Stephen F. Austin
Southern Miss
SFA Takes Chilly Fillmore's Title
9/15/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 15, 2012
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NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks picked up a pair of wins to sweep their way through the weekend at the Chilly Fillmore's Invitational with victories over Robert Morris and Southern Mississippi at Shelton Gym on Saturday.
SFA (10-3) has now won five of its last six matches and got all-tournament performances from both Cara Leslie and Paige Holland, who was named the tournament MVP.
SFA 3, Robert Morris 0
Cara Leslie had 14 kills and Sabrina Burns scored the final four points of the match as the Ladyjacks swept Robert Morris 3-0 (25-23, 28-26, 25-17) on Saturday at Shelton Gym.
Leslie had eight kills in the first set alone and 13 in the first two frames while SFA (9-3) hit .231 for the match, its second highest hitting percentage for the season. Each of the first two sets were narrow wins, despite hitting better than .250 in each set.
Paige Holland dished out 41 assists in the three sets and Janet Hill had nine digs to pace SFA, who got the win despite being outblocked 8-4 by the Colonials (4-10).
SFA did not lead in the first set until the 23-22 point, playing catch-up the entire way; however, Leslie had eight of SFA's 17 scores in the set, misfiring just one time and putting down three of SFA's final four points before Jill Ivy delivered the clinching score.
The Ladyjacks then could not separate themselves in the second set, wiping out a four-point Colonial lead early on in the set before finally going ahead 13-12 on consecutive kills from Ivy. SFA then had to fight off a late set-point try from RMU, doing so successfully on a kill from Burns before getting a set-point try itself. SFA capitalized on their second try to close out the match, getting consecutive kills from Tori Bates and Leslie for the 28-26 win.
Burns then took over in the final set, delivering six kills and a block and having a hand in a 10-1 run to close out the match. SFA had led the majority of the set until RMU put together a surge that netted it a 16-15 lead; however, that advantage did not last long as SFA responded with scores on the next five points before Burns put down each of the match's last four scores.
SFA 3, Southern Mississippi 1
Three Ladyjacks finished in double figures, led by Leslie's 15 kills and SFA held off a scrappy Southern Miss squad, 3-0 (27-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-20) in the tournament finale. SFA hit .234 for the match, including a scalding .440 from Leslie who hit at a .455 clip for the three-match tournament.
SFA recorded a dozen blocks in the four-set affair, including seven from Burns. Holland had 50 assists and helped SFA hit .208 for the tournament and at least .227 in all three of SFA's winning sets. Madison Hanlan had 17 digs and Burns and Ivy each finished with 13 kills apiece.
The Ladyjacks had a four-point lead late in the opening frame, but had to withstand a Golden Eagle match-point try before scoring each of the final three points of the set to secure a 1-0 lead. Leslie had six kills in the set, while Ivy added five as SFA hit a solid .227 and warded off five USM blocks.
Leslie and Burns combined for 10 kills in the second set when SFA hit a match-high .355 and rolled by the Golden Eagles by nine points. SFA staked itself to an early 11-5 lead and never trailed, nearly doubling USM's kill total to grab a stranglehold on the match.
Then, after the half, SFA made it seem as though it was going to roll its way to a sweep after claiming a 10-2 lead to open the third set; however, a pair of timeouts by USM was answered with a 15-2 run that vaulted the Golden Eagles out in front of SFA by three points. The Ladyjacks then responded themselves, but didn't have quite enough to withstand USM, who stayed alive with a two-point win.
SFA then used a 10-5 run in the final set to clinch the win, hitting .286 in the final set while holding the Golden Eagles to just .125 hitting.
SFA will jump back into conference play with three matches next week, beginning Tuesday with a home match against Sam Houston State beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Shelton Gym.
-SFA-
