by Hunter Patterson | Oct 15, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
MACON, Ga. – A year after sharing the regular-season crown, Lipscomb emerged as the favorite in both the Atlantic Sun preseason men’s basketball coaches’ poll and media poll. The Bisons senior All-American Adnan Hodzic garnered unanimous preseason Player of the Year honors. Hodzic and fellow unanimous preseason All-Atlantic Sun performer Josh Slater look to lead the Bisons to a first NCAA appearance. Last season the pair represented the highest scoring teammates in the conference, averaging close to 40 points per game. Hodzic paced the league at 22.7 points per game, the highest average in the conference in 20 years in earning the Player of the Year award. He enters this season carrying the nation’s longest active streak of scoring in double figures, at 57. Since the start of 2000, the streak ranks as the ninth-longest in nation. Last season’s General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Basketball Champion, ETSU, took second in both polls. The Buccaneers made their ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament by beating Mercer in the A-Sun title game. The Bucs return with the MVP from last year’s Championship, Micah Williams, and Second Team guard Tommy Hubbard and welcome back Mike Smith ¬– who missed all but four games last season. In ETSU’s 2008-09 championship season, he averaged 15.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. All three landed on the preseason All-Atlantic Sun squad, giving the ETSU the greatest representation on the team. Belmont, one of the league’s four co-champions a season ago, placed third in both preseason polls. The Bruins return 11 letter winners and four starters from last year’s 19-win team headlined by last year’s Freshman...
by Jeremy Keck | Oct 15, 2010 | Sports
The time has finally come for the Lipscomb Bisons men’s basketball team to officially begin practice. However, due to the Nashville Symphony using Allen Arena this weekend, the Bison will be begin practice out of town at the University of the South at Sewanee. The first practice will be held on Friday night with two to follow on Saturday. The weekend will wrap up with a practice on Sunday before the team heads back to Nashville. “I want there to be an emotional attachment among each other,” said Bisons’ coach Scott Sanderson. “That’s why on opening weekend we’re going to go out of town and practice and do some team bonding type of stuff.” Coming off of a 17-13 regular season and having won a share of the conference championship last year, many would feel that Lipscomb has accomplished a lot. However, Coach Sanderson feels differently. “In my opinion, and in the players’ opinions, we really haven’t done anything,” Sanderson said. “A lot of teams might be satisfied with winning a conference championship. Now obviously that’s exciting, but as you keep winning, your goals get higher and higher. “We have a lot of motivation and our preseason has shown that we have a lot of motivation to continue to go that one step further.” The players will be staying at a hotel on Sewanee Mountain. They will spend every moment of the weekend with each other, both on and off the...
by Hunter Patterson | Oct 12, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
MACON, Ga. – The Atlantic Sun Conference recently concluded its annual fall meetings of athletics directors, senior woman administrators and faculty athletic representatives on the campus of Mercer University. Among the issues the membership approved were sites for future cross country and volleyball championships and format changes for the softball, soccer and tennis championships. The membership awarded future championships to Belmont, for cross country in 2011 and to Lipscomb, for volleyball, in 2011 and 2012. Belmont served as host of the 2004 Cross Country Championship and the meet returns to Nashville for the first time since Lipscomb hosted in 2007. Lipscomb will host volleyball for the first time but the event will return to Nashville for the third time since 2005. Belmont hosted in 2005 and 2006. Three tournaments will undergo changes to their respective formats. In softball, byes will be awarded to the top two seeds, beginning with the 2011 event at USC Upstate. Men’s soccer will return to a single-weekend event, to be played on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at a pre-determined location – beginning in 2011. Starting in 2012, the tennis championships will move to a Friday through Sunday format instead of the current Thursday-Saturday style. The conference announced new initiatives that will launch throughout the year, including an online store that will debut later this month, a renewed agreement with ASunPhotos.com, the creation of a new in-house marketing position, fresh championship marks and a monthly newsletter. The conference will conduct its spring meetings in Daytona Beach, Fla., from June 6-9. This release was taken...
by Hunter Patterson | Oct 11, 2010 | Sports
Men’s soccer swept, women’s soccer finished their home portion of the season and the volleyball team is still dominating the Atlantic Sun conference. Oh, and softball in October? It was all a part of this weekend in Lipscomb sports. The Lady Bisons softball team went 4-0 this weekend, beating Chipola twice, Milligan once and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville once. Junior Whitney Kiihnl pitched a complete game against Tennessee. Kiihnl allowed one walked batter in the first, but did not allow another base runner until the seventh-inning when a UT player reached on a bunt single. Freshman Haley Elliot homered for the Lady Bisons, giving them their only run against the Lady Vols. The Bison soccer team swept this weekend on their Florida road trip, beating Jacksonville and North Florida. Miguel DaSilva and Garrett McLaughlin,scored two goals each on the weekend. Tyler Burkhardt, Garret McLaughlin, and Andrew Chamberlain also scored for the Bisons. Lipsomb’s record is now even at 2-2-0 in the Atlantic Sun and 6-6-0 overall. The Lady Bisons Soccer team closed out the home portion of the season this weekend. But the team was also handed two losses courtesy of Jacksonville and North Florida. Danielle Bethke scored the long goal for the Lipscomb on the weekend. The Lady Bisons played Jacksonville tough on Sunday, but all three goals came from set pieces. Two came from a corner kick, the other from a penalty kick. Volleyball improved to 15-5 and 4-0 in the Atlantic Sun this weekend. The Lady Bisons defeated ETSU and USC Upstate this weekend. Lipscomb only lost one set in the two matches. Senior...
by Cecelia Ramsey | Oct 4, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
For the first time, Lipscomb University proudly received the Atlantic Sun Conference All-Academic Trophy in 2010 with 185 of the 258 Bison student-athletes achieving All-Academic honors. Frank Bennett, now entering his thirty-first season as head coach of the Lady Bisons Basketball team, likes to believe that his players define the term student-athlete. “Some people think it’s one or the other—academics or athletics—but I believe they go hand in hand,” Bennett said. The Lady Bisons are an example of the success that Lipscomb sports teams are having on an individual and team level, competing in the classroom as well as on the court. This past season, the Lady Bisons ranked ninth in the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 Team Honor Roll with a 3.452 average GPA. The retention rate is also impressive. Every student-athlete who completes their fourth year of eligibility graduates. It’s important to realize that academic success has not been limited to the basketball court. Lipscomb proudly had seven spring teams with at least 70 percent of the student-athletes achieving a 3.0 grade-point average or higher , earning the All-Academic trophy. To what does Lipscomb owe the successes of its sports teams? “It begins with recruiting good students,” Bennett said. “And we try to emphasize an attitude of excellence.” Athletic Director Philip Hutcheson likes to refer to the athletic department as the “front porch” of the University. “There are many people on campus excelling as students and achieving great things without any public recognition,” Hutcheson said. “Whether right or wrong, athletes are the ones receiving public attention.” Hutcheson went on to talk not only about academics,...
