10/12/2009 - VOLLEYBALL Lipscomb Hosts Belmont in “Battle” of the Boulevard

Print Email RSS Share

Volleyball Weekly Release

MACON, Ga. - The Atlantic Sun Conference Volleyball Match of the Week features the latest edition of the “Battle of the Boulevard” as Lipscomb hosts arch-rival Belmont, beginning the second half of round-robin play at 6:30 p.m. CT, Tuesday night at Allen Arena. The match airs on ASun.TV.

The last time the Bruins and Lady Bisons met, Lipscomb swept the 2008 conference champions, 3-0, at the Curb Center to start the A-Sun play in a contest between the schools picked by the coaches to finish first and second in the A-Sun, respectively. Despite the loss, Belmont has taken six of the last nine in the series. The two Nashville schools split during the regular season last year before the Bruins’ captured the 2008 Atlantic Sun title with a three-set victory last November in Macon, Ga. The Lady Bisons look to continue their dominance at Allen Arena, where they emerged victorious in 24 of their last 29 home contests. At 10-0, the Lady Bisons joined a pair of UCF squads (1994 and 2003) as the only A-Sun programs to begin conference play with 10 consecutive victories – no A-Sun team has gone 11-0.

In Belmont's last action on the court, the Bruins notched their sixth sweep of the season, handling USC Upstate on Saturday at the Curb Event Center. The Bruins out-hit the Spartans nearly .300 points (.340-to-.044) and compiled 100 swings, 42 kills and just eight attacking errors. Junior middle hitter Tara Blood led the Bruins to tie a season-high of 10 team blocks with four block-assists and one block-solo of her own. Senior middle blocker Jenny Gray recorded five of Belmont's eight aces to renew her career-high and also added nine kills on a .471 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Maggie Johnson led all players with 12 kills, while recording just two attacking errors for a .370 hitting percentage, and redshirt freshman Lexi Adams saw her first collegiate career start, adding four kills and three blocks.

Brandon Rosenthal, in his seventh year as head coach for the Lady Bisons, won his 100th match Friday night as Lipscomb swept USC Upstate, 3-0. The win, the 12th straight for the Lady Bisons, closed out the first round of the Atlantic Sun round robin with a perfect 10-0 record. Freshman outside hitter Kaycee Green led the Lady Bisons with a match-high 12 kills, posting a .550 hitting percentage. Junior middle hitter Alex Kelly helped win her second straight A-Sun Player of the Week award as she recorded her 13th double-double of the season with 12 kills and 11 digs, which tied for the match high. Kelly also posted a .455 hitting percentage and made five blocks. Senior opposite Erin Pierce finished with 12 kills, while posting a team season high .692 hitting percentage, and sophomore libero Katie Rose notched 11 digs.

Players to Watch
* Tara Blood, Belmont – Against USC Upstate, the junior middle hitter led the Bruins to tie a season-high of 10 team blocks with four block-assists and one block-solo of her own, the third time that Belmont has recorded 10 team blocks this season.

* Jenny Gray, Belmont – The senior middle blocker recorded five of Belmont's eight aces against USC Upstate to renew her career-high. Gray's previous career-high of three aces occurred 11 times throughout her career at Belmont. The Greenwood, Ind. native also added nine kills on a .471 hitting percentage.

* Maggie Johnson, Belmont – The junior outside hitter led all players with 12 kills while recording just two attacking errors for a .370 hitting percentage against USC Upstate on Saturday.

* Kaycee Green, Lipscomb – For the week, the freshman outside hitter posted 22 kills. Against USC Upstate, the Cookeville, Tenn. native led the Lady Bisons with a match-high 12 kills and a .550 hitting percentage. Against non-conference opponent Murray State on Oct, 6, Green added 10 kills.

* Alex Kelly, Lipscomb – The junior middle hitter posted her 13th double-double of the season against USC Upstate Friday night and tied for the match-high in digs with 11. The Kansas City, Mo. native also totaled a match high 19 kills at Murray State on Oct. 6. Kelly leads A-Sun conference play in 4.33 kills per set and ranks second in hitting percentage (.362).

* Stefine “Jake” Pease, Lipscomb – For the week, the Berryton, Kan. native led the Lady Bisons with 83 assists and 10 digs against Murray State and USC Upstate.

* Eric Pierce, Lipscomb – The senior opposite ranked second in the A-Sun last week with a .500 hitting percentage, finishing with 12 kills and a team season high .692 hitting percentage against USC Upstate.

Around the Sun - Volleyball
Belmont
* The quest for the 2009 Atlantic Sun Volleyball title will pass through Nashville at 6:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday night, as rivals Belmont and Lipscomb begin the second half of conference play in Lipscomb’s Allen Arena.
* Belmont leads Lipscomb, 25-4, in a series that dates back to 1993 when both schools were members of the NAIA. In the last match, Lipscomb swept Belmont to open conference play at the Curb Event Center on Sept. 9. Belmont captured the 2008 A-Sun Tournament title by sweeping the No. 1 seeded Lady Bisons in Macon, Ga. on Nov. 22. At one point, the Bruins won 22 straight against Lipscomb.
* The Bruins defeated USC Upstate in three sets on Saturday, outhitting the Spartans by nearly .300 points while registering 10 team blocks. Junior outside hitter Maggie Johnson continues to pace the Bruins’ offensive arsenal with 3.47 kills per set and 257 total kills. Johnson also has a team-high five double-doubles this season, the last coming after a 10-kill, 10-dig performance at ETSU (10/3). After their slowest start since 2003 at 2-7, the Bruins have gone 9-3 since to put themselves in the thick of an A-Sun title repeat.

Campbell
* Campbell took a split on the weekend, winning 3-1 at UNF before dropping three straight sets at Jacksonville in Atlantic Sun action. With the win against the Ospreys, the Camels extended their A-Sun road winning streak to five games, taking the record for most conference road wins in a season. The team’s six league wins overall, marks a high last matched in 2001, when the Camels finished the season at 6-3 against A-Sun competition.
* Junior outside hitter Emily Werner averaged 3.71 kills and 2.43 digs per set in the pair, finishing Friday with 16 kills and seven digs, and on Saturday she picked up her sixth double-double of the year (18th of her career) with 10 and 10, respectively. Werner has tallied double-figure points (18.0 at UNF and 11.5 at JU) in each of her last four contests, hitting the mark a team-high 15 times over the season. Werner’s 12 double-figure kill matches is also a team-high.
* The Camels travel to Winston-Salem State on Tuesday for their final non-conference test of the season. Campbell owns a 3-0 all-time mark against the Rams. ETSU and USC Upstate will head to Buies Creek this weekend.

ETSU
* ETSU dropped two key matches this past weekend that would have had the Bucs in the hunt for the second spot in the Atlantic Sun as they fell to Jacksonville, 3-1, and UNF, 3-1.
* Junior setter Whitney Cogburn has posted a double-double in the last four matches as she now has a team-leading six double-doubles on the season. Senior setter Amanda Youell ranks second on the team in double-doubles with three.
* ETSU faces USC Upstate on Tuesday night as the Bucs look to rebound in conference play before heading to Buies Creek, N.C. for an important match against Campbell.

FGCU
* FGCU won its third straight match to improve to 9-7 overall and 8-2 in the A-Sun with a 3-0 win against Kennesaw State on Saturday.
* FGCU hit .247 in the match, pounding out 38 kills on 89 attempts. The Eagles also served up three aces and posted eight blocks in the match. FGCU limited Kennesaw State to a hitting percentage of -.011, while forcing 25 hitting errors.
* For the week, junior outside hitter Jelena Simic led the Eagles with 26 kills and 28 digs and junior middle blocker racked up 22 kills and hit .415. Senior setter Chandra Lefever also tallied 81 assists and 28 digs in the seven sets.
* The Eagles return to action on Tuesday when they host the Hatters of Stetson at 6:00 pm in Alico Arena.

Jacksonville
* JU (12-5, 8-2), which now holds its longest winning streak under head coach Shaun Kupferberg (nine), also increased its program record home winning streak to 13 (6-0 this season). The unbeaten mark at home is the best start for JU since joining the A-Sun in 1998.
* Senior libero Shelley Walroth, who has tallied nine 20-dig performances on the year, now needs just 18 digs to crack the top 25 all-time in NCAA history.
* Senior outside hitter Brooke Singleton has emerged as the steady force for JU as the Dolphins have overcome an array of injuries and push its winning streak to nine matches with a 2-0 weekend. Singleton, who has tallied a double-double in three consecutive matches, proved instrumental in a 3-1 win against ETSU and a 3-0 victory versus Campbell. Against the Lady Bucs, she tallied a match-high 17 kills and 10 digs while hitting .306 (17-2-49). Against the Camels, she finished with 10 kills and 11 digs while also contributing three blocks, one of which helped seal a 29-27 rally win in set one. For the week, Singleton led the squad with 3.86 kills per set while ranking second with 3.0 digs per set and hitting .238 in two matches.

Kennesaw State
* Kennesaw State will start the second half of the A-Sun’s double round robin tonight when the Owls travel down I-75 to face the Bears. Kennesaw State enter the contest alone in seventh place in the A-Sun, one loss behind ETSU for sixth place.
* In the A-Sun opener for KSU and Mercer, on Sept. 8, the Owls came away with a 3-1 victory at the KSU Convocation Center. Senior outside hitter Asjia Stokes finished with a match-high 17 kills to go with 12 digs, while junior outside hitter Sabrita Gulley totaled 15 kills and 15 digs for her own double-double. Senior Chelsey Denesha tied the school record for digs with 23 in the match against Mercer.
* The Owls have a chance to see some milestones reached during this week as KSU libero Selina O’Leary enters the week with 958 career digs. KSU’s career record holder in digs, the senior needs just 42 to reach the 1,000-dig plateau. Denesha has tallied 380 kills and 379 digs for the Owls since arriving last year for her junior season, putting her within reach of the 400 mark in each of those categories.
* Following Tuesday’s match, KSU will return home for Friday and Saturday contests against Belmont and Lipscomb. Saturday’s match will be KSU’s annual “Dig for the Cure” match to help support the cause of breast cancer awareness.

Lipscomb
* The Lady Bisons enter the week rated 71st in NCAA Division I RPI rankings, rank third in the nation in kills per set with 14.93 and rank fifth nationally in assists per set with 13.83. Texas A&M leads at 14.25. Lipscomb also ranks in the top 20 in two more categories, 16th in winning percentage (.833) and 19th in hitting percentage (.269).
* Reigning Atlantic Sun Player of the Week Alex Kelly ranks ninth in the nation in points per set with 5.27 and 12th in kills per set with 4.54. Kelly also earned a Top Performer selection from the Collegiate Volleyball Update for her performance this past week. Individually, junior setter Stefine “Jake” Pease ranks fifth in the nation in assists per set with 11.95. Alisha Glass of Penn State ranks first with 12.2.
* Coach Brandon Rosenthal, in his seventh year as head coach, won his 100th match Friday night as Lipscomb swept USC Upstate 3-0. The Lady Bisons won all 10 matches in the first round of the A-Sun round robin. They enter the week with a 12-match winning streak overall.
* The Lady Bisons welcome the Bruins to Allen Arena at 6:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday night, as both teams start the second half of the Atlantic Sun round robin with the volleyball version of the “Battle of the Boulevard”.

Mercer
* Mercer junior middle blocker Libby Hansch knocked down a career-high 16 kills with zero errors as the Bears claimed a 3-1 victory against Stetson in Saturday afternoon’s Atlantic Sun volleyball match held at the Edmunds Center.
* Mercer sophomores Ashley Skidmore, Amiee Frutchey and Rachel Urbelis rank among the top ten conference players in digs per set. Skidmore ranks third (4.15), Frutchey ranks seventh (3.53) and Urbelis ranks eighth (3.44).
* Senior setter Chelsea Gebben has notched double-digit assists in 16 straight matches and 17 of Mercer’s 18 matches.
* Mercer returns to Atlantic Sun play against Kennesaw State at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday night at the University Center. Tuesday evening will mark the second contest between the Bears and Owls this season. On Sept. 8, Kennesaw State defeated Mercer, 3-1, in Kennesaw, Ga. Mercer leads the all-time series, 4-1.

UNF
* After falling behind 1-0 in the match, UNF defeated ETSU, 3-1, on Saturday afternoon at UNF Arena. Junior middle blocker Kaley Read led a balanced offensive attack by the Ospreys, tallying 14 kills. Senior outside hitter Agata Dawidowicz added 13 kills and 10 digs while junior outside hitter Danielle Lerch notched 10 kills. Junior setter Jessica Catelano posted a match-high 46 assists and freshman libero Nicole Baran led all defenders with 20 digs.
* UNF prepares to battle crosstown Atlantic Sun rival Jacksonville in a 7:00 p.m. match on Tuesday at UNF Arena. The Ospreys will look to take the lead in the SunTrust River City Rumble after the men’s soccer team evened the score at 1-1 with a 2-1 victory on the road on Saturday.
* The two teams met earlier this season, on Sept. 16, at Jacksonville, where the Dolphins picked up the 3-0 win. Freshman Paige Pridgeon notched 11 kills in the match for the Ospreys.
* Read leads the Ospreys with 3.78 kills per set, while Lerch adds 2.90 kills per set and Pridgeon collects 2.81 kills, as well as a team-best 2.51 digs per set. Catelano tallies 9.36 assists per set, while Baran posts 2.42 digs per set.

USC Upstate
* Freshman Emily Sanders posted her eighth double-double of the season on Saturday at Belmont, posting 12 assists and 10 digs. She sits five shy of the D-I era record of 13 double-doubles set by Holly Mauldin in 2008.
* Sophomore middle blocker Morgan Thomas led the Spartans in kills twice this weekend, helping her take the team lead with eight matches in which she led the way offensively for Upstate. Sophomore outside hitter Kelsie Queen ranks second on the team at seven matches.
* Junior libero Megan Healey needs just 40 digs to become the ninth player in school history to record 1,000 in a career.
* The last time that ETSU and Upstate met, both freshman setter Emily Sanders and senior setter Morgan Bucciferro posted double-doubles, as Sanders posted 13 assists and 11 digs and Bucciferro added 17 assists and 11 digs on Sept. 8.
* In four matches against Campbell, Healey averaged 15.5 digs per match and 3.88 digs per set against the Camels.

Stetson
* Freshman Kelli Carneal led the Hatters with 28 assists, 12 digs and six kills while senior Laura Boyd hit a season-high 10 kills in Stetson’s 3-1 loss against Mercer at the Edmunds Center. Sophomore Kaylee Ream totaled nine digs, eight kills and a career-high five service aces, while junior Megan Stewart collected a career-high 11 digs along with five assists. Senior Anna Becker led Stetson’s defensive effort with a career-high tying 16 digs.
* Several players made season and career highs in a 3-1 home loss against conference-rival Kennesaw State, Thursday evening at the Edmunds Center. Carneal racked up career highs in assists (37) and digs (17), adding eight kills, while junior Stephanie Canfield led all players with a season-high 12 kills and a season-high nine digs. Ream collected a career-high 12 digs while also slamming a season-best nine kills and senior Sarah Sears tallied eight digs, six kills and two service aces. The final Hatter to reach a season high against KSU, sophomore Sam Freeman, notched seven kills and led with a .333 hitting percentage. Also against KSU, Sears took the court for the 97th time as a Hatter, and moved closer to the school record, 106. She can set the record against Kennesaw State on Nov. 7.
* Stetson starts the second half of the 20-match, double round robin league schedule Tuesday at FGCU. The match begins at 6:00 p.m. at Alico Arena.

The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life, with a focus on academic and athletic integrity and a balance between the two for the student-athlete, and maintaining a high level of sportsmanship. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun encompasses six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun consists of some of the most dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.