Volleyball drops five-set thriller at Xavier

Friday, September 10

Cincinnati, Ohio

5:30 PM

Lipscomb University

1-5,0-0ASUN

Xavier

4-3,0-0Big East

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Lipscomb	25	23	18	25	12	2
Xavier	23	25	25	19	15	3

Volleyball drops five-set thriller at Xavier

9/10/2021 10:30:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

CINCINNATI, OHIO – Lipscomb volleyball dropped a tightly contested five-set thriller, 3-2, Friday night to Xavier at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Bisons fell by scores of 25-23, 23-25, 18-25, 25-19 and 12-15. In total, there were 39 ties and 15 lead changes between the two sides.

Lipscomb falls to 1-5 on the season and will now face No. 6 Purdue on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT to close out the Xavier Invitational.

The match was a seesaw affair with the Bisons winning the first set before dropping the next two and putting their backs against the wall. The purple and gold responded with a strong fourth set victory and erased a 3-point deficit in the fifth to build an 11-10 lead, but the homestanding Musketeers closed with a 5-1 run to get the win.

The Bisons were aggressive offensively, but made a few more errors than normal. Lipscomb led in kills (57-45), digs (67-56), assists (54-42) and service aces (13-4), while XU controlled the blocks (9.0-4.0). The Musketeers outhit the Bisons .152 (45k, 23e, 145ta) to .099 (57k, 41e, 161ta) and had seven fewer service errors (9-16).

Sophomore Kamryn Bacus and freshman Addi Pelham led the offense with double-digit kills. Bacus recorded 16, while Pelham added 14 and a team high three blocks.

S1 | @kamrynbacus puts down her 4th kill!

Bisons on top 13-12 #IntoTheStorm?? pic.twitter.com/y8nv3mYlnr
— Lipscomb Volleyball (@LipscombVBall) September 10, 2021

Sophomore setter Delaney Dilfer maintained her strong form with 45 assists, 13 digs and four kills. She ranks second in the ASUN Conference with 238 assists on the season.

S3 | @DelaneyDilfer with the nice dump play!#IntoTheStorm?? pic.twitter.com/aTSIOussfw
— Lipscomb Volleyball (@LipscombVBall) September 10, 2021

Local product Delaney Smith had a career-night in her homecoming. The sophomore libero led the team with 16 digs and delivered a career high five aces off the service line.

S2 | @delsmithhh with her 2?nd ??!#IntoTheStorm?? pic.twitter.com/HfT27lvE4n
— Lipscomb Volleyball (@LipscombVBall) September 10, 2021

FROM THE BENCH

??? "I love the fight. This is what we signed up for and the girls battled. In the end, it's going to come to us." - Coach Rosenthal#IntoTheStorm?? pic.twitter.com/imALAwqzAl
— Lipscomb Volleyball (@LipscombVBall) September 11, 2021

QUICK SERVES

Lipscomb's 13 service aces were the most for the Bisons in a single match since hitting 16 against Stetson on October 7, 2016.
Senior Garrett Joiner just missed double-digit kills with a season high nine while hitting .280.
Freshman Anna Aubele added six kills, while Kathleen Lowry and Meg Mersman each contributed three.
Ashleigh Albert also produced a career night behind the service line with four aces to go along with nine digs.
Coming off a career high effort with four aces last weekend, senior Logan Gish added three aces Friday and a career high nine digs. She had just six career aces entering this season.
The team's .099 hitting percentage was the second-lowest mark of the season, while the 57 kills matched the second most.

UP NEXT
The Bisons will be back in action Saturday in the Xavier Invitational where they will face No. 6 Purdue at 2 p.m. CT in the weekend's finale.