Tuesday, September 27, 2011

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Behind a well-rounded team effort, the Lipscomb volleyball team topped homestanding Evansville 3-1 (15-25, 26-24, 25-22, 25-21) in a hard fought non-conference contest at the Carson Center in Evansville, Ind.

Despite dropping the opening set 15-25 and falling behind 17-10 in second set, the Lady Bisons were able to regroup in the second frame and win 26-24 en route to improving to 8-6 on the season, while the Purple Aces drop to 11-8.

“Evansville is a good team and they put a lot of pressure on us,” said Lipscomb head coach Brandon Rosenthal.  “A lot of teams would have packed up.  It’s awesome to see a team fight like we do.  We have a lot of heart and from a coaching standpoint, that’s really neat. Everybody dug in their heels and said we aren’t going down without a fight and some good things started to happen feel really good to be able to walk away with a win.”

Freshman Lauren Ford led the way for Lipscomb with 17 kills as part of four Lady Bisons in double figures.  Fellow newcomer Jewell Dobson had the best game of her young career for Lipscomb notching 14 kills and posting a blistering .458 hitting percentage. Fellow freshman Megan Stout also put up a good effort notching a career high with 16 digs.

“When we needed to pick up our defensive effort it was Megan’s steady play that got us back into that rhythm," said Rosenthal. "She was solid all night long.  Our three freshmen, Megan, Lauren and Jewell all played really good matches tonight. It’s a bit ironic they all played well on the same night.” 

“Lauren was tremendous all night long at the net and with her serving.  Jewell put up tremendous numbers to hit .486.  The numbers they are putting up are impressive regardless of their age or their class.”

Senior Katie Rose kept up her solid play both offensively and defensively with her third double-double of the season after a 12-kill, 14-dig effort.  Junior Kaycee Green also finished in double digit kills with a baker’s dozen.

Sophomore libero Stephanie Rex led the way defensively with a career-high 24 digs playing in her home state. Despite being outhit .414 to .088 in the opening set, the Lady Bisons rebounded in the final three sets to outhit the Purple Aces .202 to .185 for the match.

The Lady Bisons return home on Friday night hosting Atlantic Sun foe USC Upstate at 6:30 p.m. at Allen Arena.  Join the Lipscomb coaching staff before the contest at 5:45 p.m. for the next installment of “Chalk Talk” to learn insights about the game.