FORT MYERS, FLA. -  In a battle of the ASUN unbeaten, Lipscomb volleyball met FGCU in Fort Myers, Florida, for a Saturday night conference showdown. The Bisons worked back from a 2-1 deficit to get the match to a deciding set, but could not defeat the Eagles in Alico Arena, falling for the first time in conference action 2-3 with set scores of 25-21, 23-25, 20-25, 28-26, and 5-15. The Bisons moved to 12-6 overall and 7-1 in conference play, while FGCU improves to 15-5 and remains perfect at 8-0 in ASUN games. The loss also snaps the Bisons' nine game winning streak.

Lipscomb hit .169 on the night, their lowest in conference play, while FGCU finished the match swinging .218. Despite losing the attack percentage battle, Lipscomb edged the Eagles in kills with 62, led by Courtney Jones and Merg Mersman, who each compiled 16 in the outing. Jada DiVita and Addi Pelham also reached the double-digit kill mark with 12 and 11, respectively. Jones earned her second career double-double and adding 13 digs to her stat line. She also extended her double-digit kill streak to nine straight outings.

Lipscomb edged the Eagles in digs 75-74, led by Delaney Smith, who dug a career-high 30 balls. Sophia Hudepohl, the ASUN sets-per-match leader, put up 52 assists and added seven digs. Unfortunately, Lipscomb had season-high 32 attack errors to go along with 15 service aces.  

In set one, the Bisons' hitters did an excellent job of putting balls away. They were very efficient and in rhythm, which led to a 25-21 opening set win. The Bisons' assertive attack continued early in set two, but the Eagles chipped away at their deficit and eventually stole a set two win from Lipscomb late. LUV led for most of the second frame, but FGCU fought back to level the score at 22 all and then scored two of the next three to even the set count. 

FGCU took an early lead in set three, building off their momentum late in their set three comeback. Lipscomb inched to within three points twice down the stretch but were unable to make up ground after falling behind early, losing 25-20 in set three. 

Set four was one of the most highly competitive matches of the season with 12 ties and four lead changes. The frame saw the Bisons get off to a solid start. After jumping to a 12-8 advantage, the Eagles stormed back to even the score by 12. From there, the teams would trade blows, but Lipscomb would prevail on their fourth set point opportunity to win 28-26 and send the match to a deciding fifth set. In the final sequence, a big solo block from the Bisons' Libero, Hudepohl, gave the Bisons a one-point edge before an attack error from the Eagles proved to be the deciding point in the frame. 

Unfortunately, FGCU dominated the final frame, winning 15-5, primarily due to the play of their blocks at the net down the stretch. Ten of the Eagles' 16 total blocks came in the final two frames. They also held the Bisons to a -.304 hitting percentage with just two kills with nine attack errors in set five.

With the loss, the LUV moves to 4-2 in five-set matches. They have also lost three straight to FGCU dating back to the 2021 season and are 1-9 in their last ten meetings for the Eagles.  

BRANDON ROSENTHAL POSTGAME COMMENTS: 

"Great matchup tonight! It was two really good teams and unfortunately, we came up on the short end and so it's something that I have no doubt that we'll build on and it'll be somewhat of a character builder for us. I love the fight; I love energy ultimately, we got to find ways to make plays and we've done it for the past four or five weeks. I know that they're capable of it, we just didn't do it tonight. I thought defensively we did a nice job. Smitty (Delaney Smith), played outstanding, especially down the stretch, and really kept us in a ton of rallies and it's evident by the numbers that she put up. Unfortunately, in the fifth set, we got into a position where we make, one too many errors and we played from behind. Some of them were uncanny errors, and some of them, we've got to be a little bit more aggressive with things."

Tough one. I think that everybody wanted this one, but it's two good teams going at it. I thought in the first step, we did a nice job of establishing some things and were able to build on that lead and hold it. In the second set, same thing just late in the set, we broke down mentally and some of that is on me as a coach. I have to be better late in those sets. In the third, we were out of sorts but really came back well in set four. Proud of the girls with that to put us in position in set five. Tough trip but this is where we hope to be in a couple weeks. It's a good test for us and one that we'll build off of no doubt. I think our girls will be even hungrier for the next opportunity, which is next week." 

So proud of our team. We fought like crazy and ultimately came up a little bit short but that's sports. I know that our girls will grow from this and be better not only individually but as a team.  Love what this group is doing. They truly, truly got the hearts of champions. I had no doubt everybody wanted that one today and there's was never a question about that. Obviously, now we will get back to Nashville and get back to work."

Up Next:
Lipscomb will return home for matches against Kennesaw State (10-8, 3-4 ASUN) and Queens (4-15, 1-6 ASUN) on Oct. 20 and 21. Both contests will start at 6 p.m. CT and aired on ESPN+. For more coverage of Lipscomb Volleyball, follow LUV on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram @lipscombvball.