Ladyjack Volleyball Game Notes: at McNeese State, at Lamar
11/9/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 9, 2011
at McNeese State (10-18, 5-9 SLC) - Nov. 3, 7:00 p.m.
at Lamar (10-19, 8-6 SLC) - Nov. 5, 1:00 p.m.
Game Notes
FOR STARTERS
After splitting its final two matches at home vs Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UTSA, SFA will hit the road for the final weekend of the regular season at McNeese State and Lamar, hoping to clinch a berth in next week’s Southland Conference Tournament.
SFA needs just one win to clinch a spot in the tournament and still could be as high as the No. 5 overall seed, pending other results from around the league. Still, it will not be easy as both the Cowgirls and Cardinals are each riding three-game win streaks, with McNeese’s sudden hot streak having surged the Cowgirls right back into the thick of a tournament berth of their own.
The Ladyjacks have won 10 of the last 12 matches dating back to 2003 over both McNeese and Lamar, including winning each of the last seven contests over the Cardinals in Beaumont dating to 2002.
SFA vs THE COWGIRLS
vs MCN, SFA leads 30-10
The last time: MCN 3, SFA 1 • Nov. 11, 2010 • Nacogdoches
SFA vs THE CARDINALS
vs LU, SFA leads 22-19
The last time: SFA 3, LU 2 • Nov. 13, 2010 • Nacogdoches
LIVE STATS: Saturday's 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.
CLOSING IN ON CONWAY: With just two matches remaining in the regular season, SFA is nearing clinching a spot in the 2011 Southland Conference Tournament in Conway, Ark. The Ladyjacks hold a 6-8 record in league play entering Thursday’s match at McNeese State and would enter into the tournament as the No. 7 seed overall in the event if it were to end today. Still, SFA is in great position to possibly move up to as high as the No. 5 seed in the tournament with a pair of wins this weekend as they would then have the tiebreakers over every team below them in the standings, as well as UTA, McNeese State and Lamar.
BURNS BLOCK PARTY: Since entering conference play, junior middle blocker Sabrina Burns has stepped up he game at the net and currently stands second in the entire Southland in league-only play with 1.42 blocks per set. She has at least three blocks in 12 of her last 14 matches overall, including at least four in each of her last five contests. Earlier in the season she put together her first career double-double that included a 10-block performance against Thursday’s opponent, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
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 11-4 however, the Ladyjacks have only come back to take a match twice in 14 tries after falling in the opening set.
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 19 more to move into the SFA all-time top 10. She’s already made her way into the top 10 in blocks and became just the sixth Ladyjack with 400 career blocks with her performance last week. 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 seventh 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 went over the 1,000-assist mark for the year on Saturday vs UT-Arlington and still has an outside chance to put together a freshman season that would land her in the SFA single-season top 10.
YOUTH BEING 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.
-SFA-
