Saturday, October 15, 2011

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Wrapping up a trip to the “Sunshine State”, the Lipscomb volleyball team finished off the weekend with another 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-15) Atlantic Sun sweep downing homestanding North Florida on Saturday afternoon at UNF Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.

“I was really impressed with our defense today,” said Lipscomb head coach Brandon Rosenthal.  “That effort shows with UNF’s hitting percentage.  Anytime you can hold a team under .100 you’re doing some good stuff.  It wasn’t our most crisp offensive game but I have to give our girls a lot of credit. Even when we’re not playing our best game offensively, defensively we did a really nice job and gave them a lot of pressure and forced them to do a lot of things out of the norm.”

After rolling through the first set 25-14, the Lady Bisons (13-6, 7-0 A-Sun) found themselves in a battle in the second stanza as both teams picked up the defensive intensity.   The Ospreys (8-14, 2-6 A-Sun) clamped down on Lipscomb senior Katie Rose and freshman Lauren Ford after the duo combined for a dozen kills in the first set.

The duo would heat back up in the third set however, as Rose notched four of her match-high 14 kills and Ford added five of her 11 kills on the afternoon.  Rose added 11 digs in the contest to notch her team-high sixth double-double of the campaign.  Freshman Megan Stout provided a solid defensive effort with 16 digs matching her career high.  Sophomores Stephanie Rex and Caitlin Dotson added 12 digs of their own as the team combined for 61 digs, the most in a three-set match this season.

“Our setters did a great job of distributing the ball and running our offense today,” said Rosenthal.  “Meghan Stout had a tremendous game and Stephanie Rex and Caitlin Dotson were both solid. Then Katie Rose is just Katie rose.  It’s a credit to who she is and what she’s all about.  She plays hard all the way around.”

The sweep is the eighth of the season for Lipscomb as the Lady Bisons run their unbeaten streak to 11 games. 

“It’s fun to go on the road and get to road wins and we’ve got the opportunity tonight to go out to dinner with the soccer team,” said Rosenthal. “That’s a neat thing that we’re not used to having a chance to do.” 

After a 2-0 weekend in A-Sun play, the Lady Bisons return home facing a tough task on Tuesday night hosting Big East power Louisville (15-4, 7-0 Big East), winners of their last seven matches, at 6:30 p.m. at Allen Arena.  Following the contest, the Lipscomb women’s basketball team will hit the floor for a “sneak peek” scrimmage and team introduction.