LOUISVILLE, KY. -  Lipscomb Volleyball took the road for a ASUN battle in Louisville, Kentucky, against the Bellarmine Knights (8-15, 6-5 ASUN) Friday night. The match was an important one in the ASUN as the Knights entered the evening a spot behind the Bisons in the ASUN standings. Lipscomb fought hard for a gutsy win on the road, taking down a tough Bellarmine squad in five with set scores of (25-19, 17-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-9), claiming their third straight win and second this season over Bellarmine. The Bisons improved to 15-6 on the year and 10-1 in ASUN play. With the victory, Lipscomb Volleyball has now earned double-digit ASUN wins for the sixth consecutive season. 

In Louisville, the Bisons had several valuable contributions from a host of players but were led offensively by Meg Mersman and Courtney Jones, who each tallied 15 kills on the night. Jada DiVita and Addi Pelham each went for double-digit kills also, earning 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Defensively, Delaney Smith dug 16 balls, followed by Sophia Hudepohl and Ninah Miranda, who had nine and eight digs against the Knights. Hudepohl was one dig shy of a double-double as she had 50 assists on the night. Smith earned her two digs against Bellarmine, moving her to seven away from breaking the ASUN all-time career ace record. 

HOW IT HAPPENED: 

After a back-and-forth beginning to set one, resulting in a 12-12 score almost midway through, Lipscomb used a four-point run to take the lead through the first frame. From there, the Bisons put the Knights away at the net, hitting .444 with 14 kills and only two attack errors. The Bisons used their efficient attack to claim a 25-19 opening set win. 

Bellarmine found themselves with an early lead in the second set, aided by errors by the Bisons. The Bisons weren't able to overcome the earlier mistakes, and the Knights were able to keep the Bisons on their heels and out of rotation for most of the frame. All told, the Knights leveled the set total at one, winning the second set 25-17. The Bisons finished the frame with eight attack errors and only nine kills as they hit .032 after hitting over .400 to open the match in set one. Bellarmine took advantage of those errors and hit .392 in the frame with 11 kills and two attack errors for their first set win in eight days. 

The Bisons looked like they'd return to form after the set two break, jumping to a early 5-1 lead in the third set. However, the Knights responded to cut their deficit to one at 6-5. Like the first set, Lipscomb used a length run to strength their lead to a five at 14-9, but this go around, Bellarmine used a three-point spurt of their own to cut into the Bisons' lead, forcing Lipscomb to talk these over. After the timeout, the Knights added another point, but a kill from Mersman, followed by an ace from Connelly Renfrow, gave the Bisons another four-point advantage. However, Bellarmine would not be put away easily, as they battled back to even the score at 20-all. The Bisons gained a three-point lead, giving themselves several opportunities at set point, and finally put one down to win the third set 25-23. The set three result gave the Bisons a 2-1 edge entering the fourth frame. 

Errors came back to haunt the Bisons in set four, which the Knights managed to again take advantage of. After taking a one-point lead, the Knights rallied off six straight to go up a commanding 17-10, forcing timeouts by Lipscomb. The Bisons fought back to reach within three (19-16), but the Knights controlled the frame the rest of the way, winning 25-19 and forcing a fifth and final set. Lipscomb could not hold off the Knight's spirited attack that hit .469 with 16 kills and just one attack error. The Bisons ended with six attack errors in the frame and three service errors. Bellarmine had an impressive showing hitting against the Bisons despite entering the matchup ranked last in hitting percentage in the conference. 

Lipscomb won their fifth five set match of the season after regrouping in the fifth set to close out the night with the win in commanding fashion. The Bisons hit a game-high .500 in the deciding frame with ten kills and two blocks, resulting in a 15-9 final and a 3-2 win on the road, their fifth road win of the season. With the victory combined with other action from around the league, the Bisons, lead by Coach Brandon Rosenthal, clinched a spot in the ASUN Championships for the 19th straight season. 

BRANDON ROSENTHAL POSTGAME: 

"Love the fight out of our girls tonight against Bellarmine. Tough environment in the sense that we had, quite a few different variables that were nobody's fault in the sense that that made it feel like we were playing more than just Bellarmine. It's a challenge when it comes to situations like that, long delays, moisture issues from the court. Proud of our girls for sustaining the kind of focus and being able to ultimately rally at the end. I think what you saw at the end is exactly what I've been pushing through some of the times earlier. We can't just play to the scoreboard. We have to play to a field and that field has to come from each other. It can't come from one or just another person. It's got to be all in and you saw it in the fifth set. You could just tell from the very first point that Addi Pelham made and just unbelievable diving play to keep the ball alive. I think that's when as a coach you know when things aren't necessarily going exactly the way you want them, that's what you have to lean on and ultimately, you're going to have matches like that. Credit to Bellarmine. I thought they played tremendous tonight. I think their coaching staff does a great job so it's somewhat to be expected. Obviously, they're, fighting to get as far up the ladder as they can and we're fighting to stay up at the top or near the top. It's challenging this time of year.  
 
Having ten kills in the fifth set alone is phenomenal. To hit, 500 in the fifth set is where you got to be. I thought our serve was and when I say really good, to the common fan, it's not going to necessarily show up in aces, but I thought we did a really nice job of getting them out of system and I thought we were able to exploit some of that. Ultimately, I think in sets two and four, we got a little hesitant and we were a little frustrated with that because we got to play our game and believe in what we are and who we are. But, love what our seniors brought to the table there at the end. We could tell that they wanted it, everybody wanted it, but I ultimately that's what you want. You want to be able to get into battles like that and know that everyone is pulling as hard as they can. That fifth set was indicative of who we are and how we can play.  
 
I thought Bellamine played an extremely high level as well. You have to be able to block out some of the noise and the distraction and things like that. It was tiring. I think everybody was feeling it in the sense that you're battling for every point. Challenges that continued to come back inconclusive also helped make it a really hard in the match. I thought at times there was no control over the match which allowed everybody to do whatever they were able to do. When you get into a dog fight like that you hope that everybody's going to bring it. I don't want to say  it was an ugly win because I don't think that's ugly in any way. I just think it's a gritty win on the road. We've talked about it many times.... finding a way to win on the road especially late in the season especially against teams that are hungry and trying to knock you off. It's awesome to see our girls respond the way they did. As they got us out of system and rhythm there in the fourth set, we could easily folded, but we didn't. I think that just shows the incredible amount of heart and hustle that our girls have. You can imagine the locker room was... pretty awesome to be a part. That's why you work as hard as you do so you can have those opportunities to celebrate because there is no doubt in my mind when I walked into that locker room everybody left it all out on the floor and that's a great feeling.
 
Again, pretty sweet to be a part of this effort tonight. I'm pretty pumped about what our girls continue to do and how they continue to find ways to win. I have no doubt that this is going to help us down the road. We'll have another tough match tomorrow in Richmond against Eastern Kentucky, who is a very formidable opponent that is definitely in the mix in the ASUN. We beat them in five at our place, so I would imagine they're looking for a little bit of revenge. A short night or long night... however you want to look at it, but we'll be ready to go tomorrow."

Up Next:
Lipscomb will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 28, against EKU in Richmond, Kentucky. The match is slated to begin at 3 p.m. CT and will air on ESPN+. For more coverage of Lipscomb Volleyball, follow LUV on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram @lipscombvball.