Stephen F. Austin
Nicholls State
Ladyjacks Wrap Up Regular Season With Win
11/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 15, 2008
THIBODAUX, La. - Lauren Railey paced three Ladyjacks in double-figure kills as the SFA volleyball team swept Nicholls State, 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-15), for the second time this season in the regular season finale on Saturday.
SFA (20-8, 11-5) earned its fifth consecutive 20-win season with the win and could still earn the No. 3 seed in next week's Southland Conference Tournament with a loss by UTSA at UT-Arlington this afternoon. Otherwise, the Ladyjacks will be the No. 4 seed with a match versus Sam Houston State likely, pending the Bearkats final result against Northwestern State this afternoon.
Nicholls (9-17, 6-10) will enter the tournament as the No. 8 overall seed, making its first appearance in the tournament since 2003. The Colonels will face No. 1 Texas State in the first round.
SFA did commit 18 errors on the afternoon compared to only 12 for Nicholls, but the Ladyjacks outkilled the Colonels 48-31 as they hit .291 as a team in the sweep.
The first set was nip-and-tuck early on before Railey landed three consecutive kills to give SFA a 11-8 lead. Shelly Swendig landed a kill later on to push the lead to its height of five points at 21-16, and finished things off when she dropped in another one for the final margin 25-21 as SFA hit .333 in the set.
In set two the Ladyjacks were not nearly as efficient, but still were able to pick up the win, only managing a .129 hitting percentage after committing eight attack errors. But Railey had four kills in the frame and the Ladyjacks rejected four shots and forced five misfires from Nicholls to go into the locker room up 2-0.
MC Bottles was the go-to hitter in the final stanza, slamming home seven of her 11 kills in the third set as she finished with a .421 hitting percentage for the night with three blocks. SFA never trailed in the third, racing out to an early 7-2 lead after back-to-back kills from Bottles and an ace from Laurel Kuepker. Consecutive kills from Kelsey Owens later on in the set pushed the lead to 22-10 before Railey gave the Ladyjacks a match point that Ashley Bailey would take advantage of to give SFA the 10-point edge.
Owens was the third Ladyajck in double figures with 10 kills on the afternoon, while Whitney Schott did well directing the offense with 41 assists. Kuepker finished with a match-high 11 digs with Railey and Swendig right behind her with eight apiece, respectively.
Next week's SLC Tournament will be on the Ladyjacks' home floor - Johnson Coliseum - beginning Friday with the first match set for an 11:00 a.m. start time. With SFA holding the home court, their matches will each be the final match of the day beginning with a 6:30 p.m. start for the first round.
Check back with www.sfajacks.com or www.southland.org for a complete SLC Tournament bracket and other information.
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