by Adrienne Luu | Feb 6, 2019 | News Slider, Sports, Student Spotlight
If you’ve been to a men’s tennis match in the past four seasons, you may have heard the crowd chanting “Manza!” Lipscomb’s men’s tennis recruited Alejandro Manzanares, the No. 1 player in Venezuela’s 18U division, back in the spring semester of 2015. Throughout his tennis career as a Bison, he has achieved multiple ASUN titles as well as finished every year with a positive individual record. Manzanares is currently a senior in his fifth spring semester. He anticipates on graduating this upcoming May. Due to NCAA rules, he is unable to play on the team this season since he has already played his four seasons of eligibility. However, head coach Geoff Hernandez offered Manzanares a position as the new assistant coach this season. “I think Alejandro obviously had a high IQ as a tennis player,” Hernandez said. “I knew that coaching was going to be a natural thing for him, and it’s honestly something that I feel like he might do with the rest of his life. On the court, Hernandez said Manzanares was known to have a winner’s mentality, smart play decisions and calm mannerisms. It was only a matter of time before he transferred those qualities over to coaching. “I think as he got organized with his academics in the fall, it was the right time for him to come into the spring, and he has had an immediate impact,” Hernandez said. Ironically, before Manzanares was offered the position, he was actually considering asking Hernandez himself if he could volunteer as the assistant coach. But Hernandez beat him to it, and Manzanares was not surprised that the opportunity presented...
by Adrienne Luu | Jan 19, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Lipscomb men’s tennis team took a road trip to Louisville on Friday and opened up their spring season with a 5-1 loss against the Cardinals. The Bisons (0-1) started off the match by winning the doubles point with a great battle from one of the three pairs. Francesco Tacconi and David Skrabut, on the third line, lost 6-2, but Victor Chaw and Pablo Caffarena pulled out a 6-4 victory in the No. 1 spot. Both teams then stayed on the sidelines to watch the last-standing doubles teams battle for the doubles point. Lipscomb’s Jorge Ortegon and Pedro Uribe started the match falling behind the Cardinals’ lead, but they kept calm and continued to fight. The Bisons duo squeaked out a 7-6 win against the Cardinals to clinch the doubles point. “The doubles, we really just kind of taken charge of that area of the game,” Bisons head coach Geoff Hernandez said. “We really believed in ourselves and our confidence was high.” After taking the doubles point, the Bisons brought their confidence into singles play hoping to win at least three of the singles matches to take home the overall victory. But Louisville had other plans and dispatched the Bisons with five singles wins to take the match, 5-1. Victor Chaw, playing in the No. 1 spot, was aggressive and drew out his match against Louisville’s Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff, which resulted in an unfinished play due to the losses of his teammates. Francesco Tacconi brought the Bisons and the Cardinals to an overall tie of 1-1 when he lost both sets. Pablo Caffarena was the first to start his...
by Aaron Schmelzer | Apr 25, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
Student athletes and coaches filled the court of Allen Arena on Thursday night, but this time, it was not for a game. The Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) hosted the inaugural Lippy Awards in Allen Arena to honor various members of Lipscomb University’s sports teams. The awards show was hosted by student TJ Ojehomon and women’s soccer assistant coach Chris Klotz. Both female and male athletes of the year were competitive categories, but for the female award, sophomore cross country/track and field runner Dani Walker and junior volleyball player Jewell Dobson tied. On the men’s side, track and field high-jumper Gemikal Prude, who broke the high jump record earlier in the year, won as well. Prude said that winning the award was a blessing. “Winning this is quite the blessing,” Prude said. “It’s a feeling that can’t really be described, especially when you feel as if you’re undeserving.” The biggest award of the night, the Best Team Award, went to the women’s track and field/cross country. Senior runner Lacey Printz said that the team worked hard and credited the coaches and team captains for keeping the team focused. “This is the most incredible team we’ve had, and we just love running together and just having fun and doing it for God’s glory,” Printz said. To open the night, the James R. Byers Award was presented to senior track and field sprinter Tucker Peabody, senior volleyball player Caitlin Dotson and junior cross country/track and field runner Tessa Hoefle. The award is given to a top senior athlete who displays outstanding Christian leadership and excels academically and athletically. The honors had...
by Ashlan Williams | Mar 11, 2011 | News Slider, Sports
With their first weekend of conference play tucked away under their belts, the Bisons and Lady Bisons tennis teams are preparing to face the Atlantic Sun’s top competitor, East Tennessee State University on at 1 p.m. Saturday in Johnson City. After picking up wins on both the men’s and women’s side in their opening weekend of A-Sun play, head coach Andrew Harris said the teams are working to improve for ETSU this coming weekend. “Both teams are looking forward to another conference weekend,” Harris said. “After the matches against Mercer and Kennesaw State this past weekend, the teams recognize things we need to continue to work on as well as building on things we did well. Both ETSU’s men’s and women’s teams ranked first in the A-Sun preseason poll and pose a tough challenge for the Bisons and Lady Bisons this weekend. And with Spring Break just around the corner, Johnson City will be the teams’ first stop out of a series of three road matches. Harris said ETSU will bring strong competition to begin their road play. “ETSU has restructured their coaching staff similar to ours this past summer with Yaser Zaatini now overseeing both teams,” Harris said. “Their women’s program last year lost to UNF in the A-Sun finals, and their men’s program has annually been one of the more consistent teams in the country the past five years. This will be our first of three road matches over the next week, so we know we will have our work cut out for us come Saturday.” The women, coming off a successful weekend, picked up their first...
