Ladyjack Volleyball Heads to SLC Tournament
11/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 16, 2006
NACOGDOCHES - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack volleyball team (27-3, 16-0 SLC) is no stranger to the Southland Conference championship tournament, but this year the Ladyjacks are looking for an ending quite different from what they've had the past five seasons. SFA will once again head into the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the three-day tournament to be held at the Convocation Center on the campus of Texas-San Antonio. The tournament will start on Friday and conclude with the championship match on Sunday.
Since the 1999 season, SFA has not won an SLC tournament championship. "I think we're seen as an underdog in this tournament since we haven't won since 1999," said head coach Debbie Humphreys.
The winner of the tournament earns an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, and although SFA has gone into the postseason as the No. 1 seed the last three years, the Ladyjacks have not been able to overcome their tournament woes.
And now, the tournament field has grown. With the addition of two new teams to the Southland Conference in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Central Arkansas, the league has turned to a new format seeding eight teams in the tournament.
"The tournament is tough," said Humphreys. "There are eight teams (No. 1 SFA, No. 2 Texas-Arlington, No. 3 McNeese State, No. 4 Texas-San Antonio, No. 5 Texas State, No. 6 Lamar, No. 7 TAMUCC, and No. 8 Northwestern State), one of which has already accomplished something and seven others who are trying to finish the season on a good note."
SFA is the team who has accomplished something as it was named the SLC's regular season champion after posting its second consecutive undefeated conference slate.
As the title-holder, SFA will head into the weekend's tournament as the No. 1 seed. It will be the sixth time in school history the Ladyjacks sit atop the bracket. The seeding pits the Ladyjacks against the No. 8 Northwestern State Lady Demons in the first round Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m.
"The good thing about facing Northwestern State is that we've played them recently," said Humphreys, talking about the 3-0 win over the Lady Demons in the last week of the season. "They don't have a lot of depth so they can't make the personnel changes they might need, but they do have some capable players that bring a lot of offense. It's going to take our A-game to beat them.
"We're not looking past them right now though, and we're not talking about any other team until our match against them is over."
The winner of the match between SFA and the Lady Demons will move on to the semifinals to face the winner of No. 4 Texas-San Antonio and No. 5 Texas State.
"We are in a really tough part of the bracket where you can really see the discrepancies between the East and West Divisions," Humphreys said. "One of the better opponents is in the semifinal in UTSA and Texas State and if we want to be tournament champions, we have to beat the best.
"We're not the favorites and that's how we're looking at it. We have nothing to defend; we only have something to prove," she said.
-SFA-
