SFA To Tip Off At NIU Tournament
8/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 26, 2009
FOR STARTERS
SFA opens up the 2009 season in the Land of Lincoln as it travels to DeKalb, Ill., to battle four teams from Illinois in the NIU Comfort Inn Suites Tournament. Illinois-Chiacgo, Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Northern Illinois make up the remainder of th field with SFA only having played a combined three matches against the four-team field all-time.
SFA VS THE FIELD
vs Illinois-Chicago, TIED 1-1
The last time: SFA 3, UIC 2 • Oct. 8, 1994 • Huntsville, Texas
vs Southern Illinois, First Meeting
vs Western Illinois, First Meeting
vs Northern Illinois, NIU leads 1-0
The last time: NIU 3, SFA 0 • Aug. 31, 1997 • DeKalb, Ill.
FOLLOW THE LADYJACKS
Each of the Ladyjack matches in DeKalb can be followed via Gametracker at www.niuhuskies.com with a full recap following the day's events that can be found at www.sfajacks.com.
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
After returning home SFA will quickly open up its home slate with a match on Sept. 2 against Louisiana-Lafayette before turning back around and hitting the road once again. The Ladyjacks will spend next weekend in Springfield, Mo., taking part in the Results Advertising/Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational presented by Ramada Oasis that will be hosted by Missouri State. The Ladyajcks will square off with the Bears in the finale of the invitational after taking on Mississippi State, Memphis and UC-Davis in the initial three matches.
Most In Texas: Since 2004, only one Division I school in the state of Texas has had a better wining percentage than the SFA Ladyjacks, but nobody has enjoyed more total wins. SFA has picked up 132 wins in the last five seasons up to this point, with nine wins more than the University of Texas. Here is where the top six rank in Texas since 2004:
Team-------Record
SFA-------132-30
Texas-----130-24
Texas St.-111-55
TCU--------98-66
Texas A&M--84-65
UTA--------81-72
Changing Jerseys:
Junior Laurel Kuepker is making a transition in 2009, going from the off-color libero jersey into a setting role. Kuepker led the SLC in digs and earned honorable mention all-league honors last year as a libero, but also was a setter in high school and will lean on that experience as she and Paloma Buckner will likely split time quarterbacking the offense. SFA utilized the dual-setter system two seasons ago as Whitney Schott and JJ Jones combined to put the Ladyjack offense at the top of the SLC in kills and assists per game.
Preseason Polls: The annual preseason polls were unveiled just before the start of the season with the Ladyjacks picked in the upper half of the league once again. Defending champion Texas State is the favorite to repeat in both polls despite losing three key starters, while last year's surprise team - Central Arkansas - was a close second.
A Return Home For Humphreys: Debbie Humphreys may have spent the last 21 years in Nacogdoches and several years before that playing and coaching at her alma mater, Texas Tech, but she will get a chance to return to her Illinois roots to begin the 2009 season when the Ladyjacks head to DeKalb, Ill. The Ladyjack skipper originally hails from Rochester, Ill., less than 200 miles from DeKalb.
Midwest Connection: Even though SFA is located deep in the Piney Woods of East Texas, the Ladyjacks have extended their recruiting arm to the fertile grounds of the midwestern part of the United States to help supply this season's roster. For the second consecutive year the Ladyjacks will have three midwesterners on the squad, with Emily Franklin coming in from Oregon, Wisc. Add in Paloma Buckner from Washington, Ill., and Laurel Kuepker from LaPorte, Ind., and SFA's roster makes up 60 percent of all midwestern players in the Southland as only Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Lamar carry players from the region.
Preseason All-Conference Ladyjacks: SFA was the only team in the league to land a pair of middle blockers on the preseason all-conference team as MC Bottles and Ashley Bailey each made the list. Bottles was an automatic first team selection after earning first team all-league honors in 2008, making her the first freshman in Debbie Humphreys 21 seasons as head coach to be named to the all-conference first team. As for Bailey, she was named to the preseason second team after being named honorable mention all-conference following last season. Bailey led the Southland in blocks last season at 1.00 per set and the pair will give SFA arguably the strongest middle tandem in the SLC entering this season.
Finding The Offense: Like any year there was significant player turnover for the Ladyjacks following the 2008 season, and like any other year the Ladyjacks will have to have newer faces step in and inherit the offensive load that has departed. However, this year is a little different in the amount of offense that was vacated. With outside hitters Lauren Railey and Shelly Swendig gone, they took over 42 percent of last season's kills with them, and the turnover in setters has left over 83 percent of last season's assist total not on this season's roster. Aside from outside hitters MC Bottles and Ashley Bailey, Kelsey Owens returns as the only outside hitter with over 100 kills from 2008. As for the setter position, the top returner from a year ago is Paloma Buckner who dished out 127 assists from a year ago, which is the least amount of returning assists the Ladyjacks had on the roster since 2003 after Sunni Williams took 1,560 with her in her final season. That year Julie Goodson returned with the top assist mark from the previous season of just 59.
-SFA-
