SFA Looks To Rebound In Conference Opener
9/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 24, 2009
Northwestern State (1-8, 0-1 Southland) - Sept. 26, 2:00 p.m.
Central Arkansas (12-2, 1-0 Southland) - Sept. 28, 7:00 p.m.
Johnson Coliseum (7,202) - Nacogdoches, Texas
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FOR STARTERS
With non-confernece play almost completely out of the way, SFA now turns its focus to Southland Conference play. The Ladyjacks were riding the high of a six-match win streak into Tuesday, but had that run snapped by North Texas, a team that has now won four of its last six as they begin SBC play this weekend as well.
SFA gets its shot at Northwestern State and Central Arkansas - one of the preseason league favorites. The Demons have only managed one win in nine tries this season and have never beaten the Ladyjacks in 34 tries. As for Central Arkansas, the Sugar Bears are currently in the midst of an 11-match win streak of their own and the last time they came into Johnson Coliseum they left with a 3-0 win over SFA.
SFA VS THE OPPONENTS
vs Northwestern State, SFA leads 34-0
The last time: SFA 3, NW St. 0 • Nov. 16, 2009 • Nacogdoches
vs Central Arkansas, SFA leads 3-1
The last time: UCA 3, SFA 0 • Nov. 18, 2009 • Nacogdoches
FOLLOW THE LADYJACKS
SFA's matches versus the Demons and Sugar Bears can be followed via Gametracker at www.sfajacks.com with a full recap following the match
Also, keep up with other news and notes about the Ladyjacks with the Ladyjack Volleyball Blog at sfajacks.com, and at www.sfavolleyblog.net. The matches can also be followed via live video streaming at www.sfajacks.com
WHAT'S NEXT
The Ladyjacks step out of conference one last time on Wednesday against Tulane at Johnson Coliseum before four consecutive road matches await. The road trip starts with a difficult road match at McNeese State, followed by Nicholls, Southeastern Louisiana and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Humphreys Nearing Milestone: Head coach Debbie Humphreys is inching closer and closer to another career milestone: 500 career wins. Only two other coaches in the Southland Conference - Texas State's Karen Chisum and Sam Houston's Brenda Gray - have reached the 500 win mark; however, Humphreys will be the first to hit that milestone as an exclusive member of the league. She entered the season ranked 30th in the country in wins among Division I active head coaches, and depending on how quickly she reaches the mark she would be anywhere from the fourth to the sixth Division I coach in the nation this season alone to reach 500 career wins, with only American's Barry Goldberg reaching 500 in less seasons among that group.
MC Hammer: Sophomore middle blocker MC Bottles got off to a slow start this season coming off a first-team all-conference year in 2008, only getting into double figures in kills once in SFA's first seven matches. Since then Bottles has certainly dropped the hammer on the competition, netting no less than 10 kills in nine of her last 10 matches. In that 10-match streak Bottles is hitting .338 and averaging 3.03 kills per set, only trailing fellow middle blocker Ashley Bailey who is averaging 3.11 kills per set.
Little Learning Curve: Freshman Madison Hanlan has wasted no time putting her name toward the forefront of the discussion of Southalnd Conference liberos. She won the league's Defensive Player of the Week honor in her first week on the job and currently sits fourth in the league with 4.09 digs per set, getting at least 15 in eight of her 16 matches this year, including a season-high 24 against Gonzaga at the Tulsa Invitational.
Purple Sweep: Middle blockers MC Bottles and Ashley Bailey were named the Southland Conference's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week on Monday, marking the first time in 2009 that a single school has swept POTW honors in the league. It was the first weekly honor of the year for Bottles, but the second consecutive win for Bailey who was named Offensive POTW one week ago. Since 2006 there have been eight occasions in which one school has swept the SLC weekly awards, with six of those occasions being SFA. Through four weeks of the 2009 season there have been eight individual weekly honors handed out with half of them going to Ladyjacks.
Where'd That Come From: SFA's loss on Tuesday at North Texas was the first for the Mean Green over the Ladyjacks since 1995, snapping an eight-match win streak for SFA in the series. The last time UNT had beaten SFA it was on the Ladyjack's own Shelton Gym floor in the 1995 Southland Conference Tournament in UNT's final season as a member of the Southland Conference, giving the Mean Green its last trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Third Round K-O: Junior outside hitter Kelsey Owens had been out of the Ladyjack lineup since falling to injury in the first weekend of the season, but made her return in the third game of the Ladyjack Invitational against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Owens was then in the starting lineup just one match later against Miami (OH) and responded with 10 kills and a pair of blocks against the Redhawks. The only upperclassman on the outside for the Ladyjacks, Owens has made it into double-digit kills in four of the six complete matches she has played in this season.
Miksch-ing It Up: While Kelsey Owens was out, the Ladyjacks made up the difference with sophomore outside hitter Melissa Miksch. The Austin native got the starting nod in SFA's first match without Owens and has played all the way around the court for SFA in every match since. Miksch has picked up five double-doubles, averaging 2.12 kills and 3.65 digs per set. In 13 matches since Sept. 2 she has picked up at least 10 digs on 11 occasions, including setting a new career high of 23 in a four-set win over Mississippi State. She was also named to the all-tournament team at the Ladyjack Invitational, serving four aces in four matches and staying in double-digit digs in every match in the tournament.
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-
