by Hunter Patterson | Nov 10, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
From LipscombSports.com — Don’t think badly of the Lipscomb Lady Bisons, but they don’t like to share– at least when it is a regular season championship. “We didn’t want to share anything,” said senior middle blocker Alex Kelly. When the Lady Bisons put the finishing touches on a 3-1 match win over the Belmont Bruins Tuesday night at Allen Arena this edition of the “Battle of the Boulevard” meant more than just another win. The victory gave the Lady Bisons a 10-0 conference record, marking the second season they have finished unbeaten in Atlantic Sun games. Last season under the double-round robin format and in the A-Sun Tournament they finished 22-0 in conference matches. It also extended their conference regular season winning streak to 35 games, second only to Hawaii. They are fourth nationally in home wins in a row with 26. “With all the parity in the conference this season it is tremendous for us to go undefeated,” Rosenthal said. “And we did it in style. “The single round-robin is tough. A 22-0 record might sound better than a 10-0 record. But the 10-0 was much more pressure-packed than 22-0. Our girls have done some awesome stuff.” By finishing without a loss it also guaranteed the Lady Bisons sole possession of the regular season championship. With Kennesaw State sitting in second at 8-1 there was a possibility of having to share the title which they had clinched at least a share of last weekend on the road in Florida. “I credit the girls,” Rosenthal said. “To go undefeated in back-to-back years is really hard to do. It is...
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 5, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
ESPN had hoped an exhibition basketball game it was planning to promote a book written about former Lipscomb basketball coach Don Meyer by one of the network’s reporters would be played at Allen Arena. But, because the Bisons had other commitments — including a game against Stillman College and a trip to the “Dean Dome” to play North Carolina — during the same time period, the inaugural Don Meyer Classic is going to be played at the Curb Event Center and feature Lipscomb’s rivals, Belmont University. The plan, as put forward by the author, ESPN baseball analyst Buster Olney — who covered Lipscomb and Belmont during his stint at the Nashville Banner — was to have the classic pit two of Meyer’s former basketball teams — LU and Northern State in Aberdeen, S.D. — against each other. The game is to be played on Nov. 9, the date the book, How Lucky You Can Be: The Story of Coach Don Meyer , is to be published by ESPN Books. For last few years, Olney has been working on the book about Meyer’s life. Meyer received the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the 2009 ESPYs for his courage after cancer was discovered in his body during surgery to remove a leg after he was in a near-fatal car wreck in 2008. His will to win on and off the court is chronicled in the book about the coach who has victories by any men’s coach in NCAA basketball history. He is also known for his influential coaching style and his five C’s to a successful team: Concentration, Courtesy, Communication, Competition and Consistency. It was a matter of logistics and the determination to fulfill a previous commitment that had Lipscomb...
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,...
by Hunter Patterson | Oct 3, 2010 | Sports
The Lady Bisons played the first set similar to last night’s match against Mercer — unorganized. However, the Lady Bisons swept Kennesaw State in three sets 25-18, 25-15 and 25-11. KSU was able to take advantage of this unorganized and unbalanced approach by Lipscomb in the first set. “I thought Kennesaw state did a really nice job in the first set of playing good defense,” said coach Brandon Rosenthal. “They put a lot of pressure on us.” The Lady Bisons then regrouped in the second set to win 25-15. “The only thing I asked was for us to keep up our defensive pressure,” Lipscomb sealed the first set 25-18 with a few consecutive kills from senior Alex Kelly. Seniors Alex Kelly, Jake Pease and Megan Hinemeyer took over in the second and third sets, making sure Lipscomb got the win. “They want to win every play,” Rosenthal said. “This is it for them and they know what’s at stake.” Middle blocker Alex Kelly led the Lady Bisons in kills with a match-high 17. She also recorded a match high 17 digs. Kelly hit .483 for the match. Outside hitter Meghan Hinemeyer added 11 digs for the Lady Bisons. Setter Stefine “Jake” Pease made 13 digs and posted 40 assists. Opposite Charlyn Ursell had nine kills and a match high .667 hitting percentage. No Kennesaw State players had more than six kills in the match. Alyssa Lang led the Owls with 12 digs. Camille Pedraza and Rachel Albright each had 10 digs. The Lady Bisons extended their conference regular season win streak to 26 matches. They have won their last 22 matches in...
