Stephen F. Austin
Houston
Ladyjacks Record First Ever Sweep Of Cougars
9/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 18, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Melissa Miksch and Mary Caitlin Bottles combined for 21 kills and the Ladyjacks swept Houston, 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-22), for the first time in six tries dating back to 1989 in the second match of the Ladyjack Invitational sponsored by The Grove.
SFA (9-5) has now won four straight matches dating back to the Tulsa Invitational last weekend and held the Cougars (3-11) to just .105 - the fourth consecutive opponent SFA has held under .200 hitting.
Bottles continued her hot hitting, finding her self in double figures for the sixth time in seven matches with 11 kills on 23 swings without an error. During that seven-match stretch she is averaging 2.88 kills per set and swinging at a .300 clip, the best for the Ladyjacks in that span. As for Miksch, she posted her third double-double in the past two weeks with 10 kills and 13 digs.
Paloma Buckner directed the offense with ease, dishing out 30 assists with four kills and even adding in three blocks, including a solo rejection for the match's final point. Ashley Bailey was a force at the net as well, helping out on sending six shots to the other side of the net.
SFA never trailed in the first set, getting four kills from Bottles and three apiece from Bailey and Arielle Daron. A kill from Sabrina Burns and a pair of Cougar attack errors built the lead up to its largest at 17-11 before the Houston drew to within a point at 18-17. However, Daron and Bailey paired with the SFA defense was enough to get the final seven points on SFA's side as the Ladyjacks hit .244 on their way to the 25-22 win.
The second set was all SFA as the Ladyjacks hit a match-high .324 in the stanza, compared to just .118 for the Cougars. SFA built its lead to 11 points at 22-11 on kills from both Miksch and Bottles and cruised into the locker room up 2-0.
As expected Houston came out firing in the third set with a 7-2 run, but it did not take long for SFA to spark its rally. Freshman Madison Hanlan's serve led the Ladyjacks to seven straight points and a 13-10 lead, but the Cougars refused to go down quietly. Three straight attacking errors from the Ladyjacks tied the score at 20 apiece, including the tying point on a block by Erin Rice and Tara Roenicke. But Buckner found Miksch on the left side to give the Ladyjacks the lead once again and the sophomore added another easy kill on a ball over the net to get the Ladyjacks to match point before Buckner slammed the winning block to the ground for the sweep.
SFA will try and continue its hot streak at 12:30 on Saturday with a non-conference match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi followed by the tournament finale at 7:00 p.m. against Miami (OH).
The day will start with a 10:00 a.m. match as Houston and Miami (OH) will square off.
-SFA-
