SFA Back At Home To Close Out SLC West
10/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 27, 2009
Texas State (12-12, 6-3 Southland) - Oct. 29, 7:00 p.m.
UT-Arlington (9-12, 5-4 Southland) - Oct. 31, 4:00 p.m.
Johnson Coliseum (7,202) - Nacogdoches
Complete Release
FOR STARTERS
SFA has now won four of its last five matches, with five of its final seven matches of the regular season scheduled for play in Johnson Coliseum. The Ladyjacks are currently tied for third place in the SLC and will battle for sole possession of third place on Thursday when they host Texas State.
Following its altercation with the Bobcats, SFA will host UT-Arlington who is playing its best volleyball of the season after winning three of its last four matches. SFA has won each of its last eight matches against the Mavs. UTA has not won in Nacogdoches since 2000.
SFA VS THE OPPONENTS
vs Texas State, Tied 22-22
The last time: Texas St. 3, SFA 2 • Oct. 20, 2008 • San Marcos
vs UTA, SFA leads 24-17
The last time: SFA 3, UTA 0 • Nov. 1, 2009 • Arlington
FOLLOW THE LADYJACKS
SFA's matches versus both the Bearkats and Mavs can be followed via Gametracker at www.sfajacks.com. Live video will also be available for each game.
Also, keep up with other news and notes about the Ladyjacks with the Ladyjack Volleyball Blog at sfajacks.com, and at www.sfavolleyblog.net.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Ladyjacks start its second go-round through the SLC East, beginning Nov. 5 when it travels to Northwestern State - a team it has never lost to.
That will set up the Ladyjacks' final shot at league-leading Central Arkansas in Conway as SFA will attempt to avenge its five-set loss to the Sugar Bears on Sept. 28. Following those match-ups, SFA will play three matches in five days as they prepare for the Southland Conference Tournament, set for San Antonio for Nov. 20-22.
Humphreys Hits Milestone: Head coach Debbie Humphreys continues to become more and more cemented as not only one of the most successful coaches in the Southland, but also one of the most successful coaches in the nation. On Saturday Humphreys became the first head coach in the history of the Southland Conference to pick up 500 wins as a member of the league with her win over UTSA. Only two other coaches in the league - Texas State's Karen Chisum and Sam Houston's Brenda Gray - have reached the 500 win mark. She entered the season ranked 30th in the country in wins among Division I active head coaches, and is the fifth coach in the nation this season alone to reach 500 career wins, with only American's Barry Goldberg reaching 500 in less seasons among that group.
MOVE, GET OUT THE BAY!: Ashley Bailey is closing out her Ladyjack career just how Debbie Humphreys had envisioned it - with a career season that could result in conference Player of the Year honors if she is able to keep up the pace. Bailey is averaging career highs in kills and hitting percentage and has helped SFA become the top statistical defense in the Southland. Coming into her senior year Bailey was not always a consistent go-to force offensively with only 11 career double-digit kill outings in her previous three seasons, but this year she has already picked up at least 10 kills on 14 occasions, all but one in a 13-match streak that finally came to an end at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. However, Bailey still made a huge defensive impact in that particular SFA sweep. The senior rejected 10 shots in only three sets, setting a new career high and posting the highest single-match block total in the SLC this season. Before her performance the highest three-set block total in the SLC was 10 and was the most overall blocks in a single match since Briana Taylor had 13 against Houston on Sept. 14, 2007. She followed that up with seven more blocks against UTSA less than a week later, including five blocks solos, which was the third most block solos ever for a Ladyjack in a single match and the most since Brittany Burton had five against Louisiana-Lafayette on Sept. 5, 2003.
The Rivalry Continues: Despite SFA's natural school rivalries with both Sam Houston State and Northwestern State, it is a fair statement to say that the SFA volleyball team's biggest SLC rival over the years has been one of this week's opponents - Texas State. Head coaches Karen Chisum and Debbie Humphreys are two of ony three SLC cocahes to total 500 career victories and one of their teams has managed to take the SLC crown in seven of the last eight seasons. SFA enters Thursday's contest with the Bobcats with the all-time series tied at 22 apiece after the Cats won each of the last two meetings in the past two seasons - both in five sets. Texas State is the only SLC team that SFA does not have an all-time winning record against.
Finally In Five: It was a weight off the shoulders of the Ladyjacks on Oct. 17, in its win over UTSA as SFA won its first five-set match of the season in its sixth try. Still, each of SFA's last six losses have come in five sets; however, Saturday's win was able to put an end to the Ladyjacks' longest five-set drought in the Humphreys era. Overall, SFA had lost eight consecutive five-set matches dating back to the end of the 2008 season.
Back To Basics: Debbie Humphreys made a point in the off season to emphasize a return to what won SFA four SLC titles from 2004-2007: Defense. So far it looks as though the emphasis has worked, especially as of late. In their last 18 matches only three teams - Miami, Tulane and Nicholls - have been able to hit over .140 against SFA, including Central Arkansas who came into its match as the top statistical offense in the Southland. Humphreys message is obivously getting through as SFA is second in the entire SLC in opponent's hitting percentage and digs, and second in blocks. Wednesday's match had to be frustrating for the Ladyjacks at Sam Houston, but mainly because it was something that the team had not seen in a while. The Kats managed to hit .254 as a team against the Ladyjacks, which was the first time in 17 matches dating back to Tulsa on Sept. 11 that the SFA defense had allowed a team to hit over .250 for a match. In the 16 matches following Tulsa and before Sam Houtson, the Ladyjacks had held its opponents to just .144 swinging and mananged to pick up 11 wins. SFA wasted no time getting back to its defensive ways, though, as on Saturday it went down to Beaumont and held Lamar to just .179 hitting in a 3-0 sweep.
Little Learning Curve: Freshman Madison Hanlan has wasted no time putting her name toward the forefront of the discussion of Southalnd Conference liberos. She won the league's Defensive Player of the Week honor in her first week on the job and currently sits third in the league with 4.17 digs per set, getting at least 10 in each of her last 19 matches dating back to a 21-dig outing at Missouri State. Six times this season she has gone over 20 digs, and set a career-best of 26 at McNeese which currently stands tied as the third best in the SLC this season in a four-set match.
-SFA-
