Stephen F. Austin
Texas-Arlington
Ladyjacks Heading to NCAA Championships
11/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 19, 2006
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Going into Sunday's Southland Conference championship volleyball tournament, the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks were 0-2 against the Texas-Arlington Lady Mavericks in the tournament finals. But judging by yesterday's performance against Texas State, this was the year for the Ladyjacks to turn things around, as they defeated UTA, 3-0, from the Convocation Center at Texas-San Antonio. The victory handed SFA the Southland Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
In Game 1, SFA jumped out to a quick lead and allowed the Lady Mavs to come within one several times, but never gave up the lead and taking the victory 30-21. UTA kept things close in Game 2 as the lead was exchanged five times through the battle. The Ladyjacks took a 30-23 advantage to jump to a 2-0 lead. Coming out of the break, SFA once again took a quick lead, and although the Lady Mavs tied the score seven times, the Ladyjacks won their first SLC tournament championship since 1999 with a Game 3 score of 30-25.
Sophomores Lauren Railey and Shelly Swendig led SFA's offense with 16 kills apiece. Swendig had only two errors in 37 tries for a .378 hitting percentage. Railey threw in 20 digs for a double-double.
The SLC's Player of the Year, Stephanie Figgers, collected 27 digs sending her season total to 802 to break the league season record. Her career total of 2,547 digs is also a conference record.
"It was time," said head coach Debbie Humphreys. "It was definitely time. The last time [1999] was a long time ago. We've had a lot of success since then but we didn't have a tournament championship.
"It just felt like it was our time. Our kids were ready. This group needed this," she said.
The Ladyjacks conclude their Southland season with a 30-3 record, the first time a league member has won 30 games since SFA did it in 1994. That was also the last time the regular season champion won the tournament.
"I had my 1994 ring on my necklace, just to make sure we had all the luck around us so we could do it again," said Humphreys.
The Ladyjacks are riding a 25-match winning streak, the longest in school history.
Figgers was named the MVP of the tournament while teammates Railey and Lauren Adams were named to the all-tournament team.
The Ladyjacks will find out who they will face in the first round of the NCAA tournament during next Sunday's selection show to be featured on ESPN News at 2 p.m.
-SFA-
