Lady Bisons ousted by Flames in soccer quarterfinals

Lady Bisons ousted by Flames in soccer quarterfinals

In the quarterfinal matchup of the ASUN tournament, the #1 seed Lady Bisons hosted the #4 seed Liberty and fell at home 1-0, ending their season. The last time these two teams met Lipscomb took a 5-1 victory in Lynchburg. Before that though, they met at Lipscomb in a game that ended in a 0-0 tie through 110 minutes of soccer. Today, the game would look very similar to the last time the Flames came to Lipscomb, but this time Liberty would take a lead 1-0 with a goal by McKinley Burkett in the 20th minute. From there the Bisons would not be able to score at all.  The Bisons had many opportunities with 16 shots, 4 on goal throughout the game and both teams split even with 4 saves from the goal line. This game eliminates the Bisons from further ASUN contests and Liberty will go on to face the University of North Florida on April 15th.  The Bisons have a small chance of making an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament, but with a draw against Bellarmine and an early loss in the ASUN tournament, that route seems unlikely. Though the Bisons did not finish the season where they had hoped, they finished the year at 7-2-2 with the early conference tournament loss. Gallery by Riley...
Volleyball set to play Georgia Tech in the 2021 NCAA Tournament

Volleyball set to play Georgia Tech in the 2021 NCAA Tournament

After winning a five-set thriller against FGCU in the ASUN tournament final on Saturday night, the Lady Bisons clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament. Sunday afternoon, ESPNU hosted the selection show that announced Lipscomb would travel to play No. 23 Georgia Tech on April 14th in the first round of the tournament. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lipscomb Volleyball (@lipscombvball)   In three previous matchups, Lipscomb is 0-2 against the Yellow Jackets. This will be their first meeting since 2019. This is the Lady Bisons’ eighth tournament appearance and first since 2016. Due to the pandemic, not only the timing of the tournament, but also the format of the tournament is different. Instead of the usual 64 teams, only 48 teams will be going to the big dance and the entirety of the tournament will be played in Omaha, Nebraska. This first-round game will be played at 6 PM CT on April 14th. Graphic courtesy of Lipscomb...
Lady Bisons return home to play first series of the season at Draper Diamond

Lady Bisons return home to play first series of the season at Draper Diamond

The Lipscomb Lady Bisons ended last season as ASUN champions and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014 and for only the third time in Lipscomb Softball program history. After losing many graduating seniors, this year’s team is much younger than last year, but still has multiple key players returning. Younger team than last year The Lady Bisons played with seven seniors during the team’s 2019 campaign. During the 2020 campaign, Lipscomb will only have four seniors on the roster. “We just graduated a lot of power kids; a lot of power hitters through the middle of the order, plus our leadoff and our nine hitter who were speedsters, and a lot of veterans in the outfield,” Lipscomb softball coach Kristin Ryman said. Coach Ryman’s strategy is not to try and replace the kind of skills that the graduated players on last year’s team possessed; instead her strategy is to build up the skills that the incoming and returning players have. “We don’t have to replace what all of those other girls did, all the homeruns they hit,” Coach Ryman said. “It’s how do we play to the strengths of this new crop of kids we have.” Amy Vetula’s hot start While Lipscomb lost many players that led to the team’s success in 2019, the Lady Bisons are still returning multiple key players. The 2019 ASUN Player and Defensive Player of the year Hannah DeVault will be returning for her senior season, along with sophomores Katie Turner and Amy Vetula, who both earned spots on the ASUN All-Freshman Team last year. “Amy Vetula kind of started...
Gallery: Lady Bisons draw Tuscaloosa Regional in NCAA Softball Selection Show

Gallery: Lady Bisons draw Tuscaloosa Regional in NCAA Softball Selection Show

Surrounded by family, friends, and Bison faithful in the Allen Arena Hall of Fame room, the Lipscomb softball team learned their next stop is Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as pairings were announced during the NCAA Softball Tournament Selection Show. Lipscomb drew the Tuscaloosa regional, hosted by the SEC regular-season champion and overall eight-seed, the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Lady Bisons will open the regional against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Also, included in the Tuscaloosa regional are the Alabama State Hornets. “This is a hard regional,” coach Kristin Ryman said.  “This [Arizona State] is a tough team. But I don’t care. We are too.” After winning 22 of their last 24 games, Lipscomb won the ASUN championship and earned an automatic berth into the NCAA softball tournament. The first round of the tournament, which is set to begin May 17-19, is divided into 16 regional campus sites with four teams at each location. The four teams will play a double elimination tournament to determine who advances to the super-regional round the following weekend. Philip Hutcheson, Lipscomb’s athletic director, praised this team and their coaches for an incredibly exciting season, mentioning how fun it has been to watch them this year. ASUN Coach of the Year Ryman talked about how “connected” her team has been all season, attributing their success to this chemistry. The first game is set to be played at 3 p.m. Friday and can be streamed via ESPN+....
Belmont coach Rick Byrd announces retirement after 33 seasons

Belmont coach Rick Byrd announces retirement after 33 seasons

Belmont basketball coach Rick Byrd is retiring, and it’s not an April Fools’ joke. The longtime Bruin head coach announced the news in a statement posted on the school’s athletics website Monday. “For the past 33 years, it has been my privilege to work with, and for, a remarkable community of men and women at Belmont University,” Byrd said. “Throughout my tenure as men’s basketball coach, our program has received great support from Belmont’s administration, faculty, staff and students. For this, I am forever grateful. “Personally, I have been the beneficiary of a very supportive family that I could count on every single day, a loyal circle of friends who consistently offered encouragement, and a terrific fan base that has embraced our program and our players for over three decades. Most importantly, it has been an honor to coach the young men that have brought credit to Belmont University, not only by how they played the game, but how they represented our university all over our country.” Byrd won his first NCAA tournament game March 19 with a 81-70 victory over Temple in the First Four. The Bruins then lost a 79-77 heartbreaker to Maryland in the second round two days later. The Knoxville native won 805 career games, which ranks 12th all-time among Division I coaches. He served as head coach at Lincoln Memorial and Maryville College before spending 33 seasons as the Belmont skipper. He transitioned the program from NAIA to NCAA Division I in the late 1990s and helped it rise to national prominence. Under Byrd’s leadership, the Bruins made eight NCAA tournament appearances in the last 14 years....