Stephen F. Austin
Northwestern State
SFA Goes Four In Win Over Demons
11/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 5, 2009
NATCHITOCHES, La. - The Ladyjack volleyball overcame a poor hitting night on Thursday with defense, holding Northwestern State to .042 hitting in a 3-1 (25-14, 25-20, 21-25, 25-20) win at Prather Coliseum.
The win gives SFA (19-11, 8-4 Southland) both wins in the season series and the Ladyjacks have now won all 36 matches it has played against Northwestern State (2-19, 1-12 Southland) in the Debbie Humphreys era.
The Ladyjacks only hit .112 for the night with Mary Caitlin Bottles led the way offensively for SFA, hitting .333 with a dozen kills and a career best eight blocks. Kelsey Owens and Emily Franklin were not far behind with 10 apiece. Paloma Buckner dished out 41 assists and Madison Hanlan paced three Ladyjacks in double-figure digs with 13.
Overall SFA turned back 13 Demon shots to help SFA hold an opponent to its lowest attack percentage since Alcorn State hit -.098 on Sept. 18 in Nacogdoches.
SFA only hit .133 in the first set, but that was all it needed as they held Northwestern to -.152 hitting, rejecting four shots along the way. The Lady Demons jumped out of the gate to the tune of a 4-0 run before Ashley Bailey slipped one past the Northwestern block to get the Ladyjacks on the board. A 13-3 run was sparked by that with a pair of sharp spikes from Owens included. Northwestern managed to cut into the lead slightly, but Owens' fifth kill of the set put the Ladyjacks back out in front by five before Franklin and Bottles combined for back-to-back blocks with SFA up 17-10. That lead was enough for the Ladyjacks to cruise to a 1-0 lead on a block from Owens and Bailey.
The second set was not nearly as easy for SFA with Northwestern actually outkilling SFA 14-10 in the set, but the Ladyjacks rarely hurt themselves and swung .280 behind four kills from Franklin and three from Bottles. The teams traded kills from Bottles and Northwestern's Yelena Enwere before the Ladyjacks edged ahead 11-9 on a kill from Franklin. But the Lady Demons fought back, scoring seven of the next 12 points and drawing even at 16 apiece on an ace by Megan Manning. However, Franklin had a hand in a pair of blocks to push SFA back out in front by three and then added another pair of kills to get SFA to 21-17 late in the set. Northwestern managed to add three points, but could not do much more and Arielle Daron finally drove home the final point of the set.
A quartet of bats enjoying the Prather Coliseum rafters was not enough to stop SFA from jumping out to a 5-1 lead in the third set and they were able to hold that margin until midway though the set before Taylor Deering shot an ace down the right line to get Northwestern even at 10-10. But the net was the Demons as their next five points came on Ladyjack miscues, but SFA still managed to maintain a slim lead until a bad set by Owens evened things again at 18-18. Unfortunately, that was all SFA could do as it hit only .042 for the set and allowed Northwestern State to score only four of its final 15 points by its own hand, stealing its first set from SFA since 2005.
Northwestern was able to carry that momentum over as well with a 6-1 run early in the fourth set that forced a Ladyjack timeout. The lead built to 8-1 before Bailey slammed a kill of the Demon block to kill the rally. SFA then turned to Bottles and Owens for offense, getting scores from each to get back to within three points at 10-7. The Ladyjacks continued to chip away at the lead, forcing a Demon timeout at 15-13 before Hanlan got into the scoring column with an ace that was followed by a rejection by Bottles and Sabrina Burns to complete the comeback. SFA then held on to the momentum, scoring six of the next seven points to build a six-point lead of its own and finally cashing in on its third match-point try with a kill by Bailey.
SFA closes out the road portion of the regular season on Saturday when it travels to league-leading, and undefeated Central Arkansas. First serve is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
-SFA-
