Sunday, November 01, 2009

The Lady Bisons swept North Florida 3-0 Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville to clinch their first ever Atlantic Sun regular season title.

The Lady Bisons won 25-15, 25-18 and 25-12. It was the 19th straight match win. It also was the 22nd match win of the season, setting a new program record. It is the seventh straight year that the Lady Bisons have won more matches than the previous season.

“That is the thing I am probably most proud of to do that every year,” said Lady Bisons coach Brandon Rosenthal.

In 2007 the Lady Bisons went to the NCAA Tournament as the A-Sun Tournament Champion.

“We didn’t talk about it until after the match,” said Rosenthal. “This is definitely a goal of ours. It is something we wanted the program to have. But we also understand that this is just one step to our ultimate goal.”

The Lady Bisons remain unbeaten in the A-Sun with a 17-0 worksheet. Jacksonville, in second place, fell to Belmont 3-1 Saturday afternoon for their fourth conference loss with three conference matches left to play.

Rosenthal shared the success of the team with his players, assistant coach Samantha Sullivan and team trainer Regina Hash.

“People congratulate me, but it is really theirs,” said Rosenthal. “They have all worked hard for it day-in and day-out and they deserve to get the credit for it.”

The Lady Bisons took a six-point lead in set one to take control. In set two North Florida held an 18-16 edge prompting the Lady Bisons to have to fight back with a string of points to win. In set three the Lady Bisons jumped out early with an 11-3 advantage.