LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Lipscomb University Volleyball team, after dropping the opening set to Bellarmine University, came out and stormed past the Knights in the next three to win the match in four sets, Saturday afternoon from Knights Hall. 

Final Score: Lipscomb 3, Bellarmine 1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-17, 25-11)
Location: Louisville, Kentucky (Knights Hall)
Records: Lipscomb (11-11, 7-5), Bellarmine (11-13, 5-7)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Ahead 9-8, the Bisons saw themselves in a hole early, as the Knights won five straight points to lead 13-9. 

Despite a Berkley Mischler and Sophia Hudepohl assisted block to cut the score to 14-12 in favor of the Knights, Bellarmine kept the momentum through the remainder of the set with a 25-19 set one win. 

The Knights had a strong start defensively getting the side out, posting a percentage of 73 (14-of-19) in the set. 

In the second, despite five ties and Bellarmine having a 3-2 lead early, the Bisons swelled the lead to 12-8 after kills by Mischler and back-to-back from Courtney Jones. 

BU made it a 12-11 deficit after back-to-back kills from Lillie Meinhart and Natalie Bland, but a 5-1 by LUV forced the Knights to take a timeout trailing 17-12. During the run, Jones added two more spikes as she finished with five of the team's 14 in the set, and Kenzie Kucks added a service ace. 

The Bisons were able to keep the foot on the gas pedal and evened the match with a 25-18 win of set two. 

In the swing set, it felt like a pendulum, as there were seven ties and three lead changes. However, after Jones gave LUV the 10-9 lead, the Bisons took off, swelling the lead to 17-10 on back-to-back blocks by Mischler and Cora ter Kuile and a Kelsey Schenck service ace. 

That run would be enough to win set three, 25-17, to take the 2-1 match lead. 

In the fourth, it was all Lipscomb, storming out to a 4-0 start, as Schenck started the frame with an ace, and Mischler and Ella Durham followed with spikes. 

The lead swelled to 13-4 after a defensive stop by Brooklyn Fuchs and ter Kuile and a Sophia Hudepohl ace. 

LUV totaled 13 kills and hit .321 in the set, and they held BU to three kills and a -.042 swing percentage, as the Bisons cruised to a 25-11 victory to win the match in four sets. 

QUOTABLE
Hear from Brandon Rosenthal after the match.
 

KEY STATISTICS
After the Bisons hit .211 in the opening set (12-4-38), they came to life in the next three frames, hitting .349 (41-11-86). 

Additionally, the Bisons got the ball back sooner on defense in sets two, three and four than in the first. LUV had a 56% side out percentage (14-of-25) in the opener, but in the remaining three frames, they posted a mark of 77% (36-of-47).

Berkley Mischler recorded a match-high 14 kills and posted a .480 swing percentage, committing two errors on 25 swings. 

Cora ter Kuile added 10.5 points with seven kills on a .312 attack percentage and added five total blocks. Brooklyn Fuchs added seven kills without committing an attack error on 11 swings. 

Ella Durham had a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs, while Kelsey Schenck had 10 digs and three aces. 

Sophia Hudepohl totaled 42 assists on the afternoon as she led the Bisons to a .306 attack percentage on the day. 

HERD NOTES
Since Bellarmine moved up from Division II to Division I and the Atlantic Sun Conference, the Bisons improved to 14-0 over the Knights. 

This marked just the third time that LUV and Bellarmine played to a fourth set in the series. 

UP NEXT
Lipscomb will return home for the final home stand of the 2025 season, starting with North Alabama on Friday night at 6 p.m. from Allen Arena to kick off Senior Weekend.