Friday, November 21, 2008

MACON, Ga. – Top seed Lipscomb opened its title defense with a 3-0 sweep of fifth-seeded ETSU in the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun Championship. The Bisons advance to face Belmont in Saturday's title tilt at the University Center.

The Bucaneers late third-set rally was not enough to take down the first-seeded Lady Bisons. ETSU went up 19-16, but Lipscomb tied it at 19 all after several attack errors from ETSU. Lipscomb sophomore and Player of the Year Alex Kelly delivered the final blow to knock the Bucs out of their first semifinal appearance.

Bucaneer junior Amanda Youell was a strong force for the Bucs with 27 assists and teammate Desiree Dyck added a team-high 10 kills. Kelly had a match-high 14 kills and First-Team All-Conference selection Stefine "Jake" Pease notched a match-high 28 assists.

ETSU rode the heels of the Lady Bisons through the entire first set, only taking the lead once. Kelly led the offensive attack with four kills while teammates Jessica Turner and Erin Pierce protected the back court earned four digs each.

Lipscomb dominated the second set leading by as many 10 points and finally taking it 25-15. Pease lead with nine assists and Kelly added five kills. Youell led the Bucs' offense tagging nine assists and teammate Jen Neice held the back and totaled eight digs.

The Lady Bisons swept ETSU this season with a pair of 3-0 match wins. On Sept. 12 at Lipscomb the Lady Bisons won by scores of 25-23, 25-22 and 25-18. On Nov. 8 at ETSU the Lady Bisons won by set scores of 25-21, 25-17 and 25-11.

This is only the second time that Lipscomb and Belmont will meet in an Atlantic Sun tournament game. The Bruins and Bisons faced off in 2006 in the men's basketball title game