Ladyjacks Set To Start New Streak This Weekend
10/31/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 31, 2007
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Even thought the Ladyjacks' 62-match conference win streak has come to an end, their chase for a fourth consecutive Southland Conference title continues with a pair of matches this weekend at UT-San Antonio and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
SFA still sits alone atop the SLC West Division at 11-1, two games clear of UT-Arlington and is tied with Lamar for the overall conference lead. If the SLC Tournament began today, SFA would hold the No. 2 seed since Lamar currently holds the tiebreaker after the Cardinal's win on Saturday.
Neither the Roadrunners nor the Islanders put up much resistance the last time SFA faced them as the Ladyjacks earned took sweeps over both clubs. Debbie Humphreys picked up her 450th win of her career in the win over UTSA, while Traci Rohde picked up 12 kills with no errors in the win over TAMUCC.
The Roadrunners are coming off their best week of the season, having picked up a trio of wins since Wednesday; however, the competition will step up with SFA and Sam Houston coming in for the weekend. Victoria Prior and Kendra Rowland continue to be impressive this season, sitting third and fourth in the conference in kills. Rowland just missed the 30-kill club on Tuesday, tying a career high with 29 kills against the Islanders. The Roadrunners, however, need some help to get into the conference tournament as they are currently tied for the No. 8 seed but do not own the tiebreaker due to their loss to Northwestern State.
TAMUCC is coming off a pair of wins also, having snapped its eight-match losing streak by knocking off Nicholls State and Southeastern Louisiana over the weekend. Laura North continues to stand out for the Islanders, leading the SLC with 5.96 digs per game. The last time these two teams met, Christie Feliz picked up a double-double with 17 kills and 13 digs while Lauren Paslay picked up a dozen kills of her own.
What to watch for:
• SFA's magic number for clinching the SLC West Division is down to three. With it unlikely that UT-Arlington will lose at either Southeastern Louisiana or Nicholls State, SFA can knock its magic number down to one before the opportunity to clinch presents itself when UT-Arlington comes into town on Nov. 7.
• Counting regular and postseason matches, SFA has won their last nine matches at UTSA's Convocation Center. That is good news since, for the second straight year, it is the location of this year's SLC Tournament.
• JJ Jones is 199 assists away from taking sole possession of the all-time mark at SFA. If SFA makes it all the way to the SLC Championship match she would need to average 28.4 assists per match to claim the record.
• If Ladyjacks win their final four regular season matches it would give this year's senior class 110 for their career. Since 2004 - their freshman year - no other school in the State of Texas has won more matches than SFA. The next closest is the University of Texas with 82.
-SFA-
