JACKSONVILLE, FLA. - Lipscomb Volleyball hit the road for the final time during the regular season, taking on the Jacksonville Dolphins (8-18, 5-9 ASUN) in Jacksonville, Florida, in their only match of the weekend. The Bisons toughed out a five-set win on the road with scores of 27-29, 25-23, 25-19, 27-29, 15-13.
With the win, the Bisons improved to 17-7 on the season and 12-2 in the ASUN with two more regular season games left on their 2023 schedule. They also earned their sixth conference road win and six five-set victory of the year.
The Bisons saw contributions from a slew of players in their match with the Dolphins. Lipscomb's top five hitters this season, Meg Mersman, Addi Pelham, Berkley Mischler, Jada DiVita, and Courtney Jones, shined in the outing, each earning double-digit kills in the match. Mersman topped the bunch with 14 kills, while Pelham totaled 13 while hitting at a .545 percent clip to lead the team. Mersman's 14 kills against Jacksonville moves her to 10th in the D-I era for a career.
LUV's outstanding showing defensively was guided by libero Delaney Smith and setter Sophia Hudepohl, who had 18 and 17 digs, respectfully. Overall, the Bisons outdug the Dolphins 69-57. Hudepohl also paced their offensive attack that hit .338 on the day and had 76 total kills, with her passing, finishing with 57 assists in Jacksonville Saturday.
The opening frame set the tone for the match as it started and ended tight. Ultimately, the Bisons came up on the short end after the momentum shifted to Jacksonville late in the frame. The Bisons had some set-point opportunities down the stretch but couldn't seal the deal and fell 29-27.
Bisons had an excellent response to start the second set, but JU was able to battle back and keep things close until the final few points. The Bisons edged out the Dolphins for a bounce-back set-two wins down the stretch, relying on their seemingly unstoppable offensive attack. They concluded the set with 18 kills and hit .640 in the frame to win 25-23.
Lipscomb pulled away from the Dolphins after a tie game earlier in set three. LUV was able to stay in the system and continuously feed their hitters. The Bisons ended with 14 kills in the frame compared to eight by the Dolphins while also hit efficiently at a .458 rate in set three. LUV went up 2-1 with a 25-19 win in the set, the most lopsided frame of the day.
Set four was another wire-to-wire frame, similar to the first set of the match, ending with a similar result. The Dolphins made some plays at the net down the stretch to win the set and force a deciding fifth. Jacksonville finished with four blocks in the frame compared to just one from Lipscomb. The fourth set also wound up being the only frame that the Bisons were out hit percentage-wise.
The Bisons found themselves down a point in the final frame (7-6), but three straight kills from senior outside hitter Caroline Stogner shifted the momentum the Bisons way. The clubs traded points down the stretch, but Lipscomb held on to their two-point lead to win 15-13 and escaped with a win on the road in the ASUN.
The Bisons now enter the final weekend of the regular season where they have two matches at Allen Arena. The 2023 unit has been dominant at home, winning 11 of their 12 contests in front of their home crowd. The two matches will be their final tune-ups before ASUN Championship action begins on Thursday, Nov. 16. Lipscomb currently holds the No. 2 spot in the tournament hosted by the current No. 1 seed, FGCU, in Fort Myers, Florida.
POSTGAME THOUGHS FROM COACH BRANDON ROSENTHAL:
"End of the season road wins are huge, and we've battled quite a bit of service errors today. 23 is obviously far too many. Just had a tough time getting into a serving rhythm. Some of that is, I thought Jacksonville did an incredible job of passing and their defense was really tough and big moments. You got to credit them give them their due."
"Love what our team did. Just gritty as all get out to find a way to win. Fun! Fun to be a part of. Fun to see our girls compete like that. I think in the end you have got to find ways to win, good teams do, and proud of our girls. I thought they were incredible in a tough situation. It was very warm in the gym, and they were battling in the game without a ton of food on their stomachs because of the time. But it was fun to see our girl's battle. No doubt that it wasn't the best that we could have played or have played, but ultimately, we found ways down the stretch there to win."
"I thought our defense was big at the end. I was proud of the fact that our girls competed as hard as they did, especially in set five. When you're up one, up two and then tied, they have a couple different opportunities that were given as far as Jacksonville having a chance to take the lead, but we never succumbed to that. Ultimately, that's a mark of a team that's hungry for more and so by no means do I lessen this win. I think this win is fantastic and continues to be one of those things that will help propel us forward. Love the mindset our girls had, and their willingness to buy in all the way through."
"I thought Sophia (Hudepohl) did a really nice job distributing the ball and that's indicative by the number of different players in double digit kills for us. I thought that we got a huge boost from Caroline Stogner today. So great to see her back. She's such a great leader and through the last four or five weeks, you with some injuries, we knew that in the end that we were going to need her. Today was one of those times. Very unselfish play on her part. I thought Jade Zaleski did a great job in the end. I thought both our middles played extremely well. It's an interesting match when you look at the stats and see what we as a team in hitting .338. At times we didn't execute but on the same hand we had a great offensive match. We shot ourselves in the foot a little bit like I said with service errors and maybe some out of system errors, but that's where our girls get all the credit for staying the course and ultimately winning that fifth set."
"It's great knowing that this was the last road regular season game and now we got to move into you know a weekend where we get to celebrate our seniors. Excited about that and ultimately having a chance to secure one of the top two seeds. I think that our girls know that and are looking forward to that. We're ready to compete. As I said many times this year, road wins are hard to come by and I'm really, really proud of our girls and what they did."
Up Next:
Lipscomb will battle Central Arkansas in the first of their final two regular season matches on Thursday, Nov. 9. The contest is slated to get underway at 6 p.m. CT in Allen Arena and will air on ESPN+. For more coverage of Lipscomb Volleyball, follow LUV on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram @lipscombvball.
