by Brianne Welch | Feb 10, 2015 | Sports
What started out as a fun team bonding activity has turned into a small hand lettering art business for junior volleyball player Molly Spitznagle. “This summer we as a volleyball team had a lot of off time, and we all are here in the summer, so we had this thing called art club,” Spitznagle said. “We would do it and Jewell Dobson and I just kind of stuck to it.” Spitznagle credited senior Jewell Dobson for helping her get started in hand lettering. Once she got her start over the summer, she kept at it, and now does different kinds of lettering on canvases. “A lot of them are like Bible verses or quotes or sayings. I’ve done some name canvases for rooms or something like that, but they’re mostly lettering quotes.” The initial idea didn’t involve making any money, but it slowly turned in to a fundraising outlet to raise money for her yearly mission trip to Honduras. “I wanted to find a way that I could fundraise for myself, and I really enjoy art and painting and lettering and stuff like that, so I thought that I could make money off of canvases,” Spitznagle said. “It’s really popular right now, so it’s kind of expanded from there and blown up.” Now that Spitznagle has raised enough money for her mission trip, she has other plans for the canvases. As an athlete, it is hard for her to find time for a job to make spending money, so she decided to share her talents with the public. “I’ve just kind of tried to make it into a little side...
by Joe Sanderson | Nov 19, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
With a 3-0 sweep of USC Upstate and 3-1 victory over Kennesaw State University last weekend, the lady Bisons clinched the regular season championship and with it secured the No. 1 seed heading into the Atlantic Sun Tournament. Head coach Brandon Rosenthal knew that something was different with the team this year with heir attitude towards the game and outlook on winning. “Going to Kansas and beating Kansas, going to Missouri and beating Missouri and Illinois State,” Rosenthal said, “It was just one of those years where everybody believed and it was special.” Injuries and illness plagued the team towards the start of the season, but they found a way to fight back and end conference play 13-1. Rosenthal said that it’s not necessarily about the talent but the character. Over a quarter of the team are seniors this year and their leadership was apparent in each and every game they played during the regular season. “We talked at the beginning of the year about leaving a legacy, and that has nothing to do with wins and losses, it has everything to do with who you are,” said Rosenthal. “These girls, led by our seniors have done that.” Rosenthal mentioned when you have a season like theirs you expect to win every match you go into and there’s definitely an expectation of going into the tournament and winning. “I don’t think there’s any surprise for us or for anyone else that we want to do this,” said Rosenthal. “We aren’t going to win every set 25-0, we know they’re going to push us.” The Lady Bisons went 20-7 overall...
by Joe Sanderson | Sep 27, 2014 | Sports
The Lipscomb Lady Bisons turned a rough start into a victory in the first Atlantic Sun match of the season. This was the Lady Bisons fourth straight time matching up against Northern Kentucky University for the A-Sun season opener. Lipscomb started out rough giving up eight errors in the first set, eventually dropping the set 25-21 to the Norse. The Lady Bisons took the win with three consecutive set wins by scores of 29-26, 31-29 and 25-20. “There’s no doubt we have a ton of respect for Northern Kentucky and every time we play them we know it’s going to be a battle,” Lipscomb coach Brandon Rosenthal said. “They really make you make the errors. Conference is on the line and nobody is looking to start out 0-1.” Out of five season openers against Northern Kentucky, this is the first time the two teams played it in Allen Arena. The spectators were buzzing with both excitement and anxiety as each set stayed close until the end. Outside hitter senior Lauren Ford led the Lady Bisons in the game with a match-high 23 kills, just two short of her career high. Coming off of a three game slide, she admitted that they needed a win. Another standout performance for the Lady Bisons came from junior Molly Spitznagle. She was credited with 19 kills, a career high for her, and added five blocks to round off her night defensively. “Setting Molly as much as we did was a deliberate move,” Rosenthal said. “With the scouting report we felt we had an advantage with that.” Sophomore Kayla Ostrom’s setting was on point...
by Jesica Parsley | Aug 30, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
The fall sports teams are off to a great start this semester. Here is a recap on the games that have already been completed so far. Volleyball The Lipscomb volleyball team opened up the 2014 season with a 2-1 record at the Kansas Invitational. Friday Aug. 29 started with a disappointing season opener, losing 3-1 to No. 23 Creighton. Junior Brittany Estes recored her first career triple double in the match with 12 kills, 12 digs and 10 assists. Junior Bri McCombs led Lipscomb with 19 digs. Senior Lauren Ford added 18 digs. The big win came later that night against No. 22 Kansas. The Lady Bisons were down 2-0, but rallied back winning three sets in a row to get the 3-2 victory. The win was the first for the program over a ranked opponent. Lipscomb took set three 25-14, set four 26-24 and set five 15-12. Senior Jewell Dobson had a match-high 20 kills. Estes notched a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs. McCombs recorded a match-high 20 digs. Coach Brandon Rosenthal earned his 200th win after the Lady Bisons defeated Utah Valley 3-1 on Aug. 30. Lipscomb won the first set 25-23, third set 25-17 and fourth set 25-15. Estes had 10 kills in the match, and earned a spot on the All-Tournament team for the invitational. Ford recorded a match high 15 kills. McCombs led the team with 14 digs. Junior Molly Spitznagle’s hitting percentage was .562 in the match with 10 kills. The Lady Bisons will travel to Missouri Sept. 5 for a weekend tournament in the Tiger Classic. Men’s soccer Men’s soccer...
by Sophie Kellerman | Dec 24, 2013 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb’s Lady Bisons volleyball players know how important it is to have other students supporting their efforts, so they didn’t even hesitate when their coach asked them if they wanted to go to the Lipscomb production of Les Misérables this autumn. Coach Brandon Rosenthal took a vote a couple weeks in advance and asked his team who wanted to plan on attending the show. Every hand in the huddle shot up without hesitation. “As athletes, we don’t always realize the hard work that theatre requires. It is foreign to us,” said junior Megan Stout. “The show was really eye-opening to how much dedication it requires to put on a show like that.” The team took advantage of a rare evening off to attend the show as a team on Nov. 6. “This was my first time seeing a Lipscomb show,” said sophomore Molly Spitznagle. “I was mesmerized the whole time.” The team’s busy fall semester does not allow for much time to attend events like these. They were leaving the next day for a match against ETSU in Johnson City. “We know how important it is to have supporters at our games,” said senior captain Caitlin Dotson. “The fact that we can support our classmates in the same way is awesome.” Casey Edwards, a junior theatre major who played Éponine in the production, knows from experience how important it is for both groups of students to be supported. Her freshman year, she played golf for Lipscomb and was in multiple performances. Golf and acting, however, are both full-time jobs, and she decided to pursue theatre. “We practiced over 20 hours a...
