Stephen F. Austin
Central Arkansas
Balanced Attack Nets SFA Win In Conference Opener
9/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 26, 2008
CONWAY, Ark. - In a battle of the two teams picked to battle it out for the top of the Southland Conference's East Division, it was the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks landing four players with at least 10 kills to pick up a 3-1 (19-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-15) win over Central Arkansas in SFA's SLC opener on Friday.
SFA (9-3, 1-0) hit .363 on its way to its seventh win in a row, and its third straight over the Sugar Bears (9-4, 1-1) since first playing them in 2006. Chloe Smith tallied a match-high 18 kills for UCA, but no other player had more than five while SFA spread out its 56 kills across seven players.
Ashley Bailey led the way with 13 kills on 23 attacks, hitting .435 for the night. It is Bailey's second straight match with at least a dozen kills and has settled into a groove of consistency, hitting .446 over her last five matches.
The Ladyjacks hit .258 in the first match, their lowest output for a set on the evening, while UCA swung at a .333 clip in taking their first ever set from the Ladyjacks in three matches. But the second set was where the Ladyjacks took hold, hitting .398 the rest of the way while holding the Sugar Bears to under .100 hitting in the final three sets.
MC Bottles backed up her recent SLC Defensive Player of the Week honor with a pair of blocks in addition to her 11 kills, not committing her first error until the 19-10 point of the final set. Shelly Swendig and Kelsey rounded out the four Ladyjacks in double-figures with 11 and 10 apiece, respectively. Lauren Railey just missed making it five in double-figures with nine kills of her own, but did add 11 digs.
The Ladyjacks will have the rest of the weekend off before taking on Northwestern State on Monday in Natchitoches, La. That match was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was rescheduled earlier in the week.
-SFA-
