Stephen F. Austin
Sam Houston State
Bearkats Down Ladyjacks In Five
9/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 16, 2011
Box Score |
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NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Ladyjacks got double-doubles from both of its seniors, but Sam Houston State got a match-high 15 kills from senior outside hitter Carli Kolbe, and walked out of Shelton Gym Friday night with a hard-fought 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 25-22, 23-25, 15-10) win in not only the conference opener for both teams, but also on the first night of the Chilly Fillmore's SFA Invitational.
Melissa Miksch finished with a season-high 15 kills and 16 digs for her 10th career double-double, and MC Bottles added 11 kills and tied a career high with 10 blocks but SFA (6-6, 0-1 SLC) was not able to sustain much momentum throughout the night against a scrappy Sam Houston State (7-5, 1-0 SLC) team who handed the Ladyjacks their first conference-opening loss since the 2004 season.
SFA hit just .109 on the night, compared to just .135 for the Bearkats, and dropped their fourth consecutive match after opening the season 6-2. The Ladyjacks also began to put things together at the net late in the match, outblocking SHSU 15.5 to 14.0 in a match that saw repeated rejections throughout the evening.
Allison Gideon got her first start of the season and responded with nine kills, while Taylor Gross provided a spark off the bench late in the fourth set and finished with five kills on just 15 swings and even had her hand in three blocks herself. Paige Holland also had three blocks to go along with her 49 assists, and Madison Hanlan picked up a match-high 30 digs to reach the 30-dig mark for the second time this season.
Miksch delivered five kills in the first set as the Ladyjacks swung well, hitting .243 in the first set and turning back the Bearkats after SHSU had made a late push in the first set to take a 1-0 lead. But that was short-lived as in the second set it was Sam Houston holding back the Ladyjacks late in the frame to even things up, going on a 6-2 run to snap a 19-19 tie before heading into the locker room.
The Ladyjacks still struggled to find consistent offense in the third set and couldn't get out of their own way, committing a dozen miscues to aide just a 10-kill Bearkat attack. Still, SFA found itself tied at 17-17 before a Bearkat kill sparked a 7-3 spurt that gave SHSU a set-point try, of which they converted on third try to take control of the match at 2-1.
But SFA showed some grit in the fourth set to extend the match, erasing a 21-17 deficit late in the set after head coach Debbie Humphreys inserted freshmen Gross and Jill Ivy, each of whom provided a burst of energy off the bench. The two scored more than half of SFA's final eight points, including Gross scoring a her fourth kill of the set to set up a set-point try and helping block a Haley Neisler shot to secure the set and send the match to a deciding frame.
Unfortunately, SFA ran out of gas and swung at its lowest clip of the night in the fifth set, hitting just -.042 as the Bearkats led by as much as seven points in the race to 15, eventually claiming the match on Kolbe's final kill of the evening.
SFA will wrap up the Chilly Fillmore's SFA Invitational on Saturday with a pair of matches versus North Dakota and Rice, beginning at 12:30 p.m. against North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux defeated Rice, 3-1, in the tournament opener and will also face Sam Houston State on Saturday in the round-robin affair. SFA will close out the tournament with a 7:00 p.m. match against Rice.
-SFA-
