by Cooper Torrez | Sep 1, 2011 | News Slider, Sports
With the loss of five seniors there will be new leadership, new competition and a whole new look to the Lady Bisons volleyball team this year. However, players and coaches are excited for the season and the new freshman. “Anytime you lose five seniors and bring in five freshman you’re going to have that,” said Lady Bisons coach Brandon Rosenthal. “I am very impressed with our freshman and all five of them [showed up] in great shape, worked hard and a couple of them are competing for starting spots.” Coach Rosenthal thinks that his team had a very good preseason and that their first couple weeks on the floor were “tremendous.” “ “There was competitiveness and it was tooth and nail everyday,” he said. “I really liked what I saw.” The team kicked off the season at the “Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup” last weekend and lost three tough matches to Xavier (3-0), Houston (3-0) and Central Arkansas (3-2). While the scores of the Xavier and Houston matches were both 3-0, the games were very close with most of them being won by no more than two or three points. Junior Kaycee Green, who started all 31 matches for the Lady Bisons last season, is looking forward to the new look of this team on and off the court. “I feel like we are more connected as a team on and off the court,” said Green. “We rely on everyone’s effort and not just two or three people. This year we will need everyone on and off the court to support one another to get the wins.” Coach Rosenthal agrees...
by Cooper Torrez | Aug 26, 2011 | News Slider, Sports
By: Cooper Torrez The Lipscomb men’s and women’s soccer teams are ready and eager to get back on the pitch. After the long off-season and training, the coaches and players are excited about this year for many different reasons. Lady Bisons senior forward Kristen Heikkinen said, “We had a pretty tough offseason like always. During the spring, we focused a lot on our 3-4-3 formation as well as fitness. This system was new to us last year so we struggled with it some, but I think it could make us really dangerous this year if we play it right.” With the Lady Bisons returning 12 players, it gives players like senior Meghan McGuire, a good feeling about the upcoming season. “Our team chemistry has been amazing from the beginning of preseason,” said McGuire. “Mixing 9 newcomers and 12 returners could’ve been a problem but doing different team activities has helped with our team chemistry both on and off the field.” Heikkinen said returning players could be a huge factor in the Lady Bisons successful season. “Returning players who have started off well include, Kameron Stillwell, Jenna Price, Meghan McGuire, Martika Powe, Katie Wood and Danielle Bethke. All of these girls have been crucial parts of our offense and will continue to be for the season.” Freshman newcomer Brittany Rupple has come in and done a great job at the center back position and could be a player to watch out for to add depth and speed in the midfield. When asked what the team goal is for the season, the answer was the same. “Our main goal and focus...
by Hunter Patterson | Aug 25, 2011 | News Slider, Sports
Hard nosed, honest, tough and a leader. All the words have been used to describe Coach Pat Summitt for over 30 years. Now, just days after she announced that she had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, those words have never rang truer. Coach Summitt has been the head coach of the Lady Vols at the University of Tennessee since she was 22. Yes, some of her players were older than her. She drove the van to away games. She and her players slept in locker rooms because money was tight. Some ladies even made the team based on the fact that they owned a vehicle. For Coach Summitt, those were the tough times. Now, Lady Vol fans and admirers of the Basketball Hall of Fame coach are calling this a hard time. Summitt refuses to, though. “There will be no pity party,” Summitt told the Washington Post in an interview on Sunday. “I’ll be sure of that.” Summitt says she had felt that something was off for a while, saying she “just felt something different.” Once her Lady Vols were eliminated from the Regional final of the NCAA tournament she visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. seeking any sort of explanation to why she had these lapses of memory. Those lapses were everything from forgetting what time she needed to be at the gym, losing her car keys more than once per day and forgetting what type of scheme or play to run at a certain time during a game. “I think last year there was some adjustment in games,” Lipscomb’s women’s basketball coach Frank Bennett said....
by Hunter Patterson | Aug 5, 2011 | News Slider, Sports
With only four returning scholarship letterwinners on his roster for this season, Coach Scott Sanderson has utilized every opportunity in the 2011-12 men’s basketball schedule to get his young team ready for the postseason. In a normal season, the Bisons would play 29 games plus an exhibition. This season however, Lipscomb uses two separate NCAA exemptions to boost this number to 30 games behind an exhibition and a five-game foreign tour for a total of 36 contests. After opening the season with home games against Fort Valley State University (Nov. 11) and Gardner-Webb (Nov. 13), Lipscomb will participate in the Cancun Shootout, a four-game exempt tournament that only counts as three games towards schedule limits. The Cancun Shootout actually starts in the United States and not Mexico with the Bisons traveling to Illinois (Nov. 17) and Illinois State (Nov. 19). Lipscomb will then fly from Chicago to Cancun to play two games in the “Mayan Division” against SIU Edwardsville (Nov. 22) and either Hampton or Sacred Heart the following day. Lipscomb opens a four-game home stand with Austin Peay on Monday, Nov. 28. Lipscomb defeated Austin Peay twice last season restarting an old rivalry between two teams an hour apart that hadn’t played each other for nearly half a century. The Bisons open conference action against Mercer (Dec. 1) and Kennesaw State (Dec. 3) before hosting UT Martin (Dec. 6) in a final home game before spending the next six weeks on the road. Lipscomb plays their third and fourth Ohio Valley Conference opponent in a three-week period when traveling to Tennessee Tech (Dec. 10) and Murray State (Dec....
by despotmj | Aug 2, 2011 | News Slider, Opinion, Sports
Are you ready for some football? If not, get ready, because the NFL has rocketed back from the lull that was the NFL lockout. Just like the 80s movie, Spinal Tap, the NFL has turned it up to 11 and will not be looking in the rear-view mirror anytime soon. In fact, last week set a record for the most NFL transactions (players cut/signed/traded) ever recorded in one week, and the Tennessee Titans certainly accounted for many, posting 51. For the last several years, the Tennessee Titans’ front office has been beleaguered by claims that they act too slow and are inefficient when it comes to off-season activity. Fortunately, General Manager Mike Reinfeldt and his staff rose to the occasion and brought in several additions to offense and defense, all while doing a little housekeeping in the process. The week began with the Titans signing Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to a three-year, $21 million offer. This will provide the Titans with a veteran quarterback ready to play immediately, leaving rookie Jake Locker a chance to refine his game for the foreseeable future. Following the signing of Hasselbeck, the Titans cut two players who have been staples of the franchise for the last several years. Vince Young, the troubled but talented third-overall choice from the 2006 NFL Draft, was cut after alienating himself from the team and front office. Defensive Tackle Tony Brown, who signed a three-year contract last offseason, was cut after being placed on injured reserve last season. Following the cuts were a slew of signings that included inking the entire Titans’ draft class to four-year contracts, as well as the...
