Stephen F. Austin
Texas-San Antonio*
Ladyjacks Claim 3-1 Victory Over UTSA
9/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 21, 2006
SAN ANTONIO - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack volleyball team opened Southland Conference play Thursday evening with a 3-1 win over the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners at the Convocation Center in San Antonio. The victory improves SFA's overall record to 10-3 on the season while the Roadrunners fall to 7-7.
UTSA came out strong in Game 1, jumping to an early 3-0 lead, and not allowing the Ladyjacks to catch up and increasing its advantage to as many as seven at one point during the game. SFA could not put together consecutive points until its 11th and 12th points of the game, while the Roadrunners were sitting with 18.
After Lauren Railey's kill to put the Ladyjacks within five (21-16), SFA strung together two more points on Roadrunner attack errors cutting UTSA's lead to three, the closest SFA had been since early in the game. However, the Roadrunners would move further away, taking a 25-20 lead.
Sophomore Shelly Swendig knocked down a kill to make the score 25-21 and send the Ladyjacks on a rally to bring them within one, 27-26. Another kill by Railey tied the game at 27, and a kill from freshman Kelsie Heppler gave SFA its first lead of the night.
UTSA and the Ladyjacks exchanged points until the 32-32 mark when a ball handling error from UTSA's Rebecca Hrapmann and a kill by Traci Rohde, sealed a 34-32 comeback win for the Ladyjacks.
Game 2 proved to be just as tough for SFA, as the Roadrunners jumped out to quick lead and would not let the Ladyjacks catch up. SFA, however, finally took their first lead of the game at the 15-14 mark and led by as many as six points. But UTSA battled back to tie the game at 26. The teams would once again exchange points until Brittany Hildebrand's two kills finished off the game, 32-30, to tie the match at one.
The tables turned in Game 3, as SFA started the game with the early lead, a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the match. The Ladyjacks went on to win Games 3 and 4 by scores of 30-23 and 30-19, to take the 3-1 victory on opening night of league play.
For SFA, Railey, a sophomore from McKinney, Texas, knocked down a season-high 20 kills to lead both teams, and Rohde chipped in with 15. Rohde, a native of Norman, Okla., matched her career high with 10 total blocks. Junior JJ Jones dished out 50 assists and senior Stephanie Figgers collected 26 digs in the match.
The Ladyjacks return to the court Saturday when they face new SLC member, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. from Moody Fieldhouse in Corpus Christi.
-SFA-
