Stephen F. Austin
Lamar
Ladyjacks Take Down Cardinals In Four Sets
9/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 22, 2012
BEAUMONT, Texas - Playing their sixth match in seven days, the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks knocked off Lamar (25-21, 25-20, 27-29, 25-21) on Saturday at McDonald Gym to run its season-high win streak to six consecutive matches.
The win over Lamar (9-9, 1-3 SLC) keeps SFA (13-3, 4-0 SLC) in sole possession of first place after two weeks of conference play.
SFA hit .297 for the match, helping them overcome a .271 hitting effort from the Cardinals which marke just the fourth time this season a Ladyjack opponent has gone hit over .200 in a match.
Ivy led all players with 19 kills, misfiring just four times on 40 swings, while Tori Bates and Sabrina Burns each added a dozen apiece. Ivy also had a hand in five of SFA's eight blocks on the afternoon. Paige Holland finished with 52 assists and nine digs and Katzy Randall finished with 12 digs with seven kills.
Sierra Whittaker led Lamar with 15 kills, followed by Wendy Krell with 12.
Ivy delivered seven of her 19 kills in the first set as the Ladyjacks hit .289 in taking a 1-0 lead. That was necessary since the Cardinals hit .312 themselves, led by four kills from Madi Martin. SFA had to play comeback to garner the lead, erasing a 10-5 lead with a 6-1 run and finally taking the lead at 17-16 on a kill from Holland. Martin kept the Cards within striking distance, but consecutive kills from Ivy gave SFA a set-point try that was converted when Martin mishandled a set try.
One set later the Ladyjacks put on an offensive show, hitting .397 and getting 17 of their 25 points via kills. Bates had five kills in the set, including a pair in the final three points of the frame. Once again it was needed as the Cardinals hit well themselves, swinging at a .370 clip. Things were all tied up at 18-18 before a Cardinal service error snapped the tie. From there the Ladyjacks scored six of the next seven points in the set, led by four of Bates' five scores.
The Cardinals extended the match in the third set, but had to work to do it. LU led 18-12 at one point before SFA stormed all the way back to tie the frame at 18-18. SFA eventually made it to a match-point try, but could not convert before the Cards eventually closed it out on a kill from Courtney Moore and an attack error on Katzy Randall.
SFA then responded from hitting .173 in the third set to hit .353 in the fourth, taking a 10-6 lead on a kill from Ivy and never let the Cards back to within three points the remainder of the way. Ivy and Burns finished off the set as well, including a kill from Burns to close the match on SFA's first match-point try of the set.
The Ladyjacks face a tough upcoming week at home, starting Thursday against Oral Roberts before hosting Central Arkansas on Saturday.
-SFA-
