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VB Huddle
2
Lipscomb Lips 16-13,12-4 ASUN
3
Winner Liberty Lib 23-7,14-2 ASUN
Lipscomb Lips
16-13,12-4 ASUN
2
Final
3
Liberty Lib
23-7,14-2 ASUN
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Lipscomb Lips 25 16 26 20 13 (2)
Liberty Lib 17 25 24 25 15 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

Volleyball’s Season Closes in Five-Set Heartbreaker Against Liberty

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Lipscomb volleyball's 2022 postseason run drew to a close Friday night as the Bisons fell after a knockdown-dragout five-set heartbreaker to the #1 Liberty Flames in the ASUN Semifinals (17-25, 25-16, 24-26, 25-20, 15-13). The Purple and Gold conclude their 2022 campaign with a 16-13 overall record and a 12-4 regular season conference record.
 
Three Bisons recorded 10+ kills in the matchup as Caroline Stogner recorded 15 kills in the five-set battle, followed by Logan Gish with 14 and Berkley Mischler with 11. Mischler recorded a .364 hitting percentage on the contest – her 15th match this season to record a hitting percentage over .300.
 
Libero Delaney Smith and setter Sophia Hudepohl both recorded double-digit digs Friday night as Smith picked up 18 to her career-high season total of 418 digs and Hudepohl collected 11 digs of her own for a total of 231 digs.
 
Hudepohl directed the Bisons' offence to a total of 56 kills in the match, delivering 43 assists to the Bisons and recorded two kills of her own in the overall tally. The Bisons pulled in points from the serving line, delivering for eight service aces as a team with four from Smith and two from Libby Steinhart.
 
Both squads recorded 12.0 team blocks in the contest. The Bisons collected 20 block assists with Addi Pelham leading the way at seven and Kailee Bass close behind with eight. Bass and Gish each added a solo block to their tallies in the contest.
 
Smith and Stogner led the Bisons serve receive efforts as Smith took a match-high 50 receptions and Stogner snagged 15. Smith recorded a .962 reception percentage and Stogner posted a .938 to lead the Bisons to a .958 team reception percentage, out-passing the Flames and their .909 clip.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
SET 1
  • Following a big cutback swing from Kailee Bass to open the scoring, the Bisons got off to a hot 5-2 lead in the first frame.
  • It was all offense in the early points with six of Lipscomb's first eight points coming from kills, three of which were earned by outside Caroline Stogner.
  • Delaney Smith claimed the first service aces of the match back-to-back to extend Lipscomb's lead to five at the 12-7 mark.
  • The Flames earned kills of their own, but Lipscomb's momentum carried them to a seven-point lead (17-10).
  • Libby Steinhart joined the ace brigade out of Liberty's second timeout of the set to extend the Bisons' lead once more and Bass' second kill of the night took the Bisons into the 20-point threshold.
  • Liberty made a late 5-0 run to hold the Bisons at the 21-point mark momentarily, but a tool from Logan Gish on the outside cut the flames short.
  • Berkley Mischler and Addi Pelham combined for a pair of blocks on the right-side to capitalize on Gish's momentum and bring the Bisons set point.
  • Gish buried a sharp cut shot from the outside to claim the first set for the Bisons.
  • The squad out-swung the Flames .333 to .143 as well as leading the defensive game with 11 digs and eight blocks to Liberty's nine and four respectively.
 
SET 2
  • After the two squads traded errors, Liberty took a 7-5 lead in the early stages of the second set.
  • After a handful of errors for both sides once more, the Bisons' block began to close the gap on the Flames' outside hitters.
  • A 5-0 run for the Bisons featuring kills from Mischler, Stogner, and Gish gave the Bisons the lead for the first time in the second frame, and from there the two teams settled in to battle through the middle of the set as the Flames took the 13-12 lead moments later.
  • Mischler's third kill of the night ended a long rally for the Bisons and brought the teams tied at 13, and the two teams were tied at 14 moments later with a net violation from Liberty.
  • Liberty went up by four points for an 18-14 mark when Courtney Jones marked her return to the floor with a big kill to the deep corner in zone five.
  • A second kill from Jones briefly halted the Flames' run before Liberty extended their lead to seven for set point before claiming the second set 25-16 on a service ace.
 
SET 3
  • Both teams were heated out of the break, all eight points through the initial 4-4 tie were claimed on kills from both sides.
  • Lipscomb's pin hitters continued to light up Liberty's defense as Stogner put down four kills, Gish two, and Pelham two of her own to push the Bisons towards their 10-8 lead.
  • The teams grew tied at 11s before a pair of hitting errors from the Flames returned the Bisons' two-point lead (13-11).
  • Gish buried her ninth kill of the match from the back row to put the Bison up by two once more following a Liberty kill.
  • The two squads tied once more at the 16-16 mark before the Flames took the lead for the first time in the third set, cut short and surpassed a moment later by a Pelham kill and an ace from Smith.
  • Gish's tenth kill of the night took the Bisons to the 20-point threshold and Berkley Mischler answered the Flames' following kill with a tip over the block for 21-20 to the Bisons.
  • Liberty took a 22-21 lead on a pair of kills from their outsides, but Caroline Stogner answered the challenge with her 11th kill of the match to bring the match tied at 22 points.
  • Attacking errors from both sides brought the match tied once more at 23-23 before a mis-timed set for the Flames gave the Bisons set point.
  • Liberty held off Lipscomb's first set point opportunity to tie 24-24, but a pair of back-to-back kills from Gish claimed set three for the Bisons and gave Lipscomb the 2-1 lead in the match.
 
SET 4
  • The fight continued as the fourth set began with the teams tied through 3-3 with kills from Gish and Mischler for Lipscomb.
  • The Bisons went on a 4-0 run to go up 9-4 with two more kills from those Bisons and an ace from Connelly Renfrow.
  • Liberty fought back with a 6-0 run of their own to go up 10-9 before back-to-back kills by Gish and Mischler once more sent the Bisons back into the lead at 11-10.
  • The Flames grabbed a trio of 2-1 runs to move up 17-14, Pelham put down her seventh of the match to bring the Bisons within two points at 18-16 to the Flames.
  • Gish responded to Liberty's challenge with her 14th of the match to bring the match to 19-17 in Liberty's favor.
  • After a 2-0 run from Liberty, Mischler sent a kill into the deep corner in zone one on a slide to bring the match to 21-18.
  • The Flames earned a set point opportunity with a block but were halted by a kill from Jones.
  • Bass buried a block for the Bisons to bring Lipscomb to the 20-point mark, but the Flames put down a kill to send the match to a tie-breaker.
 
SET 5
  • The Bisons opened set five with a huge kill from Pelham after a hitting error from the Flames for a quick 2-0 led, but the Flames responded with a 2-0 run of their own to bring things tied.
  • After hitting errors on both sides brought the match to 3-3, the Flames found a 4-0 lead to go up 6-3.
  • A big kill from Mischler, and ace from Gish, a kill from Stogner, and an ace from Steinhart brought the match tied at 7-7 before a service error sent the teams switching sides at 8-7 to the Flames.
  • Liberty ta brief two-point lead after the switch, but the Bisons earned a 3-0 run on an overpass kill from Bass, a block from Bass and Pelham, and a huge kill from Stogner to take the 10-9 lead.
  • After the match tied up at 10-10, the Flames responded with a tool on the outside to move up 11-10.
  • An attacking error from the Bisons and a kill on the outside for Liberty gave the Flames a 13-10 lead, but Caroline Stogner put down her 15th of the night to cut the Flames off.
  • An attacking error for the Flames brought the Bisons within one point but a kill from their middle gave Liberty a match point opportunity.
  • With a hit straight into the middle of the net from Liberty's back row attacker, the Bisons pulled within one point of the Flames at 14-13 before a block on the outside sealed the match in Liberty's favor.
 
HERD NOTES
  • It was a high kill-count match with more than 50 kills for both teams. The Bisons put away 56 kills over five sets with a team hitting percentage of .192.
  • The Bisons scooped up 47 digs on the night, led by libero Delaney Smith with 18 and Sophia Hudepohl with 11.
  • Setter Sophia Hudepohl ended her freshman campaign with 1,080 assists as she tallied 43 in the five-set match.
  • The Bisons ruled the serving game with eight service aces to the Flames' four.
  • Three Bisons recorded double-digit kills. Caroline Stogner led the way with 15, Logan Gish recorded 14, and Berkley Mischler recorded 11 at a .364 clip.
  • Lipscomb concluded their 2022 season with a 16-13 overall record, a total of 1,404 kills, 1,330 assists, 197 service aces, 1,361 digs, and a .238 team hitting percentage.
 
FROM THE BENCH – HC BRANDON ROSENTHAL
"It's always hard to finish the season. You know you kind of pour everything you've got into a couple days and again, everybody assumes it's just a couple of days, but in reality these girls have been going at this since July 1st when they come back for the July term. My thoughts initially are just what a match. Obviously, we would have liked the ball to go our way and it didn't, but ultimately, that's sports.
 
So you've got to tip your cap to Liberty and congratulate them for a hard-fought battle. It's always tough to lose in a situation like that, be it 15-13 or a fifth-set or what have you. I think obviously, it's still very young and the night, but as I reflect upon it, I wouldn't do anything different and I wouldn't ask our girls to do anything different because I thought they were just tremendous tonight.
 
We've preached all year long the idea of leaving it all out there and I have zero doubt in my mind that that's exactly what we did. There are some great lessons to learn from this and I know that over the next couple of weeks we'll be able to reflect upon it and really get better understanding on it. Most importantly right now though is the idea that there's a special thing going on in Lipscomb Volleyball and this group is really at the forefront of that. I give all the credit to the girls and what they continue to bring to the program.
 
I want to thank our staff who have just been absolutely tremendous, and I'll thank them by name – Rachel Ferguson, Brittnay Estes, Grant Harford, Sean Johnson, Megan McMurry, and Grace White. We've had tremendous support from a student manager in Charlotte Renfrow and we've had four outstanding male practice players who I think just did a fantastic job all year long with us in this first year that we've had that.
 
It's bittersweet to be honest with you. One, because I've just enjoyed working with these girls and two, you know, careers come to an end. With Logan Gish and Kailee Bass, what more can you say? Both of them have finished up their careers, but they're doing it in different ways.
 
Kailee came over after playing four years at Belmont and one of the things I've always reflected upon with Kailee is how she was able to give everything she had from day one. She believed in this program when she really didn't know anything about it, and I've just thoroughly enjoyed working with her. While it's been only six or seven months, Kailee Bass is a part of LUV forever. She knows that, I know that, but I think it's so important to know that it's hard to do what she did and she gave everything she had.
 
Logan Gish, what a story. Selfishly, I wanted one more day to coach her, you know? At least one more day and that's hard and it's also awesome to say that because we saw such potential in Gish in the high school days and club days and we worked hard and as hard as we worked, Gish worked harder to get where she's at. While tonight's result is unfortunate, she gets to leave Lipscomb as a champion – she earned a championship and while I know she wanted another one, it wasn't in the cards. But let me tell you – Gish is going to have this storied career that will stay with me forever. I just can't say enough about the friendship that we've created and it's just a special night.
 
The youth of this program is extremely, extremely talented and there is zero doubt in my mind that not only do our fans see it, but everybody else sees what this program has growing on a not-so-distant horizon. It's awesome to be a part of a program where everybody is giving everything they have and that's all I've ever wanted to be a part of – a group that is going to put their egos and their accolades aside for the greater good of the team.
 
I could go down the list and I just can't say enough about the way Delaney Smith played tonight. I mean she was just a force in serve receive and then on defense. Then with Sophia Hudepohl, I mean, what a future she has in front of her.

Berkeley Mischler, Caroline Stogner, Addi Pelham, Libby Steinhart, Connelly Renfrow, Gray Breen, Jade Zaleski, Cora ter Kuile, Meg Mersman, Jada DiVita, Courtney Jones, Ashleigh Albert. It's just been an absolutely awesome season with them. They gave everything we've ever asked for and I'm just so, so proud to be the coach of this program."
 
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