RICHMOND, KY. -  Lipscomb Volleyball ended their Kentucky road trip in Richmond with a matchup with Eastern Kentucky (18-6, 8-4 ASUN). Coming off a five-set match the night prior against Bellarmine, the Bisons found themselves in another against the Colonels but weren't able to come out victorious, falling 3-2 to Eastern Kentucky with set scores of (21-25, 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 9-15). With the loss, Lipscomb splits the regular season series with the Colonels after winning at home in five sets earlier in conference play. 

Four Bisons reached double-digit kills in the loss, spearheaded by Meg Mersman with 18 kills and four solo blocks. Courtney Jones closely trailed Mersman with 15 kills, followed by Jada DiVita (14) and Berkley Mischler who recorded a season-high 13. Hudepohl earned her second double-double of the weekend and sixth of the season, ending with 59 assists and 13 digs. Delaney Smith added 25 digs, the second most of her career, and two service aces on the afternoon. 

As a club, LUV hit .212 while the Colonels swung at a .260 percent clip. Attack errors plague the Bisons, especially in the final two frames, as they ended with 30 errors, the second most of any match they've had this season. The Colonels won the battle at the net with 13 blocks to the Bisons' nine and also won at the service line, with 11 aces compared to just eight from the league-leading Bison.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

After and even beginning to set one, the Bisons were up two at 18-16, but the Colonels went on a 5-0 run to take a 21-18 lead. Lipscomb fought back and got to within a point, but EKU closed out the opening set with another run to win that frame 25-21. 

Lipscomb used a 6-point swing to take an 8-3 advantage in the early portion of the second set. However, later in the frame, EKU stormed all the way back to even the score at 21-all. The Bisons weathered the storm and scored three straight after a 22-22 tie capped off by a solo block from Mermsan to level the set score at one apiece. 

The Bisons dominated the early portion of the third frame, on top by as much as seven (17-10), but like the first two sets of the evening, the Colonels would not go away quitely. EKU fought back within two points. Fortunately, the Bisons continued to execute down the stretch offensively to win the frame 25-21 and take a 2-1 set lead. 

Eastern Kentucky jumped off to an early lead in set four, and it was Lipscomb that had to fight its way back from a deficit. Lipscomb would trim the lead down to one, but the Colonels would not be denied in the frame, forcing a deciding fifth set. EKU hit their match-high .355 in the frame with 16 kills. 

The home team carried the momentum they mustard in set four into the deciding set, where they defeated the Bisons 15-9 and handed Lipscomb their second ASUN loss of the year. LUV could not return to form after two wins in the second and third frames. The Bisons hit .118 and .000 in the fourth and fifth sets, respectively, with 15 combined kills. 

The loss moves the Bisons to 15-7 overall and 10-2 in the ASUN with four matches to go before ASUN postseason play gets underway in Fort Myers, Florida, Nov. 16-18. Three of those final four matches will be at home in Allen Arena.

BRANDON ROSENTHAL POSTGAME:

"What a battle. I thought if you came into this match and saw the first matchup, you knew what to expect, a back-and-forth battle. No doubt we're disappointed, ultimately proud of the girls, proud of the weekend. It's hard to put into words, the things that we went through all weekend long. At the end of the day, we set our eyes on to next two week and then beyond into the championship. These things will help us. It's hard in the moment, but also those challenges and battles that you go through at the time, find ways of teaching us lessons. That's what this is. It's a tough lesson. It's a tough pill to swallow. But , ultimately our girls just played extremely hard in tough conditions again. It's like the state of Kentucky and warm gyms is part of the for the course for this weekend for us but everybody has to play in them."  

"Loved what we did defensively at times. I thought we really established some things. I thought our offense really got going, but ultimately at the end, passing kind of broke down and limited us with some options and we just didn't make plays that I think normally we make. We did last night and we have in the past. It's one of those things where you can't beat yourself up over, but you also have to be aware of deficiencies or maybe even things that maybe not deficiencies but maybe things that could be better."

"So here we are. We are heading into the last two weeks have some great opportunities. We still hold our fate as far as getting a top two seeds in our hands and that's the challenge ahead of us. We have to let this one sit on our minds and our hearts for a little bit tonight, but also be aware that once we get back and have the opportunity to let it all settle in we got to be able to turn the page. I think our girls have been great with that and I'm really impressed with what we've done after tough losses.: 

"I thought as far as play goes, we did a really nice job of establishing the middle. I though especially you through step four, we were doing a good job passing, but we let it get away from us in the sense that, you know now all of a sudden you put yourself into a fifth set. It's part high level volleyball. I thought that we rode the wave defensively and really got after it and I thought that that spurred us in the sets that we won. Even the sets that we didn't win, I thought that , our defense really added that pressure and it was from multitude of people. Obviously, Delaney Smith led the way with that, but even at the end, Jade Zaleski came in and made some big plays... Connelly (Renfrow), Ninah (Miranda), Libby (Steinhart) and again it was fun to see Caroline Stogner back. I wish that Stogs (Caroline Stogner) was where we need her to be as far as repetitions and things like that, but she brought something to the table that we really needed. She played one or two plays last night and was a huge help and she was also a huge help tonight. I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about how big of a factor she is in who we are. Would have loved to have gotten that one for her, just because obviously she plays some extended time out there tonight."

"Offensively, early on we made some silly errors on balls that we didn't need to take risks out, but I thought we really mitigated some of that stuff as the match went on. Unfortunately in the fifth set, we let some of those get the best of us. It then became a game of serve and pass and obviously server pass, leads to tougher situations if you're not passing well. I thought our serve was fantastic all night long. We really created pressure. Everybody's going to be quick to look at the aces and errors and things like that, but I caution them with that and to understand what we're trying to do offensively and defensively as well. At times our block was really good. That's hard to do against a team like that that has a lot of different options. Ultimately, it's a tough weekend because we didn't get that second win but at the same time I know what this team is capable of the mindset we'll have as we go into the last couple weeks. We'll let this one sit on our minds and hearts, and let that work towards being able to turn the page. It's tough, tough ride home when we also found out that (Ella) McAllister, who stayed back because of a surgery also was in a car accident. I know it's on our girl's mind. I think this program and these young women will continue to shine, as they understanding that the game is just a game and this program is so much bigger than that. Special prayers and thoughts for Ella (McAllister) and her family tonight. While everybody's ok,  we were pretty shooken up. It's important that we continue to think about them."

Up Next:
Lipscomb will return to Allen Arena for a matchup with Austin Peay on Wednesday, Nov. 1. That match will begin at 6 p.m. CT and air on ESPN+. For more coverage of Lipscomb Volleyball, follow LUV on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram @lipscombvball.