Stephen F. Austin
Houston Baptist
Huskies Take Down Ladyjacks
10/16/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 16, 2012
HOUSTON, Texas - Tori Bates had a career-high 18 kills, but the Ladyjacks never could get in sync and dropped a non-conference match, 3-1 (25-21, 29-27, 23-25, 25-19) on Tuesday to Houston Baptist at Sharp Gym.
SFA (15-8) hit just .157 for the match and had 10 blocks, but struggled to stop the Husky (15-10) offense who hit .207 to mark the fifth time in its last seven matches that SFA has allowed an opponent to put up a higher attack percentage.
Bates was one of three Ladyjacks to pick up at least 11 kills, doing so on a team-high 49 swings with just five errors for her best offensive night of the season. She added a dozen digs and five blocks for a double-double, while Paige Holland had 38 assists and 10 digs of her own to pick up a double-double as well.
Jill Ivy had 12 kills and three blocks, and Sabrina Burns had 11 kills and four blocks and Madison Hanlan had 24 digs to lead the team. Freshman OJ Olson had 18 digs of her own.
Meanwhile, the Huskies placed four players in double figures, led by Cati Wegner who had just one misfire on 32 swings while producing 16 kills with a match-high seven blocks.
SFA hit just .023 in the first set in falling behind 1-0 to the Huskies, who just hit .175 themselves. Bates had three kills in the set, but HBU used an 8-1 run to open up a 14-8 lead midway through the set before the Ladyjacks mounted a comeback of their own. SFA eventually cut the lead back to 21-20 before surrendering the final four points of the set.
The Ladyjacks got their offense rolling in the second set, hitting .236, but it wasn't until late in the set that they found their groove. HBU jumped ahead 17-7 in the set before SFA fought back to eventually knot the set at 24-24 and fought off four set points before the Huskies were finally able to put it away and go into the locker room up 2-0.
The third set saw SFA finally get on the board, using a 9-0 run to go ahead 21-14 before having to hold off the Huskies, who answered with a 9-3 run of their own to push the set to 24-23. Before Wegner's lone attack error of the match eventually gave SFA the 25-23 edge.
SFA then had its best offensive set of the night in set four, hitting .278, but so did Houston Baptist, hitting .382 with just three attack errors in a 25-19 win to close out the set.
SFA will jump back into conference play on Thursday when it takes on McNeese State at Shelton Gym before hosting Lamar on homecoming Saturday.
-SFA-
