Lipscomb takes down West Florida in a 3-0 set win
Lipscomb University Volleyball team shut down the University of West Florida in a three-set sweep, Friday night on Halloween eve, inside Allen Arena. The Bisons held the Argonauts to their lowest attack percentage in West Florida’s young Division 1 history as the Bisons stampeded over the Argonauts.
The Bisons entered at 7-2 and the Argonauts 5-2 in the ASUN; both teams sitting at the top of the conference. Both sides played just 12 days prior where West Florida swept Lipscomb in 3 sets. The Bisons turned around to return the favor and swept the Argonauts in 3 sets in their rematch. The Bisons now stand alone in First place in the ASUN.
“Coming back from playing a match against them in Pensacola, going down 0-3, a lot of that holds some weight,” Coach Sarah Baldwin said after the game on the ESPN+ broadcast. “We’ve continued to talk about how to turn the page, what do we learn from that. And I think we learned that we’re capable of finding ways to win, you know even though it didn’t go our way the first time.”
West Florida led 5-4 in the opening set before sophomore right-side hitter Anna Claire Brown tied it with a kill. Senior outside hitter Ella Durham followed with a service ace and Brown added two more kills as the Bisons moved in front 8-5. Lipscomb ran off six straight points kills from freshman outside hitter Madyson McCarthy, junior setter Kelsey Schenck and sophomore middle blocker Sydney Strenger alongside an ace from Brown, to extend the lead to 16-7.
The Bisons continued to build momentum with kills from freshman setter Makenna Kirlin and Durham. A kill by McCarthy brought the score 24-11 before senior middle blocker Brooklyn Fuchs closed out the set with a kill for a 25-11 win. The Bisons dominated the first set, hitting .593 in the opening set with 17 kills, committing only one attack error on 27 swings. Brown led the defense with six digs to go with her five kills.
After West Florida opened the second set with two kills senior right-side hitter Kumara Flanagain, Lipscomb scored nine straight points to jump ahead 9-2. McCarthy served throughout the run, which included two aces, two kills from Strenger, and a kill from Durham. UWF broke the streak with a kill from redshirt junior middle blocker Delaney Hanowell but the teams traded points from there
Lipscomb maintained its cushion as Brown, McCarthy and Durham added kills to push the set to 17-11. A four-point scoring run, capped by a Schenck ace, extended the lead to 21-11. West Florida deficit to 23-15, but Brown’s kill brought up set point before Schenck and Strenger combined on the block that secure the set 25-15 win.
West Florida battled back to lead 15-13 in the third set before a Strenger kill and a Strenger block helped the Bisons pull even at 15-15. After the teams traded points to 18-18 tie, the Bisons won the next stretch on two Durham kills, a Fuchs kill and two West Florida attack errors to lead 22-18. The Argonauts worked back within 23-22, but graduate outside hitter Lexi Guinn answered with a kill to secure match point at 24-22. Strenger finished the night with a kill off an assist from Schenck for a 25-23 victory.
The Bisons picked up their first-ever win over the West Florida on Friday night in the second-ever meeting between both teams. Lipscomb committed only nine attack errors in the match while finishing with a .337 attack percentage. In the 25-point era (since 2008), the Bisons have recored 31 matches with single-digit attack errors. Now at 15-5 overall, the 2026 Lipscomb Volleyball program is off to the second-best start to a season in program history, trailing only the 2009 and 2020 seasons by two matches (17-3).
“We Love a challenge.” Baldwin said after the game on the ESPN+ broadcast, “We made it a little interesting at the end, but we did a good job taking care of business in three sets straight, so proud of our team.”
Brown and Strenger put together 12.5 points, as each had 10 kills, one service ace, a solo block and an assisted block. Durham also had 10 kills to go with an ace and a block, while McCarthy posted three aces. Freshman libero Grace Jones and Kirlin each had 10 digs, while Schenck anchored the offense with 34 assists.
The player of the match Anna Claire Brown had this to say on her performance after the game on the ESPN+ broadcast. “I think it comes down to the players we have. I mean, our setter just keeps setting us insane balls, spreading the offense, so it’s so fun. I just feel like you go up, you’re giving good splits, like why not just execute on this, so it’s so fun.”
West Florida travels to Louisville, Kentucky, to play Bellarmine at 3 p.m. later today. Lipscomb wraps up its four-match home stand this afternoon on Halloween against Queens University. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Featured Image Courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics
Andreas Rizzi
Andreas Rizzi is a junior communication major from Chicago and Michigan. He brings a lifelong passion for sports and loves to call all sports while working as an analyst for ESPN+ on Lipscomb's campus. Andreas hopes to one day become an MLB broadcaster and become an analyst for the YES or MLB network.
