Stephen F. Austin
Montana State
SFA Finishes Off Perfect Opening Weekend
8/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 27, 2011
South Dakota State Box Score | Montana State Box Score
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Ladyjack volleyball team picked up two more wins over South Dakota State and Montana State on Saturday to finish off a perfect 4-0 weekend of play at the Spring Hill Suites Invitational, hosted by Georgia Southern.
With the wins SFA (4-0) now boasts its best start to a season since the 1992 team began the year by winning each of its first six matches.
SFA will look to go 5-0 on the season on Wednesday when it travels to ULM before leaving to head to Martin, Tenn., for the UT-Martin Skyhawk Invitational next weekend.
SFA 3, South Dakota State 0
MC Bottles continued her hot play early in her senior season with 14 kills and four blocks and SFA hit .295 in earning a 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-22) sweep of South Dakota State early Saturday morning.
SFA finished with 19 more kills than the Jackrabbits with freshman Jill Ivy joining Bottles in double figures with 12, while setter freshman Paige Holland picked up the first double-double by a Ladyjack this year with 41 assists and 13 digs.
Holland was one of three Ladyjacks in double-figure digs, joined by Katzy Randall with 14 and Madison Hanlan with 12. The Ladyjacks also rejected a half dozen shots, with Holland and Ivy having a hand in three apiece.
The Ladyjacks were on fire offensively, hitting no less than .233 in any of its three sets on its way to earning its first sweep in 13 matches dating back to last season. They led by just two points midway through the first set before going on an 8-2 run to close out the frame behind five kills from Leslie Jackson and four from Bottles.
SFA got three kills apiece from four separate players in the second set and held SDSU to just .073 hitting on its way to a 25-15 win, its most lopsided set win of the early season.
In the final set the Ladyjacks turned to the senior Bottles for half of her kill total for the match. The Jackrabbits stayed within two points of the Ladyjacks for the majority of the set, drawing even as late as the 21-21 mark of the third before Bottles scored her final four kills in the final five points of the match to close out the match.
SFA 3, Montana State 1
SFA hit .369 for the match and put four players in double figures, led by Katzy Randall's 16 kills and Paige Holland's 55 assists for a 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 23-25, 25-19) over Montana State. It was the first time since Oct. 1, 2009 that four Ladyjacks had at least 10 kills in a single match.
MC Bottles and Jill Ivy joined Randall in double figures with 15 kills apiece, and Sabrina Burns also finished with 13 on just 19 swings and finished up the first weekend of play with a team-best .414 attack percentage in the four-match tournament. Madison Hanlan added 22 more digs to her season total and Monica Pannone added 10 of her own.
Holland found Ivy for seven kills in the first set as the Ladyjacks carried their momentum from its earlier win into their second match, hitting .441 to jump out to a 1-0 match lead.
Montana State's Sarah Horton scored five of her team-best 16 kills in the second set, but Randall matched her with five of her own to pace the Ladyjacks. SFA was able to build an early eight-point lead and cruise to the finish line from there to take a five-point win in the set and a 2-0 lead in the match.
But the Ladyjacks were not able to close the match out in three, instead having their seven-set win streak snapped with by a two-point Bobcat win in which Montana State took the lead at the 4-3 point and never trailed again; however, that just delayed the inevitable as SFA swung at a .486 clip in the fourth and final set and scored 18 of its 25 points without assistance from the Bobcats. Randall had five more kills in the set and Holland assisted on 16 of the 18 Ladyjack kills as SFA finished off the four-set win.
-SFA-
