SFA, Alabama Face Off in Austin
11/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 29, 2006
NACOGDOCHES - Friday afternoon at 4:30 the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack volleyball team will take the court at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin looking to defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide in the first round of the NCAA tournament. SFA is heading into the tournament with a 30-3 overall mark, one of the best in school history, while the Tide sits with a 17-12 record.
SFA, the winner of 25 straight, heads into the sub-regional as the three-seed with Alabama taking the No. 2 spot. Tournament host, Texas, is the top seed and will face four-seed Prairie View A&M.
"We're real pleased with the draw," said head coach Debbie Humphreys. "We were hoping for the third seed and it's the ideal situation."
Alabama ended its regular season with a seventh place finish in the Southeastern Conference and earned its second consecutive at-large bid into the tournament.
"[Alabama has] some great wins, but some of the losses its suffered shows its a very human team," said Humphreys. "They're a good size and have solid blocking, but we'll be playing a different style of ball than what they're used to."
After defeating Texas-Arlington in the SLC championship tournament, SFA earned its fourth automatic bid to the big dance, and its first since 1999. "Its been a long time," said Humphreys," and this group really deserves it."
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, Humphreys gave her team the week off before heading back to the practice court. "Everybody needed it," she said. "The intensity of the season had worn us out; our travel schedule has been horrendous with 10 of our last 12 matches being on the road.
"Everybody needed [the break] in order to finish what we started," she said.
At the SLC tournament, the Ladyjacks had a hurdle awaiting them: having gone into the tournament as the No. 1 seed for three straight years, SFA had not been able to come away with the championship. "After accomplishing our goal at the tournament, we needed to rest and regroup before we got back to work," said Humphreys.
All matches will be played at Gregory Gymnasium on the University of Texas campus. SFA and the Tide will face off at 4:30 p.m. Friday with Texas and Prairie View A&M taking the court at 6:30. The winners of the matches will then battle each other at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
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