Stephen F. Austin
Tulane
Ladyjacks Fall In Five For Second Straight Match
10/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 1, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Four Ladyjacks landed in double-figure kills and SFA fought back to win the fourth set and force a deciding fifth frame, but Tulane was able to outlast the Ladyjacks as SFA fell 3-2 (18-25, 25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 16-14) in five sets for the second consecutive match.
SFA (12-8, 1-1 Southland) is now 0-4 in five-set matches this season and fell at home for the first time in back-to-back matches for the first time since 2004. Tulane (8-4, 3-0 Conference USA) runs its winning streak to four matches as it heads south for matches against Rice and Houston this weekend.
Kelsey Owens and Arielle Daron each totaled 15 kills, but a big Tulane front line held SFA to just .133 hitting on its home floor while swinging .214 itself behind a match-high 19 kills from Ksenija Vlaskovic.
However, the SFA front row did its damage too, outblocking the Green Wave 12-10 and SFA managed to keep the service mistakes down by only having a pair of service errors after 16 misfires in Monday's loss to Central Arkansas.
Owens finished with a double-double, adding 19 digs and five blocks to her kill total, while Mary Caitlin Bottles had 10 kills and six blocks.
"I thought we left it all out there and bounced back after a tough loss on Monday," head coach Debbie Humphreys said following the match. "We are just right there. I told them to keep their heads up because if we keep building on these last two matches then we are about to go on a long streak. We are doing a lot of things right, we just haven't been able to turn that into a win the last two times out."
The first set was all about offense for both teams as the Green Wave hit .206 as a team, but that was nothing compared to SFA's .393 mark. The Ladyjack's followed Daron's serve to a five-set run that broke open a 14-14 tie and gave SFA some breathing room. After that Owens picked up a pair of kills in a 7-0 SFA run that got SFA to a set-point opportunity, and it was Owens that put SFA up 1-0 on their third try when Paloma Buckner found her for a spike from t left side.
However, Tulane then found its offensive rhythm in the second set when it hit .342 and held forced the Ladyjacks into eight attack errors of their own. The Ladyjacks still managed to withstand the Green Wave, though, until a late 6-3 push got Tulane into the locker room all tied up.
Visnja Djurdjevic sparked Tulane on a six-point run early on in the third that turned a 9-7 SFA lead into a 13-9 deficit in a hurry. Tulane followed her serve and used a pair of her kills to get that lead and held it until a ball handling error from Vlasksovic brought SFA even once again at 19 apiece. But Djurdjevic got the serve back with a kill off a Rachel Lindelow pass and then stepped to the service line and served the Green Wave to a 24-19 lead. Three points later Vlaskovic closed out the frame, going the way of the Green Wave 25-21.
Early in the fourth set it was strictly a battle of runs. Each team traded three-set streaks on the first three series before SFA got six in a row behind Laurel Kuepker's serve and by forcing three Green Wave mistakes. But just a few points later Tulane was able to retake the lead 13-11 on three straight kills and an SFA misfire. After that, though, SFA got a block and kill from Amber Williams-Roberts and then two kills from Daron to get within a point at 18-17. SFA then scored seven of the next nine points, but needed three tries to force the fifth set before Daron finished them off.
The fifth set looked eerily similar to Monday's finale as Tulane lept out in front 8-3 before Owens and Bailey answered for SFA. Two points later SFA went on another run, this time scoring seven of eight points in the set and taking its first lead on a service ace from Melissa Miksch. But that lead was short-lived as Tulane called a timeout and went straight to Djurdjevic as she had a hand in each of the final five Green Wave points with three kills, a block and even serving out the final point.
SFA is now on the road for seven out of its next eight matches, all on the road, beginning Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in Lake Charles when they face off with 13-3 McNeese State. SFA will next be at home on Oct. 17 when it hosts UTSA.
-SFA-
