The Lipscomb volleyball team mauled the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears in 3 straight sets Friday night.

Bisons volleyball encountered the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears on home turf for the teams’ first-ever contest as ASUN conference rivals. The teams faced off for the first time since 2011 when the Bisons lost in a 2-3 contest. The Bisons had a 2-1 weekend to build off of with a pair of wins to finish off the ASUN Crossover Weekend. The Bisons were second in the ASUN West standings going in.

“I think the consistency in practice was very good and the ability to transition from defense to offense was excellent,” said head coach Brandon Rosenthal after his team’s third consecutive win.

The first set was started with a kill by freshman right side hitter from Lenexa, Kansas, Addi Pelham. Lipscomb put together a 6 point run led by server Delaney Dilfer. The set was pushed to 7-2 before a Lipscomb error led to a 4 point run with 2 kills by the Sugar Bears and closed the gap to 7-6. Libby Steinhart, a freshman defensive specialist and libero from Mt. Vernon, Indiana, led the Bisons on a 4 point run with 4 kills. 2 kills came from Logan Gish, a senior outside hitter from Pleasant Hill, Missouri. After another 3 point run by Lipscomb with 2 assists by sophomore setter from Austin, Texas Delaney Dilfer. Lipscomb led 16-9. A 4 point run from the Sugar Bears led by sophomore setter Anna Myers 3 assists bringing the set within 3 points at 18-15. A service ace by graduate student libero and defensive specialist Alex Spencer as well as a kill by sophomore middle blocker from Greenback, Tennessee, Meg Mersman put the set within reach at 22-16. A 4 point run by the Sugar Bears helped by two Lipscomb errors brought the set up to 22-20. The Bisons would not be stopped, going on a 3 point run with a kill by Logan Gish and two well served balls by Libby Steinhart led to 2 errors by the Sugar Bears to end the set at 25-20 for the home side.

After the set break, the Sugar Bears led off with a commanding block but the Bisons put 1 on the board on an antenna violation. A service error by the Sugar Bears brought the score close at 2-4. The Bisons were able to put 2 on the board including a kill by Delaney Dilfer. The set went to 6-10 before a Lipscomb timeout. As the team exited the timeout Lipscomb got the point on a kill by Kamryn Bacus. As the Sugar Bears had a 7-11 lead Delaney Dilfer took matters into her own hands getting her 3rd kill of the night. The Bisons fought the set back to 9-13. A service ace by sophomore libero Delaney Smith from Cincinnati, Ohio, put the Bisons behind just 12-14 to the Sugar Bears. A late fight from the Bisons helped them put together a 6-3 run with both Logan Gish and Meg Mersman getting 2 kills. The set score got to 18-20 before a Sugar Bears timeout. Led by 3 assists from Delaney Dilfer the Bisons were able to deadlock the set 22-22. A major kill by freshman middle blocker Anna Aubele ended the set at 26-24. Lipscomb led 2-0 going into the break.

“I think we are definitely coming together as a team,” said Smith. “We are forming good relationships helping on the court. It is easy to play defence around the blocking force; when the blocking is there, it makes my job easy.”

After the intermission, Lipscomb got hot quickly with a 8-2 lead in the first 10 points led by Delaney Dilfer with 4 assists and capitalizing on 4 errors by the Sugar Bears. The Sugar Bears looked to turn the tides as they started to get momentum on a 3 point run off two Lipscomb errors. Then Aubele shut that down with a hard kill to give the ball back to Lipscomb servers with a 11-5 lead.

The Sugar Bears clawed back to a 13-9 on 2 errors by the Lipscomb attack. The Bisons went on a tear and posted a 5 point run led by the sophomore setter and defensive specialist from Dallas, Texas, Ashleigh Albert who posted 2 service aces. The Sugar Bears got the ball back on a Lipscomb error making the set 20-10. A huge kill from Meg Mersman got the ball back to sophomore setter Delaney Dilfer, and 3 Central Arkansas errors along with two Lipscomb kills put the match away.

Graduate transfer and defensive specialist Alex Spencer featured heavily in the Bisons’ win, grabbing a season-high 11 digs. “It feels really great to accomplish this alongside my teammates,” said the Virginia transfer and North Canton, Ohio, native. “It was nice to get the win and play fearlessly with my teammates.”

With the win, Lipscomb advances to 6-8 on the season and a 3-1 conference record, while Central Arkansas drops to 3-10, sporting a 1-3 conference record and suffering their eighth 3-0 sweep on the year.

The Bisons are back in action 6 PM Friday in Allen Arena against Bellarmine, another ASUN conference matchup.

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