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logan hitting
3
Winner Stanford Stan 1-0,0-0 Pac-12
0
Lipscomb Lips 0-1,0-0 ASUN
Winner
Stanford Stan
1-0,0-0 Pac-12
3
Final
0
Lipscomb Lips
0-1,0-0 ASUN
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Stanford Stan 25 25 25 (3)
Lipscomb Lips 20 15 14 (0)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

Bisons Fall in Three to #14 Cardinal in Season Opener

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Lipscomb volleyball team welcomed volleyball giant, the #14 Stanford Cardinal, to Allen Arena on Friday for its season opener in Nashville. Despite spirited play and big swings from the Bisons, the Cardinal took the match in three sets (25-20, 25-15, 25-14) after an exciting night of volleyball.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Junior Meg Mersman led the Bisons with 8 kills and a .636 hitting percentage
  • Junior Delaney Smith led the Bisons and was second in the match for digs with five
  • Freshman Jada DiVita took big swings on the outside and earned six kills
  • Setters Ashleigh Albert and Sophia Hudepohl ran a 6-2 and both earned double-digit assists with 16 for Hudepohl and 11 for Albert
  • Tonight's crowd set an attendance record for Lipscomb volleyball with 3,167 fans in attendance

SET ONE
The Cardinal took control of the first set with a 3-0 run to begin the match, cut short by an attack error and an Ashleigh Albert ace to put the Bisons on the board. Stanford pushed their momentum for a four-point run, forcing the Bisons into their first timeout of the game at 7-2. Coming in hot off the timeout, Addi Pelham found the seam of the block, but play continued long enough for Meg Mersman to earn a kill on the slide.

Stanford responded swiftly with a pair of kills and a pair of service aces for a 4-0 run, slowed by back-to-back swings from Caroline Stogner culminating in a kill for the junior on Stanford's libero. Mersman then took to the serving line for a brief serving run during which she pushed the score to 12-5. Pelham capitalized on a split in the block after a continued block from Stogner and fifth year Kailee Bass, fanning a spark in the Bisons' offense to trade points with the Cardinal.

After Lipscomb's second timeout, a big swing from freshman Jada DiVita through a split in the block was continued and ultimately swiped down as an overpass by Stogner. The back-and-forth play continued, highlighted by big swings from both teams, with quick kills from Mersman and freshman Courtney Jones to force Stanford into their first timeout at 16-12.
 
DiVita opened play out of the timeout with a banger of a kill, followed by the teams trading points until the score hit 19-13. The Bisons' front row hit their stride with a kill from Pelham and a roof from Pelham and Mersman against Stanford's outside. Undeterred by a Cardinal kill, Mersman hammered home a kill on a three to bring the Bisons back into the match.

However, despite diving digs from transfer Connelly Renfrow and a laser of a line shot from DiVita that caught Stanford's right back defender in the shoulder, the Cardinal took the first set 25-20.

SET TWO
The Bisons began to find their feet in the second set and traded blows with the Cardinal through the opening points. DiVita's hitting error in the first point was immediately corrected with a kill. A Stanford kill was answered with a quick overpass swipe to the side from Jones that the Cardinal defense couldn't pick up. Stanford took advantage of a set of Bisons errors, but Mersman once again brought Lipscomb back into the fray with a sharp cut on a three to Cardinal libero Elena Oglivie's inside knee.

The two teams went back and forth with their California foes and searching for a new dynamic on the floor, head coach Brandon Rosenthal sent in freshman Berkley Mischler for Bass in the middle. A well-timed Bisons timeout forces a service error from Stanford brought the match to 10-5. DiVita continued to answer the Cardinal offense with kills from both pins while Mersman logged two more quick kills in the middle to bring it to 15-9.

Stanford took the reins after Lipscomb's second timeout  with two service aces and a long rally win to lend them the momentum. Mischler made her mark on the set with a pair of kills on the three late in the match to pull the Bisons to 23-14 before a set of Cardinal kills and a wild tip ended the match 25-15.

SET THREE
The Bisons stumbled coming out of the long break and the Cardinal took advantage to go on a 10-1 run. The Purple and Gold swung high and hard, but the Stanford front row challenged the Bisons at every turn, pushing Lipscomb to take their first timeout at 6-1.

After a four-point run out of the timeout for Stanford, fifth year senior Logan Gish put down the first earned Lipscomb point of the set with a sharp cut shot into zone four from the outside. After a string of back-and-forth play, a long rally culminating in a blocking error for DiVita sparks a coach's challenge from Rosenthal for four contacts, but the Cardinals won the challenge and kept the point.

Serving errors from both teams abounded after the pause and kills from Stanford and DiVita brought the match to 14-6. Gish capitalized on the energy DiVita's kill provided and scooped up a solid dig that she followed with a kill from the back row. Blows traded once again, Mersman earned her eighth kill of the match with a laser to the deep corner on a one, followed by a roof from Mischler and Pelham on Stanford's outside Elia Rubin.
 

Following a string of Cardinal points and a Lipscomb timeout, the Bisons put up a fight with a pair of deep corner kills from Stogner and a overpass kill from Mischler as she defended an overpassed dig from junior Delaney Smith. A cutshot from DiVita was returned in a scramble play from the Cardinal, but the Bisons' own return went wide and a kill from Stanford outside Natalie Berty sealed the set 25-14 and secured a 3-0 victory for the Cardinal.
 

UP NEXT
The Bisons are back in action Sunday at 1 p.m. in Allen Arena when Tennessee State makes the trek across town.



 
 
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