SFA To Close Out 2010 Season
11/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 10, 2010
vs McNeese State (13-16, 7-7 Southland) - 7:00 p.m., Nov. 11
vs Laamar (12-13, 8-6 Southland) - 6:00 p.m., Nov. 13
McNeese State & Lamar Game Notes
FOR STARTERS
The regular season is nearly at a close and with just two matches remaining, SFA is still clinging to the possibility of a berth in the Southland Conference Tournament.
SFA will need to pick up wins in their final two matches of the season and get some help from both Nicholls and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to avoid missing the Southland Conference Tournament for the first time in the program's history.
SFA vs THE COWGIRLS
vs MCN, SFA leads 30-9
The last time: AMCC 3, SFA 1 • Nov. 10, 2009 • Nacogdoches
SFA vs THE CARDINALS
vs LAMAR, SFA leads 21-19
The last time: Lamar 3, SFA 0 • Oct. 24, 2009 • Beaumont
FOLLOW THE LADYJACKS
LIVE STATS: Gametracker will be available for both of SFA's final regular season games on Thursday and Saturday at www.sfajacks.com
LIVE AUDIO/VIDEO: Live video will be available for both matches at www.sfajack.com
THIS WEEK: SFA closes out the 2010 regular season this week with a slim glimmer of hope for making the conference tournament, an event in which the program has never missed since joining the league in the late 1980s. The Ladyjacks will need to win both of their matches against McNeese State and Lamar, while needing both Nicholls and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to each drop their final two matches of the season. The Colonels have their final two matches of the year at home, hosting both league-leading Central Arkansas as well as Northwestern State. The Islanders have a tough road as well, having to go on the road at Texas State and at UT-Arlington.
SENIORS TO BE HONORED: On Saturday against Lamar the Ladyjacks will honor its three seniors: Kelsey Owens, Arielle Daron and Laurel Kuepker. This senior class is the last remaining links to SFA's four consecutive conference titles from earlier this decade as they were part of the 2007 SLC co-champions that went 15-1 that season. As a class this group has gone 82-48 (.631) in four years.
Owens has averaged 2.41 kills per set for her career, totaling and has totaled 948 kills and 710 digs over the course of her four years. Daron has really come on in her last two years, landing 452 of her 539 career kills in 2009 and 2010, averaging 2.35 kills over the past two seasons. As for Kuepker, she currently ranks ninth all-time in digs at SFA with 1,172 and has shuffled between libero and setter in her tenure. An honorable mention all-SLC selection in 2008, Kuepker had over 450 digs in each of her first two seasons.
BURNS AND HANLAN EARN ACADEMIC HONORS: The Ladyjacks earned a pair of accolades late last week when sophomores Sabrina Burns and Madison Hanlan were each named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI team. Burns was a first-team selection and Hanlan was a second-team choice, while the pair were the only sophomores named to the team. They were also two of just four Southland Conference players that made their way onto the squad and only Oklahoma and New Mexico were also able to put multiple players on the teams. Both Burns and Hanlan sport perfect 4.0 GPAs, with Burns majoring in accounting and Hanlan in biology. Burns' selection gives SFA a first-team choice for the third time in the last four years. Both players will be eligible for academic all-America honors.
MIKSCHING IT UP: With libero Madison Hanlan going down with an injury in at Nicholls, the Ladyjacks have turned to juinor Melissa Miksch to fill the libero jersey. She responded with a 16-dig performance in that match at Nicholls and now has 15 games from the back line in which she has picked up at least 10 digs, including setting a season-high with 22 digs against UT-Arlington and last week at UTSA, a mark that is just one shy of her career best.
TRICK-ARI-TREAT: After missing all of non-conference play, senior Arielle Daron probably did not want the calendar to turn to November after putting together a very solid month of October. Daron hit a season high in consecutive matches with 17 kills apiece against Sam Houston State and Nicholls and surpassed that with an 18-kill outing in a loss to UT-Arlington. But she has continued her solid play into November and has now has hit double figures in kills in her last six of her last seven matches, and eight of her last 11 dating back to October 2. The most efficient option for SFA on the outside in league play, Daron has put down nearly three kills per set since her return and is one of just two primary hitters for SFA hitting over .200 for the season.
-SFA-
