SFA To Begin Tournament Title Defense Tonight Versus UTSA
11/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 16, 2007
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - With the regular season behind them, Debbie Humphreys and her SFA Ladyjack volleyball team is gearing up for another title defense, this time with the Southland Conference Tournament on tap for this weekend in San Antonio.
All matches will be able to be followed via LiveStats at www.goutsa.com or can be viewed on Southland TV for a one-time purchase of $5.95, or a tournament package of $9.95 at www.southland.org.
Pending a win on Friday, a fan bus will be leaving from the SFA commuter parking lot for the semifinal and championship matches on Saturday and Sunday, with hotel rooms included. Sign up sheets are still available at the SFA Athletics Fieldhouse at the north end of Homer Bryce Stadium, or for more information fans can contact Kay Custer at (936)468-1018.
The No. 2 seeded Ladyjacks are scheduled to begin the single-elimination tournament tonight against the seventh-seeded host school, UT-San Antonio at 6:30 p.m. from the Convocation Center. SFA has swept the Roadrunners in each of their two meetings this season, and the Ladyjacks have won their last seven overall matches played at the Convocation Center.
Recently minted All-SLC First Team selection Traci Rohde has been on fire as of late, recently being named SLC Offensive Player of the Week in the season's final week, and has paced the Ladyjacks in four straight sweeps since losing to Lamar on Oct. 27. Overall SFA has won eight of its last nine matches, each coming via sweep.
SFA received four all-conference selections on Thursday, including three first-team nods with Rohde, JJ Jones and Lauren Railey each making the list. Also, Jami Hill earned he first career postseason recognition, earning Libero of the Year and All-SLC Second Team honors for her efforts after leading the conference with a 6.37 dpg average in conference play.
Even though only a No. 7 seed, UTSA still will bring challenges to the table for the Ladyjacks - mainly, All-SLC First Team selection Victoria Prior. She finished third in the SLC in kills and 10th in blocks, including 16 solo blocks on the year. Freshman Kendra Rowland, is the only other Roadrunner to earn All-SLC honors with a second team nod.
What to watch for:
• JJ Jones needs only 63 more assists to take sole possession of the all-time assists mark at SFA - she has had 94 in her last two matches.
• SFA has never won back-to-back SLC Tournament titles, but has won two of its four tournament titles from the No. 2 seed - in 1999 and 1997.
• With one more sweep, it would tie the most sweeps ever by a Ladyjack team. The 2006 squad finished the season with 19.
• The Ladyjacks will enter the tournament with the highest RPI of any SLC team as they were slotted 72nd in the latest NCAA RPI report. Next on the list was UT-Arlington at No. 107 and even SLC Co-Champion Lamar was only ranked No. 108.
• SFA finished the season with more Player of the Week honors than any other school with eight. Jami Hill was the only player to earn the honor in back-to-back weeks this season.
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