Sam Houston And Nicholls Next For SFA
10/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 19, 2010
vs Sam Houston (10-13, 4-4 Southland) - 7:00 p.m., Oct. 20
at Nicholls (11-10, 3-5 Southland) - 4:00 p.m., Oct. 23
Sam Houston & Nicholls Notes
FOR STARTERS
Halfway through the conference season the Ladyjacks find themselves in a dogfight with four teams just a game back of fourth place in the SLC. SFA split last week on the road with a win over UT-Arlington and a loss at Texas State.
This week holds not only an opportunity for SFA to even its league reocrd, but also a quick turnaround as the Ladyjacks will wrap up its Piney Woods series with Sam Houston at home, just 14 days after falling to the Bearkats in five sets in Huntsville. SFA will then get its one shot at Nicholls this year in Thibodaux on Saturday
SFA vs THE BEARKATS
vs SHSU, SFA leads 29-14
The last time: SHSU 3, SFA 2 • Oct. 6, 2010 • Huntsville
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SFA vs THE COLONELS
vs NICH, SFA leads 34-4
The last time: SFA 3, NICH 1 • Nov. 21, 2009 • San Antonio
FOLLOW THE LADYJACKS
LIVE STATS: Gametracker will be available at www.sfajacks.com for Wednesday's match with Sam Houston.
LIVE VIDEO: SFA All-Access will be available for Wednesday's match with Sam Houston.
UP NEXT
After splitting last week on the road at UT-Arlington and Texas State, both of those teams will visit Johnson Coliseum next week in rematches of both contests.
Four of SFA's final six matches are at home with just four weeks remaining before the start of the Southland Conference Tournament, which is set for Huntsville beginnign Nov. 19.
THIS WEEK: The Ladyjacks are taking on a pair of teams that have given SFA some trouble in recent seasons, beginning Wednesday at home against Sam Houston State. The Bearkats have taken each of the last three meetings, all in five sets and all after SFA had a 2-1 lead heading into the fourth set. It is only the third time in the history of the series that Sam Houston has won consecutive matches over SFA, but is still two wins shy of their best win streak over the Ladyjacks, a streak of five matches that spanned from 1989 to 1992. As for the Colonels, SFA won the last two meetings last season, including a win in the semi-finals of SLC Tournament; however, the last time the Ladyjacks traveled to Thibodaux was an unsuccessful trip as Nicholls pulled out a 3-2 win for the program's first win over SFA since 2004.
CHASING 1,000: Senior Kelsey Owens and sophomore Madison Hanlan are each nearing 1,000 for their careers in their primary stat, respecitively. Owens picked up 18 kills in matches at UT-Arlington and Texas State, while Hanlan added 27 digs to her total in the two matches. Twenty-three matches into the 2010 season, Owens sits at 904 kills for her career, while Hanlan is not only racing toward the 1,000-mark for her career, but could make it into the school's all-time top 10 in that category by the end of the season. As for Owens, the senior needs to average 12.0 kills per match over the last eight matches of the regular season to reach the 1,000-kill plateau before the start of the Southland Conference Tournament. Hanlan, on the other hand, has 986 career digs and needs 14 more to get to 1,000, but needs 155 digs to reach the school's all-time top 10. Oddly enough, that mark could be pushed farther away as it is senior Laurel Kuepker that currently sits 10th all-time at SFA with 1,141 career digs.
TAKE THE GUN, LEAVE THE PANNONE: Freshman Monica Pannone is starting to fit into the Ladyjack rotation, and the numbers are showing it. Before the last three matches Pannone had not had a match with more than one kill since Sept. 4 against Portland, but in her last three contests she has averaged 2.44 kills and 3.55 digs per set. Twice in that span she equaled her season high with eight kills, and finished with her best statistical match of the season at Texas State when she added a career-best 19 digs to her eigth scores.
