Friday, August 26, 2011

HOUSTON, Texas -- Getting the 2011 season underway on Friday afternoon, the Lipscomb volleyball team dropped a hard-fought 3-0 non-conference decision, 25-23, 25-22, 25-23, to Xavier in the first contest of the “Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup” in Houston, Texas.

Taking the court at the University of Houston's Athletics/Alumni Center, senior Katie Rose led the Lady Bisons with 11 digs on the afternoon, while sophomore Kaycee Green paced Lipscomb (0-1) with 12 kills. Freshman Lauren Ford finished second on the team with eight kills just ahead of Rose’s seven.

Game one saw the Musketeers (1-0) jump out to an 11-8 lead before the Lady Bisons roared back with a 6-0 run to take a 14-11 advantage capped off by an ace from sophomore Stephanie Rex. The game remained tight until the end with Xavier pulling out the win by taking five of the last eight points.

“We came out and started a little slow,” said head coach Brandon Rosenthal. “I thought we made too many unforced errors but it was a good effort overall.”

Closely resembling the first set, game two featured 12 ties and saw both teams land punches with neither team able to take more than a three-point lead. The Lady Bisons were forced to make major lineup adjustments in the middle of the set when Ford was forced to leave the game with an ankle injury. Again in game two, Xavier pulled away just at the end winning four of the last five points after a 21-21 tie.

“I felt good as we settled into set two and then Lauren Ford went down and we had to scramble,” said Rosenthal. “That forced us to shuffle our lineup drastically but Jewell Dobson did a tremendous job and Kaycee Green really stepped up with a .423 hitting percentage in the match.”

The third set looked as if the first two closely played games had taken the wind out of the Lady Bisons sails as Xavier raced out to a 16-10 advantage but Lipscomb refused to go quietly going on a 13-7 run to tie the game at 23 before the Musketeers clinched the sweep by taking the final two points.

“I thought we did a really nice job in the third considering it’s not anything we’ve practiced over the past three weeks,” said Rosenthal. “I was really, really pleased with the resolve and the team’s effort getting after it and was really excited to see the way we responded.”

The Lady Bisons outpaced Xavier in kills 40-33 but were plagued by a number of unforced errors that proved costly. Senior transfer Abby Fay stepped into Ford’s shoes and played well notching a double-double with ten digs and 21 assists to go along with four kills.

Originally, slated for 11:30 a.m., the contest was delayed for 90 minutes after Xavier’s team vans were broken into at their team breakfast this morning.

Lipscomb continues action in the tournament on Friday night at 7 p.m. against host Houston