by Hunter Patterson | Aug 26, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
From SeniorClassAward.com OVERLAND PARK, KS (August 26, 2010) – Thirty NCAA® women’s volleyball student-athletes who excel both on and off the court were selected as candidates today for the first-ever Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in volleyball. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. The complete list of candidates follows this release. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. The 2010 candidate class includes eight American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Americans from last season. Twenty of the 30 have maintained a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better. Two of the candidates were recognized by the College Sports Information Directors of America as 2009 Academic All-Americans, and 12 are members of teams ranked in the AVCA’s preseason top 25 poll. Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award® winners during the 2010 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship in December. The candidate class will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. “We are excited to add women’s volleyball to the award...
by Hunter Patterson | Aug 19, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
Stefine “Jake” Pease Voted Preseason Player of the Year Lipscomb Draws Top Preseason Honors All-Conference Photo Gallery Pease Highlights MACON, Ga. – Lipscomb, the defending Atlantic Sun Conference champions, will enter the fall as the overwhelming favorite to win its third conference crown in the past four seasons, the conference office announced on Thursday. The Lady Bisons received ten first-place votes from the league coaches in the preseason poll, while senior setter Stefine “Jake” Pease earned Preseason Player of the Year honors. Buoyed a perfect 20-0 conference record, Lipscomb cruised to a 28-4 mark and claimed the conference tournament title by defeating host school FGCU in the final. Pease ranked tenth in the country after averaging nearly 12 assists as a junior last season. She added 284 digs and 104 kills on her way to Tournament MVP and First Team All-Atlantic Sun honors. A pair of Pease’s Lipscomb teammates, Meghan Hinemeyer and Alex Kelly, joins the setter on the preseason squad. Hinemeyer, a senior outside hitter, totaled 353 kills, 257 digs and 27 service aces last season, while Kelly, last season’s Player of the Year and unanimous selection to the preseason team, led the conference in kills per set and points per set. FGCU took the second spot in the poll after finishing as the conference tournament runner-up in 2009. Jelena Simic, a senior outside hitter, joined Kelly as a unanimous selection to the team alongside teammate Holly Youngquist, a junior libero. The Bruins of Belmont came in third in the poll with junior outside hitter Maggie Johnson earning a nod to the preseason All-Atlantic Sun team. Johnson led...
by Hunter Patterson | Jul 29, 2010 | Sports
A week ago I posted an excerpt from Rivals.com writer David Fox who declared Lipscomb’s Adnan Hodzic the nation’s most underrated player. Today, the story that Fox hinted about became public. The story in its entirety can be viewed after the jump. It is a magnificent piece about the struggles that Hodzic dealt with as a child in Bosnia and his journey to Lipscomb. From David Fox, Rivals.com college basketball staff writer NASHVILLE — Some memories of Adnan Hodzic‘s early childhood come to him only in flashes. Hodzic, a forward at Lipscomb who is the top returning scorer in the nation, never had a plastic basketball hoop or an orange foam basketball growing up. He rarely even went outside to play. Instead, Hodzic remembers running through the streets of Sarajevo with his mother with bullets flying. Lipscomb’s Adnan Hodzic is the nation’s top returning scorer. “It’s really hard to remember, man,” Hodzic says. “I remember a lot of war stuff. You know — bombs, gun shots, hiding. I also remember a loving family. Beautiful country. Granted, a lot of stuff I remember is bad.” Hodzic, who averaged 22.7 points per game last season and won Atlantic Sun player of the year honors, was the first in his family to touch a basketball. For a time, neither Hodzic nor his family knew if he’d have the opportunity to do even that, much less that his mother, father and older sister Amina one day would be able to drive a few hours to watch him play college basketball. Hodzic is 21. He was 3 when Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from the...
by Hunter Patterson | Jul 23, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb’s center Adnan Hodzic took home several awards last season, including the Atlantic-Sun’s Player of the Year title. Last season, Hodzic really showed the nation what he was capable of. This season, though, he hopes to show the rest of the country what he can do. An article broke this morning from Rivals.com asking who the most underrated player in the nation was. One writer thinks that player is none other than Bosnia native, Hodzic. The following is an excerpt from the article which can be read in full here. At the College Basketball Roundtable each week, we ask each member of the coverage staff for his opinion about a current topic in the sport. We have two questions this week, one today and one Sunday. Today’s question: Who is the most underrated player in the nation? David Fox’s answer: I can’t claim I’m fully impartial on my pick of the most underrated player in the nation. This guy plays a few miles from Rivals.com headquarters, and we’ll be writing a story on him in the coming weeks. I’m going to go with Adnan Hodzic of Lipscomb. He’s the nation’s returning leading scorer at 22.7 points per game, and he’s not too far off from averaging a double-double, with 9.1 rebounds. Lipscomb shared the Atlantic Sun regular-season title before being bounced in the conference tournament, so his efforts aren’t for nothing. What’s most impressive to me, though, is his performance out of conference. Often, the top players from low-major leagues dominate their conference competition and get shut down by big-name teams. Not Hodzic. Last season, he scored 18 points...
by Hunter Patterson | Jul 20, 2010 | Sports
During the spring and summer months Lipscomb Lady Bisons basketball players are out of the sight of the coaches for the most part, but they are seldom out of their thoughts. Lady Bisons coach Frank Bennett will return a team that features three seniors, guards Jenna Bartsokas and Miaca Bowman and wing Valerie Bronson. A trio of juniors, guard Anna Bowers, wing Leah McAlister and post player Brittany Duerk, also bring experience. A quartet of sophomores, post players Chelsea McMeans and Kaitie Fritts, and wings Hannah Phillips and Morgan Faulkner, return after seeing a large amount of playing time as freshmen. Newcomers to the team are guard Haley Nelson, post-wing O’Neisha Smith and post player Jess Reece. Bennett is expecting Bartsokas to finish with her strong season ever as a Lady Bisons. Bennett isn’t sure if Bartsokas will play the point or the No. 2 spot. Nelson has shown a knack for being able to find players open everywhere on the court due to her excellent vision. Nelson could get playing time at the point. Bowers and Bowman also will be on the court as well. “We will see how the other girls develop and compete,” Bennett said. “I think that Jenna played a lot of last season at an All-Conference level. With our record not being that good she didn’t get the recognition. In the last five games she played at a very, very high level averaging 17 to 18 points during that stretch. “She is by far the hardest worker we’ve got. She is very self-motivated. She really spends a lot of time working out, shooting and...
