Stephen F. Austin
UAB
Ladyjacks Knock Off UAB In Five
9/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2011
MARTIN, Tenn. - The Ladyjack volleyball team had five players register double-figure kills and SFA came back from a 2-1 deficit to take a 3-2 (25-15, 21-25, 24-26, 25-20, 16-14) win over Alabama-Birmingham on Saturday afternoon in the finale of the Skyhawk Invitational.
MC Bottles led the SFA (6-2) attack with 16 kills and three blocks and Madison Hanlan finished with a career-high 35 digs, becoming the first Ladyjack since Laurel Kuepker in 2008 to post more than 30 digs in a single match.
Along with Bottles, Katzy Randall posted her third double-double in her last four matches with 11 kills and 12 digs. Sabrina Burns continued her efficient play early in the season with a dozen kills and four blocks, while Leslie Jackson and Jill Ivy finished with 11 kills apiece.
SFA swung at a .266 clip for the match, already the fifth time this year the Ladyjacks have been over the .200 mark for a match. Paige Holland added five kills to her 54 assists and Melissa Miksch added 15 digs.
The Ladyjacks committed just one attack error in the first set, hitting a blistering .438 behind five kills from Jackson and four from Burns; however, the Blazers quickly picked it up after hitting just .056 themselves in the opening frame. UAB hit .355 over the next two sets to jump in front 2-1, narrowly stealing the third set, 26-24, after the Ladyjacks had led for the majority of the set.
Fortunately, SFA responded as well, leading the whole way in the fourth frame behind four kills from Ivy to knot the score at two sets apiece. That set up a dramatic fifth set, one that saw SFA fall behind early on before battling back to tie the set at 14-14 on a Blazer attack error. Monica Pannone followed the tie with an ace and Bottles gave SFA its only lead of the set with a kill on match point to close it out.
SFA will next travel to Denton for a Monday matinee at North Texas, closing out a stretch of nine road matches to open the season. The Ladyjacks will open up the home portion of the season on Friday when they host Texas A&M in the opener of the Ladyjack Invitational.
-SFA-
