Friday, November 11, 2011

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Despite outhitting, out digging and out serving ETSU, the Lipscomb volleyball team dropped a tough 3-2 (25-20, 24-26, 23-25, 25-9, 10-15) Atlantic Sun Conference contest to the Bucs on Friday night at Brooks Gym in Johnson City.

Having taken the first set 25-20, the Lady Bisons (17-9, 10-2 A-Sun) squandered a chance to take a firm hold on the match with a 24-21 lead in game two but the Bucs (14-14, 7-5 A-Sun) rattled off five unanswered points to pull even at 1-1.

“We did some nice stuff all night but at the crucial times we didn’t come up with the plays we need to,” said Lipscomb head coach Brandon Rosenthal. “I’ve got to give credit to ETSU.  They played with passion.  They had to win to get in the tournament and you could tell tonight.  We let the cat out of the bag in (game) two and gave them a glimmer of hope.”

The Bucs went on to win the third game 25-23 to take a 2-1 advantage on the night before Lipscomb roared back with a 25-9 fourth set.

“It’s on us,” said Rosenthal.  “We have to be able to finish and put teams away.  I’m confident we can do this.   We’re just trying to get through some of this. “

Senior middle blocker Katie Rose continued her stellar play with a 17-kill, 22-dig night followed by junior Kaycee Green and freshman Lauren Ford, who both finished with 16 kills. 

Rosenthal also mentioned the strong play of freshman Megan Stout.

“Megan played a tremendous match for us tonight after driving from her grandfather’s funeral today.  She played really well and showed unbelievable character. She means a lot to this team and was tremendous tonight.”

Lipscomb outhit ETSU .236 to .206 and out dug the Bucs 81-64.  The Bucs however, did a much better job at the net notching 15 blocks to the Lady Bisons five.

The Lady Bisons wrap up A-Sun road action on Saturday with a 2 p.m .contest at USC Upstate before returning home next weekend to host the 2011 Atlantic Sun Volleyball Championship at Allen Arena on Thursday-Saturday.