Stephen F. Austin
Mcneese State
Middle Tandem Leads SFA Past McNeese
10/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 4, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Ladyjack volleyball team got 35 kills between the tandem of Ashley Bailey and MC Bottles and rejected a season-high 13 shots as it won it's ninth straight match with a 3-1 (25-15, 25-17, 21-25, 25-15) over the Cowgirls on Saturday.
SFA's (11-3, 3-0) nine-match win streak is tied with UTSA's current streak as the longest in the Southland this season. Both Bottles and Bailey finished with career highs with 19 and 16 kills respectively, while Whitney Schott finished with a career-best 57 assists.
Laurel Kuepker finished with 20 digs, picking up her second 20-dig match in a row.
Long rallies were a staple of the night as the teams combined for 320 attacks, with SFA landing 63 kills to the Cowgirls' (3-10, 0-3) 41.
SFA hit over .300 in each of the first two sets, keeping a defensive stranglehold on the Cowgirls to nab a 2-0 lead heading into the locker room. Bottles and Kelsey Owens found the mark for five kills in the first set, with Owens not committing a single error on her way to a dozen kills on the afternoon. The second set saw balance across the board for the Ladyjacks with five players picking up at least three kills.
In the third set the Cowgirls found a renewed sense of energy, racing out to as large as an 18-6 lead on what seemed like a blowout win. But the Ladyjacks did claw back to get as close as three points at 24-21 before McNeese finally closed it out.
SFA used that momentum from the end of the third set to propel itself into the final set, getting eight kills from Bailey and six from Bottles in closing it out.
The Ladyjacks will get the weekend off before taking on Louisiana Tech on Tuesday at Johnson Coliseum.
-SFA-
