SFA To Take On Houston Baptist On Tuesday
10/15/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 15, 2012
SFA (15-7, 6-4 SLC) at Houston Baptist (14-10, 3-1 GWC)
Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 • 6:30 p.m. (CST)
Sharp Gym (1,500) • Houston
Video: www.HBUHuskies.com • Live Stats: www.HBUHuskies.com
FOR STARTERS
After splitting a pair of league matches over the weekend at home, SFA will temporarily step out of conference on Tuesday when it travels to Houston Baptist for its final match vs the Huskies before HBU becomes an official member of the Southland Conference in 2013.
SFA vs THE HUSKIES
vs HBU, SFA leads 3-1
The last time: HBU 3, SFA 1 • Oct. 19, 2011 • Nacogdoches
LIVE STATS: Tuesday's match can be followed via live stats at www.HBUHuskies.com
LIVE VIDEO: Tuesday's match can be viewed at www.HBUHuskies.com
LIVE CHAT: Tuesday's match at Houston Baptist can also be followed live chat with Greg Miller of www.sfavolleyblog.net with in game commentary and real-time score updates.
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.
GETTING FAMILIAR: Thursday's match at Houston Baptist will be SFA's first look at the Huskies since HBU announced it will be joinging SFA in the Southland Conference beginning in 2013. HBU will be joined by Abilene Christian, Incarnate Word and New Orleans next year in the Southland Conference. The Ladyjacks are 3-1 all-time vs HBU and 2-3 all-time against UNO, but has never faced either ACU or UIW.
STEPPING OUTSIDE THE BOX: When SFA takes on HBU in a non-conference match on Thursday it will be the first of two non-conference matches on SFA's slate scheduled after conference play has begun. Based on recent years, that bodes well for the Ladyjacks, who are 6-2 in non-conference matches after the beginning of Southland Conference play since 2005.
BURNS CAREER HIGH: Sabrina Burns is putting together her best offensive season of her career, as is evident by setting a new career-high in kills on Thursday, the third time this season she has upped her career best. She had 20 kills against Nicholls on Thursday. She has increased her attack percentage each of her four seasons at SFA and will enter Tuesday's match at HBU hitting a career-best .256 and averaging a career high 2.59 kills per set.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE JILL: Jill Ivy has been stellar in her sophomore year, averaging 3.18 kills per set and earning all-tournament honors twice. She's put down at least 10 kills in 19 of 22 matches on the year, with one of those nights being a 21-kill effort in a win over South Dakota. Should she finish the season with a kills average above 3.00 per set, she would join MC Bottles as just the second Ladyjack to average at least 3.00 kills per setsince 2008.
LESLIE'S EARLY IMPACT: True freshman Cara Leslie is making a make for the league's freshman of the year having taken a pair of Southland Conference player of the week awards, one offensive and one defensive. Currently she is the only freshman in the league to average at least 2.00 kills and 1.00 blocks per set, and is doing so while hitting at a .204 clip. She also can boast a 12-block performance in a five-set loss to Central Arkansas, the most blocks any player in the SLC has had this year. The dozen rejections also ranks as the fifth most blocks in a single match in SFA history.
A NEW PAIGE: Sophomore setter Paige Holland has made tremendous strides this season and the numbers reflect just that. The sophomore from Magnolia is currently averaging 10.03 assists per set and is in line to become just the second Ladyjack setter since 2007 to average at least 10 assists per set. Also, on Thursday vs Nicholls she passed Sunni Williams to move into sixth all-time at SFA in assistsgoing over 2,000 for her career.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Senior libero Madison Hanlan is off to a great start to her final season, earning all-tournament honors at both the UTA Invitational and UND Classic, as well as capturing the Southland's initial Defensive Player of the Week honor, the fourth of her career. In the midst of that, she has moved into second place all-time at SFA in digs and has now totaled 1,959 digs for her career. She needs 41 to join Stephanie Figgers as just the second Ladyjack to total 2,000 digs for her career. Hanlan has averaged no less than 4.24 digs per set each season to date and if she does that again, she will also join Figgers with four seasons that rank in SFA's top 10.
20/20 VISION: With Sabrina Burns' 20-kill night afternoon vs Southeastern Louisiana the Ladyjacks can now boast three matches this year with a player reaching at least 20 kills. Burns' career high puts her in company with Jill Ivy' and Katzy Randakk, each of whom had 21 scores at the UND Classic. Ivy's came vs South Dakota and was followed one match later by Katzy Randall's 21 in a win over North Dakota. Each of them did that once as freshmen last season while the Ladyjacks had just three 20-kill performances as a team for the year. Those matches give SFA six 20-kill outings in the past two years after not having a single 20-kill match from an individual since 2007.
DOWN, BUT NOT OUT: SFA had to dig deep to pick up its win over South Dakota, falling behind 2-0 before ralling to knock off the Coyotes 3-2. It was the first time since the final match of 2010 vs Lamar in which the Ladyjacks dropped the first two sets before coming back to pick up the win. SFA has five such wins in five seasons since 2008.
-SFA-
