and guards Trae Benham and Greg Jones with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Asadullah was on the cusp of another double-double with 9 rebounds, tying Mt. Juliet native Will Pruitt with the most rebounds for the team. Asadullah scored 13 of his 18 points in Lipscomb’s efficient first half, and was complemented well with scoring from Jones and Benham throughout the game. Jones made four 3-pointers and Benham brought a spark to the starting lineup by going 6-13 from field goal range and 3-7 from three-point range. Asadullah started his game off strong in the paint and Lipscomb continued to shine bright. Benham made a fast break 3-pointer and a driving layup late in the half to take a 45-29 lead, the largest in the game for the Bisons. However, the commanding lead for the Bisons dwindled in the second half. Lipscomb’s shot percentage in the first half of 51.4% on field goals and 50% from the three point line would drop drastically to 22.9% and 11.8% respectively. Led by point guard Tavian Dunn-Martin and his 22 points, the Eagles came roaring back. After Lipscomb out-scored the Eagles by 14 points in the first half, FGCU responded by scoring 23 more points in the second half. FGCU went...
by Danny Kotula | Feb 6, 2022 | News Slider, Sports
NASHVILLE – The Lipscomb women’s basketball team lost to #20 Florida Gulf Coast 73-55 Saturday afternoon at Allen Arena. Behind five players contributing nine or more points, the visiting Eagles won their 21st game of the season and improved the sixth-best away winning streak in NCAA women’s basketball history to 28 games. Despite Florida Gulf Coast’s undefeated 9-0 ASUN record coming into the game, Bisons assistant coach Chris Sumski said his expectations for the team were high. “I’ll be honest, we do expect to win,” Sumski said in a continuation of a team-positive narrative all season long. “We are crazy enough to always believe that [we can win], even though we will admit FGCU is a really good talented basketball team.” Lipscomb was bolstered heavily on offense by its bench, as junior wing Maddie Cook and graduate shooting guard Sydney Shelton scored 10 points each to lead the team. Shelton went 2-3 from behind the arc, while Cook took 13 shots on the afternoon and converted on five. “The last couple of games, I think we’ve taken some big steps in that direction,” Sumski said. “We don’t want to rely on one or two people carrying the scoring. We want to score everywhere, and I think we’re starting to understand how we can do that within our offense.” The game may not have gone down to the wire, but the matchup was competitive throughout. Hot shooting early led Lipscomb to trail FGCU 13-12 at the media break, but the Eagles went on a 5-0 run to end the quarter at 23-17. In the second quarter, a strong defensive showing...
