Ladyjacks To Welcome Bearkats To Shelton Gym
9/17/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 17, 2012
SFA (10-3, 1-0 SLC) vs Sam Houston State (5-8, 1-1 SLC)
Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012 • 6:30 p.m. (CST)
Shelton Gym (600) • Nacogdoches, Texas
Video: None • Live Stats: www.sfajacks.com
FOR STARTERS: The Ladyjacks will look to build on a stellar September this week with three matches in five days, starting Tuesday with a home match against Piney Woods rival Sam Houston State. SFA has won seven of eight matches in September and won all three of its matches over the weekend in taking the title at the Chilly Fillmore’s Invitational.
They will have their hands full agains the Bearkats, who have won five of the last six in the series dating back to 2008. Prior to this latest run from Sam Houston, SFA had won 21 of 23 meetings over the Bearkats dating to 1997.
SFA vs THE BEARKATS
vs SHSU, SFA leads 30-16
The last time: SHSU 3, SFA 1 • Oct. 5, 2011 • Huntsville
LIVE STATS: The match can be followed via Live Stats at www.sfajacks.org
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 and Twitter. 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.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE JILL: Jill Ivy is off to a stellar start to her sophomore year and was named the MVP of the Butler Classic last week. She enters conference play leading the Ladyjacks with 2.92 kills per set and having put down at least 10 kills in nine of 10 games on the year. That's right where she left off last season when she closed out the year with at least 10 in five of her last six matches of the season.
LESLIE NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: True freshman Cara Leslie had a breakout week at the Chilly Fillmore's Invitational and was rewarded with the honor of Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. Leslie averaged 3.55 kills in SFA's three wins and hit a gaudy .455 for the week. She is the first Ladyjack freshman to win a league player of the week honor since 2008, and the first to win an offensive player of the week honor since Lauren Railey in 2005.
A NEW PAIGE: Sophomore setter Paige Holland had a great weekend at home at the Chilly Fillmore's Invitational. She averaged 11.82 assists per set in three SFA wins and guided the Ladyjacks to solid .208 hitting as a team for the weekend, earning tournament MVP honors. Already, in less than two years, she has shot up the assist charts at SFA with 1,708 which is seventh all-time. She needs just 52 to move into sole possession of sixth before needing over 600 more to move into the top five.
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 1,822 digs for her career. She needs 178 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.
STARTING STRONG: With its sweep of three matches at the Chilly Fillmore's Invitational, SFA has now won seven of its last eight matches and is 10-3 to start the season. The Ladyjacks have won 10 of its first 13 now three times since 2006 and are just short of their best ever start through 13 matches, an 11-2 mark set in 2005, 1998, 1994 and 1993.
B1G WIN: The Ladyjacks found themselves against a wall in Friday's opener of the Butler Classic in Indianapolis, down 2-1 to the Indiana Hoosiers of the Big 10. But SFA rallied to knot the match 2-2 and then clawed back from a 10-3 deficit in the fifth set to take the match. The win was SFA's first ever volleyball win in three tries vs a Big 10 opponent, as well as SFA's first-ever win over a Big 10 school in any sport.
20/20 VISION: At the UND Classic the Ladyjacks had a pair of hitters go over the 20-kill mark in a match, beginning with Jill Ivy's 21 scores vs South Dakota and 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. That gives SFA five 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-
