Stephen F. Austin
Texas-San Antonio
.
9/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 20, 2005
Ladyjacks Topple UTSA SFA gets best of Roadrunners, 3-1
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack volleyball team stayed perfect in Southland Conference play Tuesday night, knocking off Texas-San Antonio, 3-1, in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. The Ladyjacks won the first two games of the match, 30-27 and 30-19, before losing Game 3, 30-26. But SFA came back to finish strong in the final game, notching a match-clinching 30-12 victory.
Junior Laura Cramer and freshman Lauren Railey led the way for SFA as each recorded double-digit kills. Cramer finished with 16 putaways and a .297 attack percentage, while Railey had a .283 attack percentage to go with her career-high 18 kills. The pair also recorded double digits in digs, giving them their fourth consecutive double-double. Senior Libero Stephanie Figgers added 37 digs, and sophomore setter J.J. Jones had 47 assists.
"I was really pleased with how we came out," said head coach Debbie Humphreys, who watched her team improve to 10-2 overall and 3-0 in SLC action. "We looked a lot better than we did over the weekend.
"We had a really intense practice yesterday, and it carried over to today. We got back to basics. I call what we worked on the intangibles -- communicating, picking each other up. They're things we can do whether everything is going well or not."
Luckily for SFA, things mostly went well on Tuesday. After a close Game 1 victory, SFA raced to a big win in the second game, led by Railey's six kills and Jones' 14 assists.
Railey added six more kills in Game 3, and Cramer chipped in five, but UTSA jumped out to an early lead to spoil their effort and force a Game 4.
"We might need to stop taking those little breaks between Game 2 and 3," Humphreys joked after the match, referring to her team's setback in the third game."
But the Ladyjacks were right back on the attack in Game 4.
This time Traci Rohde led the charge. The sophomore converted on 5-of-8 attack attempts for a .625 average, as SFA coasted to the 30-12 win. Rohde finished the match with five blocks (one solo).
"We had some solid individual performances and a good overall team effort, as well," Humphreys said. "We had to tonight. That's a good team that we just beat."
The Ladyjacks will return to action Thursday when they travel to Arlington to take on Texas-Arlington. The match is set for a 7 p.m. start. "It was really important for us to play well just to get back on track," Humphreys said. "It was a confidence booster. We've been able to keep winning, but we've struggled. When you play well like we did tonight, it helps to reinforce those basic things we want to do. We're confident and ready to go to Arlington Thursday night."
-- SFA --
