Ladyjack Volleyball Game Notes: at Texas State, UT-Arlington
10/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 26, 2011
at Texas State (18-6, 9-1 SLC) - Oct. 27, 6:30 p.m.
at UT-Arlington (8-16, 2-6 SLC) - Oct. 29, 2:00 p.m.
Game Notes
FOR STARTERS
With three weeks remaining in the regular season, the time has come for SFA to begin its final push towards not only qualifying but positioning itself for the upcoming Southland Conference Tournament with a pair of road matches at Texas State and UT-Arlington this week.
SFA currently sits in a tie with Lamar for fifth place in the Southland Conference and will get its second crack at both the Bobcats and Mavericks this week on the road after splitting two matches with them two weeks ago in Nacogdoches.
Madison Hanlan, the reigning SLC Defensive Player of the Week, recently became just the fifth Ladyjack to total 1,500 digs for a career and will be looking to continue to move up the record boards this weekend on the road, as is senior MC Bottles, who is 48 kills shy of entering the SFA top 10.
The Ladyjacks have alternated wins and losses in their last six matches, and a win at Texas State would not only give SFA its first back-to-back wins in a month, but would also snap a seven-match losing streak to the Bobcats and be its first win in San Marcos since 2007.
As for the Mavs, SFA hasn’t lost in Arlington since 2004 and avenged last year’s home loss two weeks ago with a sweep of the Mavs at Shelton Gym. Overall, SFA has won 11 of the last 12 meetings over the Mavericks.
These will be SFA’s final trips to both Strahan Coliseum and UT-Arlington for Southland Conference play as each school will join the WAC beginning in 2012.
SFA vs THE BOBCATS
vs TXST, TXST leads 22-27
The last time: TXST 3, SFA 0 • Oct. 13, 2011 • Nacogdoches
SFA vs THE MAVERICKS
vs UTA, SFA leads 27-18
The last time: SFA 3, UTA 0 • Oct. 15, 2011 • Nacogdoches
LIVE STATS: Each match can be followed via Gametracker at www.sfajacks.com
FOLLOW SFA ATHLETICS: Fans are encouraged to follow along with SFA Volleyball and SFA Athletics as a whole via SFA’s social media sites on Facebook (SFA Athletics) and Twitter (@SFA_Athletics). Up-to-the minute match updates, as well as the latest news can be found via these outlets from all home matches and selected road matches.
STEPPING IN RIGHT DIRECTION: A year removed from easily the most disappointing season in program history, the Ladyjacks have done a quality job of stepping forward in 2011, despite seven freshmen on the roster. With Saturday’s win over Nicholls, the Ladyjacks have already eclipsed their win total from last season and need equaled last year’s win total in SLC play.
EARLY MOMENTUM: It’s always important for a team to start quickly, but moreso for this year’s youthful group of Ladyjacks, as is evident in its record after set one. When SFA is able to secure a first-set victory, it is 10-3 however, the Ladyjacks have only come back to take a match twice in 12 tries after falling in the opening set.
HANDLING HANLAN: Madison Hanlan recorded 43 digs in two matches last week to become the fifth Ladyjack in history to surpas the 1,500-dig mark for her career. Not only did she hit a statistical milestone, but she also helped SFA to a league win over Nicholls and was rewarded as the league’s defensive player of the week award. She averaged 6.14 digs per set in earning her third weekly hoonor of her career, and her first since her freshman season.
PREMIUM BOTTLES: Senior MC Bottles is looking to join Kristy Rhodes (1998-2001) and Wendy Walling (1990-93) as just the third player in SFA history to earn all-SLC honors in all four years of play. After earning all-conference second team honors last year, she was an automatic selection to this year’s preseason all-SLC first team as SFA’s only representative on the team. The middle blocker from Rowlett, Texas, surpassed 1,000 for her career at ULM and needs 48 more to move into the SFA all-time top 10. She’s already made her way into the top 10 in blocks and needs 10 more to become just the sixth Ladyjack with 400 career blocks. She still has a chance to join Brittany Burton, Aubrey Duncan and Traci Rohde as only the fourth Ladyjack to total 1,300 kills and 400 blocks for a career.
TRIO OF DOUBLES: In it’s win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, SFA had three players - Katzy Randall, Paige Holland and Sabrina Burns - finish the match with a double-double. Burns’ double-double was the first of her career and included 10 blocks, marking the first time an SFA player picked up a double-double with 10 blocks in a match since MC Bottles did so versus Portland last season. Overall, the match turned out to be the first timeSFA had three-players with double-doubles in the same match since Whitney Schott, Lauren Railey and Shelly Swendig had double-doubles in a 3-1 loss to Montana on Sept. 5, 2008 - a span of of 120 matches.
TURNING THE PAIGE: Freshman setter Paige Holland has quickly taken to the starting setter role for the Ladyjacks through two weeks of collegiate volleyball, and will enter this weekend fifth in the Southland Conference with 9.66 assists per set. It’s not as though SFA hasn’t had success with freshman setters before, but Holland will have work to do to take hold of the single-season freshman total-assists record at SFA. The 2004 mark from JJ Jones, albeit in 30-point sets, of 1,244 assists (11.96) stands as the all-time record. Holland would have to average 51.0 assists per match for the remaining six regular-season matches of the year to surpass Jones’ mark.
YOUTH TO BE SERVED: After suffering through a disappointing 2010 season, the Ladyjacks have sent a revamped roster to the court in 2011 with nine new faces joining just six returners from a year ago. Of those nine newcomers, only two are transfers, leaving room for seven freshmen. The seven freshmen are makes up the second biggest freshman class in the SLC behind only Northwestern State’s nine. Texas State has seven freshmen listed on its roster as well; however, two of them are redshirts from a year ago.
BACK TO WHERE IT STARTED: SFA re-opened up Shelton Gym vs Texas A&M for the 2011 season after spending 12 seasons at William R. Johnson Coliseum. The Ladyacks won three SLC titles at Shelton Gym from 1988 to 1998.
-SFA-
