Stephen F. Austin
UTSA
Bottles Pushes Ladyjacks Into Tournament Semifinals
11/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 20, 2009
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Mary Caitlin Bottles had season highs with both16 kills and eight blocks as the No. 3 Ladyjacks overcame a rowdy crowd at the Convocation Center with a 3-1 (27-25, 25-27, 25-19, 25-21) win over No. 6 UTSA in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament.
The win advances SFA (23-12) to the SLC Tournament semifinals at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday where they will square off with No. 7 Nicholls who upset No. 2 Sam Houston in the first round by a 3-1 score. The Ladyjacks and Colonels split their two matches in the regular season.
SFA is now 4-0 all-time against UTSA in the Southland Conference Tournament and has not lost in tournament-opening matches in back-to-back seasons since the 1989 and 1990 seasons.
Bottles saved her best for last, slamming in eight of her 16 kills in the final set alone while five of her eight blocks were found in the third set.
"We just played as relaxed as we could," Bottles said after the match. "Even though we got down we were still able to keep our composure and our confidence. We are playing our best volleyball of the year right now, and hopefully we can keep that up."
Kelsey Owens was the only other Ladyjack in double figures with 10 kills, while Ashley Bailey and Emily Franklin each had eight. Bailey was able to add three solo blocks as well as the SFA defense rejected 11 Roadrunner (12-19) shots on the night and held UTSA to just .110 hitting.
Madison Hanlan went over 20 digs for the eighth time this season with 21 dig and Melissa Miksch had 12 with each keeping countless balls off the floor throughout the night.
"I am so proud of the way they played tonight and the way they kept their composure," head coach Debbie Humphreys said. "It was a battle all the way through, with each set being close and on UTSA's home court with their fans. But we showed a lot of confidence and now we have to carry it over to tomorrow."
SFA had to overcome poor hitting early on and needed a late run in the first set to overcome .065 hitting in the frame. The Ladyjacks trailed by as much as four at 21-17 before taking its first lead since early on at 26-25, and it took only one match-point try to walk get up 1-0 on a kill from Franklin.
The second set was nearly the same as the first, except this time it was the Runners cashing in on the win with .209 hitting and four kills from Stefanie Robbins. UTSA led throughout the set, but could never stretch it out more than two points before SFA drew even at 25 apiece. However, that was as close as the Ladyjacks would get with a service error from Bottles that just missed down the right sideline setting up a match point try and was tallied on a Ladyjack mishandled set.
But after only hitting .137 in the first two sets, the Ladyjacks jumped up to a .173 clip in the final two sets, beginning wit a 15-kill third that put SFA just one set away from victory. An 8-0 run turned a 6-5 Ladyjack deficit into a 13-6 advantage was the biggest run by either squad during the entire match and gave SFA enough breathing room to hang on despite UTSA drawing back to within three points at 20-17.
The fourth set saw the Ladyjacks turn to Bottles who doubled her kill total in the frame and she had a hand in three of the final six Ladyjack points with SFA hitting a match-best .256 in the frame and advance to the semifinals.
"I expect to see the Nicholls we saw in Thibodaux, not the one we saw last week in Nacogdoches," Humphreys said. "They are such a tough team, but we feel as though if we take care of our business then we are fine. We feel like this weekend is about us executing and playing our brand of volleyball."
-SFA-
