The Lipscomb Lady Bisons (20-7, 12-2) clinched the #1 seed and a first round bye in the A-Sun Tournament by defeating the North Florida Ospreys (18-13, 8-6) in three sets during the regular season finale on Friday night in Allen Arena.
Lipscomb also clinched its 6th A-Sun regular season title and its 9th season with at least 20 wins, while also extending its win-streak to 13 games.
“It means a lot from the standpoint of the grind of regular season conference play,” head coach Brandon Rosenthal said. “It’s at least 10 weeks and a ton of pressure on those girls, but the pressure’s what we want.”
Both teams came out with a lot of energy but the Lady Bisons, lead by the energy of senior Taylor Racich, took early advantage with a score of 12-6 in the first set.
“Taylor’s got a heck of an arm – one of the best in the country,” Rosenthal said. “She’s coming off an illness and we encouraged her to get in a spot where she could bring that energy.
“It was a huge difference maker, especially in the third set.”
It was a hard-hitting rest of the set, as both teams fired off missile-like serves and spikes that led to kills and a 17-10 score.
The Lady Bisons took the first set 25-15, pulling away from the Ospreys late in the set to take a 1-0 match lead.
Freshman Lauren Anderson started the second set giving Lipscomb an early 5-0 lead.
However, North Florida battled back to trim the Bison lead to 13-11 after some Lipscomb miscues. Still, Lipscomb was doubling North Florida in kills 32-15, assists 31-15 and digs 26-12.
This set remained much closer, with the Lady Bisons holding just a 20-16 lead late. But Lipscomb held on for a 25-21 set win, putting the Lady Bisons up 2-0 in the match.
The Ospreys came to play in the third set and jumped out to a 5-2 lead.
However, Lipscomb would storm back to take the lead 10-7 behind exceptional frontline play from senior Maddie Phillips, Lauren Anderson and junior Kayla Ostrom.
Ostrom and Morgan Elmore combined for 40 assists on the night.
“If we only had one setter they could get a lot more credit, but ultimately this is the system, lately they have executed the game plan perfectly,” Rosenthal said.
The Lady Bisons took control of the match with aces from Racich and kills from sophomore Carlyle Nasbaum.
Lipscomb finished off the Ospreys 25-12, winning three sets to none.
“We’ve been at the top and that’s something we’ve grown accustomed to and I just the idea that our girls battled to make that happen again,” Rosenthal said.
After the match Rosenthal addressed the crowd and thanked it for the support over the season and encouraged everyone to come next week for the A-Sun Tournament.
“The girls pour a lot into what they do here, and it needs to be recognized,” Rosenthal said.
The Lady Bisons will host the A-Sun Tournament Nov. 17-19, next Thursday–Saturday, in Allen Arena. The bye will mean Lipscomb will not play till Friday, TBA.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics