CONWAY, ARK. - Lipscomb volleyball opened ASUN conference play with a 3-2 (25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 21-25, 15-7) road win over Central Arkansas to extend their win streak to three games. The victory also marks the fifth straight win over the Sugar Bears. 

Five Bisons reached the double-digit kill mark, led by Meg Mersman with 15 kills, a season-high. Courtney Jones (14), Jada DiVita (13), and Berkley Mischler (11) were the three others who had double-digit kills. Lipscomb edged the Sugar Bears in hitting percentage of .227 to .185, finishing with 62 kills on the night. They controlled the net offensively and dominated defensively with 14 total blocks.

Set 1:

The opening set foreshadowed what would be a back-and-forth five-set match. The squads traded points for most of the first set. Lipscomb looked like they might pull away after gaining a 20-15 lead, but UCA battled back to even the score using a 5-0 run down the stretch. The Bisons scored the final three points, two of which came on kills to win the opening set 25-22. Both teams swung at a high rate, finishing with a .421 and a .364 hitting percentage. 

Set 2: 

Lipscomb got off to a 10-5 lead in the second frame, but UCA stormed back thanks to a 7-0 run to take the lead 11-10. Both teams would trade runs, but the Sugar Bears recorded five of the last six points to even the set count at one a piece. Lipscomb struggled to hit after a stellar opening set swinging, ending the second frame with a .105 percentage.

Set 3:

The tides would flip entirely in the third set as UCA suffered from hitting woes. Lipscomb was able to capitalize and dominate the third frame and claim a 25-18 win. Errors plagued the Sugar Bears in the sequence as they recorded seven with only eight kills. Lipscomb got their hitting percentage back up with a .241 set three performance. 

Set 4:

UCA began to control the fourth frame midway through, stretching their lead to as much as six (13-7). Lipscomb would claw back to as close as one point late (20-21) but could not string together some points down the stretch, falling in set four 25-21 to force a deciding fifteen. The Bisons had their second-lowest hitting percentage of the match at .132 percent. 

Set 5:

The Bisons responded well to close out the match with a 15-7 victory in set five. 10 of the 15 points came on kills, but more importantly, they forced UCA into a -.034 hitting percentage with only three kills. 

COACH ROSENTHAL POSTGAME: 

"For the first conference match, especially being on the road, we talked to the girls ahead of time about this is what it's all about. Conference means something a little bit more. Being in building different buildings makes it hard. It doesn't matter who it is; it doesn't matter what time of year it is. It doesn't matter what gym it is. Here, in arguably one of the most challenging gyms to play in, Finding a way to win is so gratifying. When we were able to calm down and play, we were able to do some fantastic things. When we started to show signs of panic, lack of control, and recklessness, it was when we put ourselves in challenging situations. So, ultimately, you have to find ways to win. You got to do that when you are on the road. I am so proud of our team and each of the girls for what they did. Tonight, it's probably a little more problematic places with a capacity of 200 and the gym smaller than McQuiddy.The ceilings were in play, and they got hit a dozen times tonight, so you know it's not something we see every day, and it's just tough. Our middle play down the stretch was just next level. Berkeley and Meg did an excellent job of going after it. I talked to them in the fourth because Megan missed a couple of swings, and I just told her she had to stay aggressive. Part of our game plan at the end of the fourth and obviously in the fifth was to get both of them the ball more, and they did such a great job of executing transition and putting balls away. Ultimately, that's where Central Arkansas took advantage of others when we made errors. You have to play cleaner than we did in the fourth and at the end of the second.A lot of fun to see that. The blocking was next level as well. In the fifth, Berkley absolutely took over and paired up with Cora ter Kuile. Abbi did an excellent job at the beginning of the match. We switched to late and in the fourth to get Cora going, and I thought Cora could come off the bench and do some fantastic things. Our offensive prowess was predicated on our passing exceptionally well in the end. Sophia did a great job setting the ball where it needed to. We went through stretches throughout the night where we lost some of that aggressiveness and some of that trust in our abilities, and you know, part of that is just on the road where nobody wants to make mistakes, so you start to overthink some things. The message was like, hey, let's keep returning at it. So, ultimately, her serve was great all night. We probably had fewer aces than usual. Here's where I give some of the credit to them, but our serve made a big difference. Especially in the fifth set, Ninah just came in and did an unbelievable job serving, But all the way around, I thought our server was great. It's really easy to look at aces and errors, and I caution our fans and anyone because it doesn't tell the whole story. As a coaching staff, we were extremely pleased with how we served. At the beginning of the season, coming into an environment like UCA had is fantastic; it's incredible to gain some experience and find ways to win. We will enjoy it tonight, then make another sizable journey to North Alabama and prepare to play another tough match and another tough gym again with a team starting to make some noise. Tristan does a great job with their program. They're poised to try to make some noise this year, like I said before on the front end; conference play means more. Part of the conversation is that we have to do a better job of getting to know the individuals and what they like to do because there's a potential of seeing some of these teams 2-3 times this year. So proud of our team! It's easy to look at the box score or even watch a match like that and point out some of the errors and things like that. I would ask anybody to pump the brakes here and understand our environment and the idea that there was zero panic between sets four and five. Our defense was excellent. I thought Smitty, Connelly, Jade, Ninah, I mean, really dialed it in tonight, and that was a lot of fun to see."

Up Next:
Lipscomb will battle North Alabama in their second of three straight road matches on Sunday in Florence, Alabama, at 1:00 p.m. CT.