Stephen F. Austin
SMU
SFA Opens Up Home Slate With Win Over SMU
9/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 4, 2007
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - It took the full five games, but the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team now has back-to-back wins for the first time this season after outlasting SMU 3-2 (33-31, 23-30, 30-24, 28-30, 15-12) at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
The Ladyjacks (3-4, 0-0) won their home opener for the third straight year and handed the Mustangs (6-1, 0-0) their first loss of the year. It is the second straight year SFA has beaten SMU in five games.
"I really liked the energy that we had tonight," head coach Debbie Humphreys said. "We definitely made some errors, but we never quit playing and never quit competing. That is another huge step forward."
JJ Jones followed up her stellar performance in the finale of the Baylor Invitational with another performance of similar proportion. She knocked home 16 kills out of a career-high 39 attacks en route to a .308 hitting percentage for the night. Freshman Whitney Schott had another impressive night with 19 assists and nine digs of her own in her time directing the offense.
The Mustangs had started off with a program-best six-match win streak after wins in the SMU Invitational and the Texas Tech Invitational, but did not have enough at the net as SFA finished with 13 total blocks for the night. Sophomore Briana Taylor posted her second straight match in double-figure blocks with 10, and Lauren Railey and Shelly Swendig also finished with 17 and 16 kills apiece.
SMU put four players in double-figure kills led by Rachel Giubilato's match-high 22.
The Ladyjacks next hit the court in the Ladyjack Invitational at 7:00 p.m. versus Northwestern State on Friday. They will face off with Louisiana-Monroe and Tulsa on Saturday, all from William R. Johnson Coliseum.
