The perfect word to describe the Bison’s play Saturday night is relentless, as the team came onto the court with a fiery will to win and a refusal to be defeated.
The crowd was alive in Allen Arena for the second face off between Lipscomb and FGCU in an ASUN championship game.
The Bisons went into the game 21-7. No. 3 seed FGCU was 27-5.
“It is part of the program,” Rosenthal said. “Since 2007 we have been in every championship match except for one.”
Although Lipscomb was the favored winner, the victory did not come easily.
Lipscomb took sets one and two before falling in the third set. The Bisons rallied together to take set four in a nail biter 25-23.
The Bison dominated the first set with hard hitting kills 25-16.
The second set was back and forth with Lipscomb ahead most of the match all the way up to 16-14.
Taylor Racich took control of the set with her legendary jump serve and pushed FGCU to a timeout to recoup.
Carly Nusbaum and Maddie Phillips continued to read the defense flawlessly and find the gaps. Whereas FGCU tried to smack the fire out of the ball, Lipscomb played to FCGU’s weaknesses and tipped the ball within the gaps, forcing FGCU to scramble. The Bisons quickly took the momentum and refused to let any ball hit the ground.
At 22-18, Brittany Thomas did her best to make contact on FGCU’s hard hits but was unsuccessful in controling the ball. Maddie Phillips finished off the Eagles with a hit straight through the middle that deflected off of FGCU’s block and hit the floor. Lipscomb squeezed through set two 25-23.
An extremely slow start for the Bisons allowed FGCU to jump ahead 7-2 early in the third set.
The Eagles finally found answer to the strong Lipscomb offense and began blocking hit after hit, putting Lipscomb behind again.
The block continued to baffle the Bisons as they struggled to find a way to score. The roles in this match were completely reversed as FGCU controlled the tempo the entire set. However, the Bisons continued to fight and refused to back down as they crept back into the set point by point.
At 21-12, FGCU fired through the block as the team hit every back corner on Lipscomb’s open court. Lipscomb fought back, but FGCU took set three 25-17.
Heading into set number four, both teams and the fans had a lot of energy. FGCU continued to dominate the block and shut down Lipscomb’s best hitter, Nusbaum, but the Bisons continued to scrap and stay in the match as FGCU led 19-17.
At 20 all, Thomas served and helped the Bisons gain control of the rest of the game. As Lipscomb jumped ahead 22-20, FGCU called a timeout, but Nusbaum then quickly proved why she is the ASUN player of the year when she slammed one down the middle to put Lipscomb just within the end of the set. Chloe Rogers got the kill to end the intense game 25-23, allowing the Bisons to be ASUN champions yet again.
“It sounds simple, but when you have a talented team like that, you have to create a couple of things for them to focus on,” Rosenthal said. “And they did the rest. The program has created an environment where even as a recruit coming here, you know what is expected of you, and this is no surprise. Our freshmen have been hearing about this for three or four years.”
Lipscomb had four players selected to the all tournament team: Ostrom, Thomas, Racich and Nusbaum. Nusbaum doubled up as the MVP of the tournament as well.
The Bisons will have a selection show next Sunday night to see where the NCAA tournament will take them.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics