DELAND, FLA. - Lipscomb Volleyball put their unbeaten record to the test Friday afternoon as they took on Stetson (9-10, 4-3 ASUN) in DeLand, Florida. The Bisons managed to turn the tide after an opening set loss to get a 3-1 (18-25, 25-19, 25-13, 25-14) victory on the road to remain unbeaten (7-0) in ASUN play and extend their win streak to nine games.
The Bisons nearly hit over the three hundred percent mark for the fourth straight match, ending with a .299 percentage against Stetson. The Bisons finished with 61 kills on the night, led by Courtney Jones with 17 kills and Jada DiVita, who added 16 while hitting .419. Defensively, Delaney Smith dug 18 balls, followed by Sophia Hudepohl, who totaled 12 while also assisting on 49 points for the Bisons offensively in the win. The Bisons had a reception percentage of .956, the best in that category during the Bisons win streak. Lipscomb out dug the Hatters by 19.
LUV got off to a slow start and fell behind 1-0 after an 18-25 set one score in the Edmunds Center. The Bisons hit just .095 in the opening frame with nine attack errors in the opening set, while the Hatters hit .313 on their home court.
Lipscomb quickly turned the tide, winning the following three sets after getting into a rhythm that the Hatters couldn't handle. Lipscomb won the kill battle 15-8 in set two and hit .250 while being aided by five service aces to win set two 25-19. The Bisons eventually finished with ten aces on the night.
After getting the win to level the score, Lipscomb cruised the rest of the way, winning the following two sets by scores of 25-13 and 25-14. The Bisons had a combined 33 kills in the final two frames, including a match-high 18 in the third. They also hit an impressive .607 in the third and .343 in the fourth set, resulting in a 3-1 win. To add to the Lipscomb's efficient attack, they forced Stetson into a -.027 hitting percentage in the fourth and final set to put the icing on the cake for their seventh conference win in as many matches.
With the win, Coach Rosenthal improves to a commanding 28-2 against the Hatters in his 21 years as the head man at Lipscomb. The Bisons will now turn their attention to FGCU (14-5, 7-0 ASUN), the other undefeated team in the ASUN for sole possession of first place midway through conference action, in a matchup which will surely have tournament seeding implications.
BRANDON ROSENTHAL & POSTGAME:
"A little bit of a slow start set one, and effort-wise, we could have up the ante a little bit. Obviously, when you make that many errors, it's going to be tough to beat anybody, and a little bit of we got what we deserved in set one in the sense that, unfortunately, we didn't bring the effort that I thought we were capable of. That was the message between sets one and two: what happens if we take our defensive effort up... what happens if we take our offensive effort up... The girls did a spectacular job in responding to that. Our serve settled in set two, although it was decent in set one. But Stetson did a nice job of passing and controlling the pace of play. As we were able to serve a bit tougher and get to our passes, we created some scenarios that made it really tough. Credit to our team and the idea that we were able to move the ball around. So much that it makes it really tough to settle in on one person or one particular position. I think that defensively is one of the things that I look at just in a match like that where Stetson is typically the team that out-digs the other team, but we were able to out-dig them by 20, and you really saw that in sets three and four. It was just suffocating the defense."
"Set four, particularly the Delaney Smith, was just fantastic. Then, even coming off the bench, Libby Steinhart and Connelly Renfrow were great. Ninah Miranda also did an excellent job. Something that went unnoticed was the defensive play by Meg Mersman and Addi Pelham in the sense that they're not big swings defense, but they're off-blocker defense. Those are balls we have to pick up, and when we're disciplined, we do a nice job doing that. When you go through and play defense like that and then add pressure with their serve and obviously have the depth that we do offensively, it makes it tough for opponents. The other side of it, too, was our blocking, and our blocking really started to take shape, especially at the end of the third set and all the way through the fourth. It's a lot to take in as an opposing team."
I'd like to see us start a little bit faster, but on the other side of that, too, we have to be able to understand who we are and really turn that on. They did a great job in sets two, three, and four. That's what we're capable of. It's a tough road trip in the sense that now you have to hop on the bus and head down to Fort Myers. We for sure know what's at stake tomorrow, but we are excited for tonight and excited to celebrate Matt Knab's birthday tonight with the big dubs. There are a couple of hours on the trip, so I'm looking for safe travel down. This is a matchup that obviously everybody has circled. So it should be fun! Obviously, there's this idea that, you know, it's the matchup that everybody wants to see, but there's still a lot of season left, and so we've got to understand that. We've got to be able to play our game tomorrow and create some of that pressure that you saw in sets two, three, and four. Hopefully, we can carry that same momentum that we had in those sets tonight into tomorrow. So proud of the girls, proud of the staff. This is a tough trip in the sense of playing two matches back-to-back with a solid drive in between, but we've talked about it, we've prepared for it, and I have no doubt that our girls will be ready to go tomorrow. So excited for the opportunity. We are excited for the win tonight. It's what we've been working for, and so by no means are we surprised to be here. This is a byproduct of the work that we've put in, not only in July but also the work that Sean Johnson, Megan McMurry, and the nutrition team put in. The coaches continue to find ways to keep them motivated and work through the season's dark days. Excited for tonight and excited for the opportunity tomorrow."
Up Next:
Lipscomb will take on FGCU tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 14 at 5 p.m. CT in Fort Myers. The match will be aired on ESPN+. For more coverage of Lipscomb Volleyball, follow LUV on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram @lipscombvball.
