DELAND, Fla. – Lipscomb volleyball snapped a two-game conference losing skid Sunday morning at Stetson with a thrilling five set victory (25-19, 20-25, 22-25, 25-23, 15-9) over Stetson.
Eight Bisons recorded kills in the victory with two Bisons notching career highs.
Addi Pelham had a career high 21 kills while
Caroline Stogner notched a career high 20.
Sophia Hudepohl had 59 assists while
Delaney Smith tied a career high with 24 digs.
Lipscomb hit .216 on the match and forced 18 Stetson errors. Defensively, the Bisons had eight total blocks with four Bisons recording solo blocks.
The match was hard fought from both sides with 35 total ties and 15 lead changes throughout the five sets.
FROM THE BENCH - HC BRANDON ROSENTHAL
"What a match. It really comes down to a complete team win. We struggled at points, and I had to move some pieces around and some people got chances that haven't gotten chances before, but I think the resolve of this team is pretty special. Again, I am proud of them for hanging in there and really giving themselves that chance to win when at a couple different points in the match it would've been easy to give up. I love the word 'guts', I love the word 'grind' and both of those epitomize what we just did. I thought we did a nice job of getting out in the first set and building a lead in the second set, we just dug a hole, but I thought we battled extremely well in set two. We just couldn't gain any ground, and credit to Stetson for doing that, they had a four-point lead pretty much throughout set two and we got it down to two and ran out of game at that point. Set three was just more errors and I think we had chances at points, but we errored ourselves out of that set. Going into set four we decided to make some changes and the biggest change we made was putting Cora [ter Kuile] in. Cora hasn't seen a whole lot of time at all this year, but we felt like she has been getting closer and closer to putting it all together and she has stayed the course and came out firing on all cylinders. The numbers that she put up were incredible and when you look at those numbers you don't realize how hard it is to do what she did after sitting for an hour and a half. Credit to Cora for trusting and believing in herself and for really going out and making the most of it. All the way around the court I thought we did really small things that made a difference. I thought [Logan] Gish in the final set was huge with her serve and her passing really settled in and a big piece of that was [Caroline] Stogner who had a tremendous match and I thought she got going early and we asked her to step up and she did and did a nice job. Also, Addi [Pelham], 59 attempts is a huge number for her, and we needed all those attempts and again, a great job by Sophia [Hudepohl], she is really coming into her own and I'm pleased to see her style of play. Defensively I thought we made some really nice adjustments, especially down the stretch, and came up with some huge digs. It's hard to get to this point and put yourself in this position and I think what you are seeing across the conference is any win is a big win and any road win is a bigger win, so to be able to go on the road, and have so much respect for what Stetson and that group does, to be able to walk away with an earned win is huge. It wasn't pretty at times, but sometimes that isn't how it's meant to be. The script of volleyball is short. I credit the girls and the coaching staff for being on the same page and focusing in. I think all in all our girls were tremendous today. It's fun to be part of a group like this where everyone is working and getting after it daily and in a lot of ways not sure when their number is going to be called. Today, we needed a lot of people in a lot of difference scenarios, and it is a big thing. I love working with them and being part of that and more than anything I love seeing the hard work paying off. I have a ton of respect for Stetson and how they play, and they are going to cause problems throughout the regular season. I'm glad to be home again and play in front of our home crowd on a Wednesday night, which is different, but I'm excited.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET 1 QUICK HITS (25-19)
- Lipscomb got off to a quick start, going up 3-0 to start the match.
- After back-and-forth action, the Hatters cut the Lipscomb lead 15-14, but the Bisons went on an 8-2 run to open things up 23-16.
- Stetson put the pressure on Lipscomb with three-straight points to force a Lipscomb timeout at 23-19.
- The Bisons finished out the set, capped off by a Sophia Hudepohl kill, for a 25-19 opening set victory.
- Stetson out-hit the Bisons in the first set, but the Bisons had 16 more attack attempts during the set.
SET 2 QUICK HITS (20-25)
- The Bisons picked up where it left off in the first set, winning the first point.
- Stetson took its first lead of the match, going up 7-6 early in the second set.
- After three-straight Hatters' points, Stetson went up 9-6 run to force a Lipscomb timeout.
- A 6-0 Stetson run gave the Hatters a 12-6 lead and the momentum.
- Lipscomb cut the Stetson lead 22-20 late in the set, but the Hatters closed things out for a 25-20 second set victory.
- The Bisons struggled in the second set, being outhit .325-.143.
SET 3 QUICK HITS (22-25)
- Set three was a back-and-forth affair from the start, but after a 6-6 game, Lipscomb made a run to get out to a 11-8 lead.
- Stetson tied things back up 18-18 and eventually took the biggest lead of the set 22-19.
- Lipscomb creeped back in within a pair of points (24-22), but a Stetson block ended the set with a 25-22 advantage for the Hatters.
- Stetson outhit the Bisons in the set .171-.111.
SET 4 QUICK HITS (25-23)
- Stetson got off to a 2-0 lead, but the Bisons quickly tied it back up 2-2.
- After multiple ties, Lipscomb retook the lead 15-14, but a service error quickly tied the set back up.
- The set was once again tied 20-20, but Lipscomb dug deep for the final points of the set.
- The Bisons had a 23-22 lead and a huge service ace from Hudepohl gave the Bisons set point at 24-22.
- A bad set from Lipscomb gave Stetson another chance to keep the match from going to a fifth set as the Bisons led 24-33.
- Stogner got her fourth kill of the set, giving the Bisons a 25-23 set victory and sending the match to a decisive fifth set.
- Lipscomb came out on top after a set that saw 20 ties.
- Lipscomb hit much better in the set, outhitting the Hatters .300-.258
- Lipscomb finished the fourth set with 17 kills and five errors.
SET 5 QUICK HITS (15-9)
- Stetson had the early momentum in the fifth set, opening things with an ace and taking a quick 5-3 lead.
- The Bisons tied things up 6-6 and never looked back with a 6-1 run to take a 9-6 lead.
- Stogner hammered her career-high 20th kill of the match to give Lipscomb a 10-7 lead.
- The momentum stayed in Lipscomb's favor as Logan Gish got a service ace to give Lipscomb match point.
- Hudepohl finished off the match with her fourth kill of the day to give Lipscomb a 15-9 set five victory.
