Stephen F. Austin
Nicholls State
Ladyjacks Surge Into SLC Tournament Title Match
11/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 21, 2009
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The No. 3 Ladyjack volleyball team jumped out to a 2-0 lead and then fought off three set-point opportunities for No. 7 Nicholls that would have forced a decisive fifth set and earned a berth in the title match of the Southland Conference Tournament with a 3-1 (25-23, 25-20, 19-25, 27-25) win over the Colonels in the semifinals.
SFA (24-12) will take on top-seeded Texas State in the tournament finals, marking the fifth times in the past six years that they have met up at some point in the tournament, including the third time in the championship match since 2004. The Bobcats punched their ticket with a 3-1 win over No. 4 Lamar in the day's first semifinal.
Saturday's match versus Nicholls (13-19) was a far cry from one week ago when the Ladyjacks cruised to a 3-0 win in the regular season finale. The Colonels struggled to find the floor in the first set, hitting just .026 but swung .327 the rest of the way and forced the Ladyjacks to put together a late three-point rally in the fourth set to advance.
"I feel like we went in and talked about fighting hard and I think we have done a great job of fighting and sticking together as a team," senior Ashley Bailey said after the match. "We have had to work for all that we have gotten this season, and tonight it paid off. Even though we were down, we were still confident we could close out the match there at the end."
Three Ladyjacks made it into double-figure kills, led by Bailey with 15 kills and six blocks, and Arielle Daron with 14 kills on .345 hitting. Overall, SFA swung .219 on the night compared to .247 for the Colonels who were led by Manieka Golden's 23 kills, the second consecutive night she went over 20 kills after having 21 on Friday versus Sam Houston.
Melissa Miksch finished with a team best 17 digs and five kills, including two key swings in the final five points. She was one of three Ladyjacks that exceeded 11 digs as Kelsey Owens also had 10 with her six kills, and Madison Hanlan added 10. Paloma Buckner also finished with 49 assists for the Ladyjacks.
SFA swung just .158 in the first set, but it was more than enough as 10 misfires from the Colonels aided the Ladyjack cause. SFA led by as much as five at 19-14 on consecutive Colonel errors, but Nicholls made it all the way back to tie it up at 22 on a Rachel Yezak service ace. But Daron gave SFA the lead on the very next play and three shots later Mary Caitlin Bottles put home the second of her 10 kills on the night to put SFA out in front 1-0.
It was Daron that led the way in the second set with six kills, but SFA was never able to shake free of the Colonels until she landed three straight kills late in the set for a 22-17 lead. From there the Ladyjacks were able to close it out with points coming from Daron and Bottles and headed into halftime with a 2-0 stranglehold on the match.
But the third set was nearly all Colonels with Golden and Jennifer Brandt each landing four kills as Nicholls swung .387 to just .184 for SFA, who managed to get four kills apiece as well from Bailey and Daron. The Colonels got a kill from Jessica Addicks on for the set's first point and never let SFA take the lead, taking the set and leading by as much as six at 22-16.
"Coming out of halftime we felt like if we could start strong and be the aggressor at the service line, and we wanted to keep them out of the opportunity to make perfect passes," head coach Debbie Humphreys said. "They have a consistent setter and some hitters that can hit that tempo, so the way that you defend is with aggressive service and aggressive offense. We really never got that going and the match just turned into a dogfight."
That all set the stage for a dramatic fourth set that never saw a lead larger than three points by SFA at 18-15. But Nicholls quickly tied it up with three straight points of their own and the teams traded blows until the Colonels used a Golden kill and a Bottles error to get their first set-point opportunity at 24-22. But Bottles responded with her next swing for a Ladyjack point and then Miksch came through with a kill from the left side to pull even at 24 apiece. Golden then gave Nicholls another shot to force a fifth set with a kill to the back line, but Buckner found Miksch once again with her fourth kill of the set that gave SFA the serve once again. And from there SFA did not give Nicholls another chance as kills from Buckner and Bailey to close it out.
"It would not really be a SLC tournament if we didn't play Texas State at some point," Humphreys said. "It's always a battle, no matter the circumstance. We will likely have to have more offense than what we've had the past two days, we certainly feel like the offense is there for us."
The Ladyjacks will be going after their fifth Southland Conference Tournament title on Sunday, in a match that will be aired on the Southland Conference TV Network at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday with Doug Anderson and Jenny McGhee with the call.
-SFA-
