Bisons swept by Commodores in cross-town rivalry clash

The Lipscomb Bisons volleyball team fell short in cross-town rivalry action on Friday night, dropping a 3–0 decision to Vanderbilt University at Memorial Gymnasium.

Despite matching the Commodores point-for-point early in all three frames and taking leads in the second and third sets, the Bisons could not stall Vanderbilt’s late offensive runs.

“I think we just started to wake up a little bit, in the sense of playing volleyball the way we know best,” said Sarah Baldwin, Lipscomb’s head coach. “We started a little bit slow in the sense of, you know, the things that usually are our strengths were not in our favor. It took a little bit to get going, and I felt like, you know, we were able to set the middles and get them scoring in those moments early on to be able to kind of balance that offense a little bit.”

Lipscomb sophomore defensive specialist Kenzie Kucks started the match at the service line. The Bisons kept pace early behind an attack led by senior outside hitter Ella Durham, tying the opening frame at 10–10. However, Vanderbilt sparked a 4–0 push to go ahead 14–10. Late kills by Vanderbilt graduate opposite hitter Samantha Wunsch and junior outside hitter Reese Animashaun stretched the lead to 21–16. Lipscomb saved late set points behind a solo block from graduate outside hitter Lexi Guinn, but a Bisons attack error into the net gave Vanderbilt the first set, 25–20.

Lipscomb quickly found its rhythm in the second set, utilizing kills from senior middle blocker Brooklyn Fuchs and Durham to capture an 11–9 advantage and force a Vanderbilt timeout. Coming out of the stoppage, the Commodores leveled the set before mounting a game-altering 10–1 run. Front-row protection from junior middle hitter Rachel Ogunleye and back-to-back aces by sophomore outside hitter Maya Witherspoon helped Vanderbilt close out the 25–16 victory.

In the third and final set, Vanderbilt constructed an early 8–2 lead, but Lipscomb rallied to tie the frame at 9–9. A kill by Guinn pushed the Bisons ahead 15–14 entering the media timeout. Once again, the Commodores answered with an 11–1 closing surge, punctuated by consecutive Animashaun kills and a match-ending ace from Witherspoon to finalize the sweep.

“In high-momentum moments, we were kind of down in the game, so looking each other in the eyes and telling each other, ‘We got this next point,’” Fuchs said. “Just play a clean game, keep the serve on the line, and trust our training that we’ve been working on, and just trust each other on the court to get it done.”

The Bisons (5–3) look to change the narrative as they travel down the street to take on rival Belmont University on Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Curb Event Center.

“We have a quick turnaround to be able to focus on the next thing,” Baldwin said. “So unfortunate ending for today, but I think our team’s perfectly capable of turning that page and being a little bit hungrier to finish off the weekend.”

Featured Image taken by Frances Inwood