by Joe Sanderson | Sep 27, 2014 | Sports
The Lipscomb Lady Bisons turned a rough start into a victory in the first Atlantic Sun match of the season. This was the Lady Bisons fourth straight time matching up against Northern Kentucky University for the A-Sun season opener. Lipscomb started out rough giving up eight errors in the first set, eventually dropping the set 25-21 to the Norse. The Lady Bisons took the win with three consecutive set wins by scores of 29-26, 31-29 and 25-20. “There’s no doubt we have a ton of respect for Northern Kentucky and every time we play them we know it’s going to be a battle,” Lipscomb coach Brandon Rosenthal said. “They really make you make the errors. Conference is on the line and nobody is looking to start out 0-1.” Out of five season openers against Northern Kentucky, this is the first time the two teams played it in Allen Arena. The spectators were buzzing with both excitement and anxiety as each set stayed close until the end. Outside hitter senior Lauren Ford led the Lady Bisons in the game with a match-high 23 kills, just two short of her career high. Coming off of a three game slide, she admitted that they needed a win. Another standout performance for the Lady Bisons came from junior Molly Spitznagle. She was credited with 19 kills, a career high for her, and added five blocks to round off her night defensively. “Setting Molly as much as we did was a deliberate move,” Rosenthal said. “With the scouting report we felt we had an advantage with that.” Sophomore Kayla Ostrom’s setting was on point...
by Jesica Parsley | Sep 23, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
WOMEN’S SOCCER The Lady Bisons soccer team holds a 6-4-1 record. In the month of September, Lipscomb is 5-2 with wins over Austin Peay, Western California, Chattanooga, Samford and Grand Canyon. With the win over Chattanooga, the program made history. The win was the third in a row, which was the first time the women’s soccer program had won three consecutive games. Sophomore Carolyn Springsteen earned Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Week the week of Sept. 8. Sophomore Ellen Lundy leads all scorers with four goals and eight points. Freshman Emily Rodgers scored her first career goal in a 3-1 loss to Arizona. Lipscomb’s recent hot streak helped vault them into the top ten of the National Soccer Coaches Assocation of America’s (NSCAA) Southeast poll. They ranked eighth in the most recent poll. The Lady Bisons will start their conference schedule Sept. 27 against Kennesaw State at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex. Men’s Soccer After big recent wins over Memphis and Houston Baptist, the men’s soccer team joined the women’s team in the top ten of the NSCAA poll. The Bisons currently sit at number six. Following a week in which he produced two goals and an assist, junior Josue Chavez became the third Bison in four weeks (joining Luke Gearin and Matt Kerridge) to win the Atlantic Sun Men’s Soccer Player of the Week. CROSS COUNTRY Both the men’s and women’s cross country squads are ranked in the top 10 of the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s south region rankings. The women are ranked fourth, and the men are ranked sixth. The teams...
by Brianne Welch | Sep 13, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
The Lady Bison Volleyball team fought hard throughout the Lipscomb Invitational, but came up short in the end. In the last match of the tournament, the Lady Bisons faced the Utes of Utah. The Pac-12 team beat Georgia Tech in three sets and ETSU in three, but Lipscomb took the Utes to four sets. The team lost the first two sets right out of the gate. The first set 25-18 and the second 25-17, but going into the locker room head coach Brandon Rosenthal had a talk with his team to get them prepared for set three. “There was a talk with the team. There’s an expectation that they’ve set, and it’s their responsibility to go after it,” Rosenthal said. Following the first two sets, the Lady Bisons came out on fire to win the third set 25-15 becoming the first team in the tournament to take Utah to four sets. Despite their efforts, the Lady Bisons came up three points short in the final set losing 25-22; however, Rosenthal was pleased with the effort from his team. “The talk after the match was just, hey I like what I saw,” Rosenthal said. “There is no chewing out or what not, well there was a little chewing out between two and three, but after the match, I mean, they gave me everything they had there in two and three, and that’s all you can ask for, and I’m really pleased with that.” At the end of the match, the Lady Bisons had more kills than the Utes, but were out-blocked. Brittnay Estes led the team with 13 kills in...
by Jesica Parsley | Aug 30, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
The fall sports teams are off to a great start this semester. Here is a recap on the games that have already been completed so far. Volleyball The Lipscomb volleyball team opened up the 2014 season with a 2-1 record at the Kansas Invitational. Friday Aug. 29 started with a disappointing season opener, losing 3-1 to No. 23 Creighton. Junior Brittany Estes recored her first career triple double in the match with 12 kills, 12 digs and 10 assists. Junior Bri McCombs led Lipscomb with 19 digs. Senior Lauren Ford added 18 digs. The big win came later that night against No. 22 Kansas. The Lady Bisons were down 2-0, but rallied back winning three sets in a row to get the 3-2 victory. The win was the first for the program over a ranked opponent. Lipscomb took set three 25-14, set four 26-24 and set five 15-12. Senior Jewell Dobson had a match-high 20 kills. Estes notched a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs. McCombs recorded a match-high 20 digs. Coach Brandon Rosenthal earned his 200th win after the Lady Bisons defeated Utah Valley 3-1 on Aug. 30. Lipscomb won the first set 25-23, third set 25-17 and fourth set 25-15. Estes had 10 kills in the match, and earned a spot on the All-Tournament team for the invitational. Ford recorded a match high 15 kills. McCombs led the team with 14 digs. Junior Molly Spitznagle’s hitting percentage was .562 in the match with 10 kills. The Lady Bisons will travel to Missouri Sept. 5 for a weekend tournament in the Tiger Classic. Men’s soccer Men’s soccer...
by Aaron Schmelzer | Aug 29, 2014 | Sports
Lipscomb Volleyball is set to begin a highly anticipated season, and the Lady Bisons, despite a high preseason ranking, are looking beyond the honor to focus on the bigger task at hand, as coach Brandon Rosenthal said. “For us, the end goal is a championship,” said Rosenthal, who is entering his twelfth season as head coach of the Lady Bisons. He mentioned that while being voted as the top team in the Atlantic Sun conference is quite the honor, it is simply an honor. Lipscomb is returning six of seven starters from last year, and of those players, Bri McCombs, Jewell Dobson and Lauren Ford all won preseason awards. McCombs earned preseason Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Year, Dobson was voted Atlantic Sun preseason Player of the Year and Ford received a place on the All-Conference team. The Lady Bisons will get an opportunity to cash in on the predictions, as they face four top 25 ranked teams during the season. Their schedule kicks off with back-to-back ranked opponents, Creighton and Kansas ranked 23 and 22 respectively, on the first day of the season. Matchups with no. 15 ranked Missouri and no. 19 ranked Kentucky will be happening on Sept. 5 and 19. When scheduling these matchups, Rosenthal is only thinking about one thing: winning. He has great confidence in the team and thinks highly of its capability. “We’re [playing top schools] because I feel like that’s the group that we’re in,” said Rosenthal. He also talked about the team being historically a “slower-starting team, so we’re always looking to buck the trend.” Slow start or no, Rosenthal...
