STARKVILLE, MISS. - Lipscomb volleyball responded after a 3-0 loss to Mississippi State with a 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-9, 25-15) win over Abilene Christian, which concluded their play in Starkville Friday afternoon. 

The Bisons up their hitting percentage as the match progressed, finishing at a .256 percent clip. Lipscomb hit over .300 in three of the four sets. They also were electric at the service line with a season-high 19 aces against the Wildcats. Lipscomb's front line also largely controlled the net with 49 kills and nine total blocks in the outing.  

Individually, Lipscomb saw encouraging performances from Jada DiVita and Caroline Stogner, who both eclipsed double-digit kills with 11 and 10, respectively. Cora ter Kuile continued her effective weekend at the service line with seven aces on Friday. Delaney Smith finish with 15 digs on the night and reached the 1,000 point mark for her career. 

Set 1:

The Bisons got the ball rolling early, with a 7-1 lead to start, forcing a Wildcat timeout. Defensively, Lipscomb controlled the first set while getting some points with their aggressive serve. Cora ter Kuile added six aces in the set, which marked a career-high with more sets to play. The Bisons carried held a confortable lead throughout the set to win 25-17 to open their final match of the Maroon & White Invite.

Set 2: 

Abilene Christian made things more interesting in the second set after a  opening set win for Lipscomb. After trading points for the first 20 points of set two, the Wildcats started to gain separation, working to hold an 18-14 advantage after two attack errors and a service error by the Bisons. Lipscomb kept themselves in the frame, cutting their deficit to one (19-18) on a kill from Berkley Mischler. Unfortunately, the Wildcats answered with four straight points for a 24-18 advantage. Lipscomb clawed back and got within two points, but the Wildcats took set two, 25-22. The Bisons had ten attack errors in the frame, which helped the Wildcats gain the narrow set two win.

Set 3:

Lipscomb took a 10-5 lead in set three and then took 15 of the last 19 points to take a 2-1 advantage. Lipscomb's serving prowess was in full effect as they tallied seven in the frame. They started to cleanup their attack, ending with 12 kills in the set, six of them coming from Caroline Stogner, with only three errors after a 10 error set two.  

Set 4:

The Bisons open the fourth and final frame with four straight points. ACU evened the score at six all, but the Bisons answered with a five-point swing, forcing a Wildcat timeout with the point total 11-6. Lipscomb's swingers went to work in set four to close out a solid bounce-back performance by the Bisons. The squad finished set four with a match-high 25 kills while hitting .364 to close the match out with a 3-1 victory. 

COACH ROSENTHAL POSTGAME: 

"After last night, I was excited to see what kind of response we would have. I thought our effort and energy level last night lacked a bit, and because of that, we had a better understanding of what we needed to do. Unfortunately, you miss out on opportunities, but hopefully, moving forward, those opportunities aren't a complete loss. So, I was impressed with our girl's mentality and the focus and the discipline that they came out with. In the first set, we did an excellent job of controlling the set. Our serving was one of the major issues of the match, and 19 aces is a lot of aces, so I was really impressed with that and just the pressure that we were able to create with that first ball. All around, we did a nice job of having a pretty well-balanced match. I was pleased with the number of blocks, and then obviously, the hitting percentage was indicative of how we want to play, so when you play cleaner matches, it provides an even better opportunity to win. The big thing for us was creating some pressure with our first serve or with our serve and then not only that but being able to handle what they were throwing back at us and executing our transition defense to offense. There was a little letdown at the end of set two, but again; I think it's a good teaching and learning tool for us, understanding that, individually, we have to be able to continue to keep our energy moving forward even when we might not be playing as well as we want or have just made a mistake. So it's something that, you know, we continue to talk about. But it was a fun time getting everybody in and having a match there where we could focus on ourselves and what we needed to do and ultimately. We got a good victory today, and now we have a couple of days off and an exciting week starting on Tuesday with our crosstown rival in Belmont. We fully understand what that means. Even though it's out of conference, it's really important to us to continue to create that pressure. We're excited to be able to play in front of our fans in our arena before we go on the road for a couple more matches. All in all, I'm really happy with the way we played today and looking forward to a couple of days off. The girls need it as far as just travel and bodies and mental space. So excited about the weekend."

Up Next:
Lipscomb returns home for the Battle of the Boulevard on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. CT with their matchup against crosstown rival Belmont at Allen Arena.