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Score: Kennesaw State 1, Lipscomb 3 (25-27, 25-19, 25-19, 25-14)
Records: Kennesaw State (10-2, 10-2), Lipscomb (12-2, 9-1)
Key Players: Lauren Chastang (19 kills, 12 digs, 3 blks), Emma Schurfranz (15 kills, 2 blks, .429 hit pct.), Lanie Vantrease (8 kills), Katie Crocker (3 kills, 3 blks), Karlee Groover (15 digs), Shelby Dennis (12 digs) and Jessie Cohen (42 assts, 5 digs).
 
THE STORYLINE 
The Kennesaw State volleyball team bounced back from Friday's loss to take the opening set in Saturday's rematch, but Lipscomb fired back in a high-powered back-and-forth match to down the Owls in four sets, 25-27, 25-19, 25-19, 25-14, in Allen Arena.

SCHUNZEL QUOTES
On the loss…
"Right now, that team is simply better than we are. Tonight we played much better and cleaner than last night, but so did they. We got out scrapped, out served and out passed, and Lipscomb created opportunities when too often we were just hoping that points would come our way. I'm proud we responded after yesterday with our competitiveness and mentality. And it was a significantly higher level of volleyball played tonight on both sides of the net, but we were too often behind in points. We'll need to regroup and ask ourselves some hard, honest questions heading into the quarterfinals of the tournament in two weeks."

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Owls came out fired up to open the first set jumping out to a 5-2 lead. Lipscomb rallied with a 4-0 run to pull in front 7-6, eventually pushing its lead to 15-9 following a 6-1 swing. KSU was undeterred as two kills from Emma Schurfranz bookended a 5-0 run to pull the Owls within one, 15-14. The Bisons held on to their slim lead until an ace and a kill from Lauren Chastang followed by another kill from Lanie Vantrease knotted the set at 18. After trading points, Lipscomb earned the upper hand, and set point, leading 24-22. The Owls dug in to fight off two straight set points with kills from Schurfranz and Chastang, eventually fending off a third set point to close out the set on a 3-0 run to win 27-25. Chastang recorded four of the Owls final six points in the set with three kills and an ace to seal the win.

The Bisons came back in the following set to take an early 6-3 advantage. Lipscomb extended its lead to as high as 12-6 before KSU rallied with a 5-0 run capped off by two straight kills from Schurfranz and Chastang to make it 12-11. Both squads traded runs with Lipscomb clinging to its one-point lead until the Bisons finally seized control with a 6-1 run to lead 23-17. Lipscomb went on to win the set 25-19.

The third set was another back-and-forth battle with the Owls and Bisons tied at 8-8 in the opening minutes. Lipscomb then ripped off a 5-0 run to lead 13-8 midway through the set. The Bisons hung on to that five-point lead throughout the set as the Owls could not string together a run, trading points deep into the set. KSU pulled to within four late, 22-18, but Lipscomb held the Owls at bay to take the set 25-19. The Owls hit .314 in the third set without committing a single error, but the Bisons stampeded to a .370 hitting percentage with 21 kills compared to 11 for KSU.

Both teams traded points to open the fourth as KSU looked to send the match into a fifth set trailing 10-9. But the Bisons continued to find the hot hand using a 4-0 run to gain some breathing room, 14-9. Lipscomb did not let up, pushing its lead to 22-12 and cruising to a 25-14 set victory hitting .500 for the set compared to .094 for KSU.

NOTES
- Lauren Chastang recorded her third double-double of the year with 19 kills and 12 digs.
- Emma Schurfranz led the Owls hitting .429 in the match, her fifth match this season hitting over .400.
- Karlee Groover recorded her fifth match this season, third straight, with 15+ digs finishing with 15 while Shelby Dennis logged a season-high 12 digs.
- Lanie Vantrease tied her career-high with eight kills.
- Lipscomb's 66 kills marked only the third time in the last three seasons a team has recorded 60 or more kills against KSU, the other two times coming against the Bisons in 2018 during a pair of five-set matches.
- The match was the first time all season a team has hit .300 or better against KSU with Lipscomb's six aces and 63 digs marking season-highs for the Owls.

UP NEXT
The Owls will have the next week off before turning their attention to the ASUN Tournament, hosting quarterfinal play in the Convocation Center on Saturday, Mar. 27.