Stephen F. Austin
Northwestern State
Ladyjacks Surge Past Demons
9/14/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 14, 2012
Box Score |
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NACOGDOCHES, Texas - After dropping the first set the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks surged past the Northwestern State Demons to win the next three sets and take a 3-1 (15-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-20) win in the opening match for each team of the Chilly Fillmore's Invitational at Shelton Gym.
SFA (8-3, 1-0 SLC) also got out to a 1-0 start in conference play for the sixth time in the last seven years in what was the conference opener for both teams. The Ladyjacks have now won all 43 matches in the history of the series with the Demons (6-5, 0-1 SLC)
Sabrina Burns had 16 kills and five blocks while hitting .375 for the night in front of an energized Ladyjack crowd. Jill Ivy added 10 more scores and Cara Leslie provided another go-to hand with 10 kills of her own, connecting successfully on seven of her first nine swings of the night.
Madison Hanlan had 27 digs and a pair of service aces, while Leslie had a hand in six of SFA's 11.5 kills on the night. Katzy Randall also had five blocks and 10 digs, and Paige Holland dished out 39 assists while guiding SFA to a .163 attack percentage on the night.
Stacy DiFrancesco led Northwestern State with a match-high 21 kills and 10 digs.
The Demons did not take long to convincingly take an early 1-0 lead, putting home 14 kills and hitting .258 behind five scores from DiFrancesco. Things were tight in the frame until the Demons went on a 6-1 spurt to take an 18-12 as they held SFA to just eight kills and .088 hitting in the 25-15 win.
One set later SFA responded with its best offensive frame of the night, hitting .393 and getting four kills apiece from both Randall and Burns. Meanwhile, Northwestern State committed eight miscues and could never recover from trailing by as much as seven points on three separate occasions before the Ladyjacks managed to square the match.
SFA then staked itself to a 2-1 lead a set later behind five kills from Burns and four more apiece from both Ivy and Leslie. This time things stayed close until just after midway through the frame when the Ladyjacks erased a narrow 14-12 deficit with an 8-2 run to claim a five-point lead before scores from both Leslie and Tori Bates helped seal the victory.
The Ladyjacks had to play comeback in the fourth set after surrendering an early lead to a 6-1 Demon run that was spraked by DiFrancesco; however, consecutive kills from Holland and Bates erased the two-point NWLA lead and the consecutive Demon errors that followed completely flipped the script. From there SFA did not let off the gas and forced Demon misfires for four of its next five points to close out the match.
SFA will conclude the Chilly Fillmore's Invitational on Saturday with a pair of non-conference matches, beginning at noon against Robert Morris. They will then follow with a 7:00 p.m. match against Southern Mississippi in the tournament finale.
-SFA-
