Friday, November 18, 2005

Nashville, Tenn. – In their first Atlantic Sun Championship appearance, Lipscomb advanced to the semifinals with a 3-1 win over Mercer in the tournament’s opening match at the Curb Event Center on Belmont University’s campus.

Atlantic Sun All-Freshmen team selection Cara Wilber dominated the Lady Bisons attack, compiling an impressive double-double with a career-high 26 kills and 19 digs.

The fourth-seeded Lady Bisons (13-19) rallied from a three-point deficit late in game one to take an early lead on their way to capturing a 32-30 win, and never trailed in game two to carry a 2-0 advantage into the intermission. No. 5 Mercer (11-16) responded with their best game of the match, hitting .333 as a team and more than doubling their kill total with an impressive 30-22 victory in the third game. The Bears held another late lead in the decisive fourth game, but Lipscomb reeled off a 6-1 run to clinch the match 30-26.

Mercer showed off a balanced attack with four players racking up at least nine kills led by Kellie Violette’s 12 kills. Jackie Viren (11 kills/15 digs) and Claire Tucker (10 kills/13 digs) each posted double-doubles for the Bears. Lipscomb’s Jessica Turner added 13 kills while Alex Scruggs pounded out 10 kills while committing just one error. In a match-up of the A-Sun’s top two liberos, Lipscomb’s Ann Mullins posted a match-high digs while her counterpart on Mercer, Liz Kane finished with 26 digs and three aces.

Lipscomb advances to face top-seeded Florida Atlantic in the day’s third match at 4:30 pm. The Owls swept the Lady Bisons 3-0 in their regular season match-up.