Ladyjacks Set to Begin Six-Match Home Stretch
10/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Game 21: Stephen F. Austin (13-7, 6-0 SLC) vs. Southeastern Louisiana (7-11, 4-2 SLC)
Thursday, Oct. 16 (6:30 p.m.) - Shelton Gym
• Live Stats
Game 22: Stephen F. Austin (13-7, 6-0 SLC) vs. New Orleans (6-15, 0-7 SLC)
Saturday, Oct. 18 (1:00 p.m.) - Shelton Gym
• Live Stats
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin women's volleyball team will start a six-match home stand this week with two more conference contests. The Ladyjacks will first host Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m., and then welcome New Orleans to Shelton Gym for a 1:00 p.m. match on Saturday.
SFA is a perfect 6-0 in the Southland Conference over the first three weeks of action and have swept five of the six matches. The team has won 18 of 19 sets overall in conference play - the best mark among the 13 teams in the SLC. The Ladyjacks picked up two wins on the road last week against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3-1) on Thursday and Houston Baptist (3-0) on Saturday.
"We're certainly in a good place physically and mentally right now," said head coach Debbie Humphreys. "We have to continue improving, and to do that you have to get in the gym. But we're getting in the gym for shorter periods of time and going really hard while we're there. We're trying to make sure we're not just pounding on those legs and taking too many swings for hours upon hours. That's what we're doing to help the players out physically.
"Mentally, we're just keeping practices very competitive and upbeat. The girls are doing a great job. I credit the team and our leadership for really keeping everybody's heads in the right spot, and not looking ahead but focusing on the next match at hand."
The Ladyjacks are now 13-7 overall, and have won 11 of their last 13 matches dating back to Sept. 10.
NOTES:
• SFA vs. Southeastern Louisiana - Thursday evening's match between SFA and Southeastern will be the 36th meeting between the two schools, with the Ladyjacks enjoying a 31-4 advantage in the overall series. SFA swept the Lady Lions two times last season, winning 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-15) on Nov. 7 in Hammond, La. and 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-16) on Sept. 21 at home.
• Scouting Southeastern Louisiana - The Lady Lions, winners of five of their last seven contests, enter Thursday's match with a 4-2 SLC record and a 7-11 mark overall on the season. Southeastern has swept New Orleans twice already in conference play and has also picked up wins against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3-2) and McNeese State (3-1). The Lady Lions were swept by Houston Baptist and dropped a 3-1 decision against Central Arkansas in the SLC. SLU was picked to finish 10th out of 13 teams in the conference according to both the preseason coaches and SID polls.
Defense has been the strength of Southeastern as of late. Led by reigning SLC Defensive Player of the Week Morgan Todd, the Lady Lions rank near the top in just about every defensive category during conference play. The team is third in the SLC in hitting percentage allowed (.151) and kills allowed per set (11.86) and second in digs per set (19.23). Todd leads the conference with 137 digs in SLC play and ranks second in digs per set at 6.23. Offensively, the Lady Lions have four girls with more than 100 kills on the year with sophomore Parrie Hartley leading the way at 150. Junior Mikayla Shippy distributes the attack for SLU, recording 499 assists over 54 sets this year.
• SFA vs. New Orleans - The Ladyjacks hold a 5-3 edge in the all-time series against the Privateers heading into Saturday afternoon's match. The two teams have already seen each other this season, with SFA getting the better of UNO on Sept. 12. The Ladyjacks won the match 3-0 (25-9, 25-12, 25-13) to start the Louisiana Tech Invitational - a tournament they went on to win. The Ladyjacks beat the Privateers twice last year and have won four straight matches overall in the series dating back to 2008.
• Scouting New Orleans - The Privateers travel to Natchitoches, La. on Thursday night to face Northwestern State before making the trip to Nacogdoches for Saturday's match. New Orleans is still looking for its first conference win, currently sitting at 0-7 in the SLC and 6-15 overall. UNO opened the SLC season with a four-set loss to Central Arkansas and then lost four consecutive straight-set decisions to Southeastern Louisiana, Houston Baptist, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UCA in conference action. The Privateers lost in four to Nicholls State and most recently were swept by Southeastern for a second time. UNO was tabbed 13th out of 13 teams in the Southland in both the preseason coaches and SID polls this year.
The Privateers have struggled on both sides of the ball so far in the SLC, sitting last in hitting percentage (.072), kills per set (8.91) and opponent hitting percentage (.280). The team is led offensively by redshirt freshman Cara Sander who has 173 kills on .158 hitting over 64 sets and junior Sara Hammoutene who has a team-high 521 assists. Junior Celeste Ramirez has posted a team-best 249 digs over 73 sets played this year.
• Up Next - SFA will continue its longest home stand of the year next week with three conference matches. The Ladyjacks will host Northwestern State on Tuesday night, Sam Houston State on Thursday night and Lamar on Saturday afternoon. Central Arkansas comes to Nacogdoches on Saturday, Nov. 1 to wrap up the home SLC schedule.
• History for Holland - With her second assist in Saturday's match against Houston Baptist, senior Paige Holland became just the fifth player in SFA history to reach 4,000 career assists. Entering the match with 3,998 career assists, it didn't take long for Holland to surpass the milestone mark. The setter dished one up to Jill Ivy early in the first set, who proceeded to complete the kill. After recording 41 distributions on the afternoon, Holland currently sits at 4,039 assists over her four years with the program. The Ladyjacks rank first in the Southland Conference with 12.75 assists per set over the team's first 71 sets in 2014 and Holland is third with 12.32 assists per set in conference matches.
• Efficient Attack - The Ladyjacks continue to be efficient in the attack and rank among the best in the SLC in nearly every offensive category. The squad posted a hitting percentage of .315 and committed just 31 attack errors across two matches last week. Jill Ivy went on a tear, posting a double-double against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Houston Baptist. She finished the week with 36 kills over seven sets and hit at a .470 clip to earn honorable mention SLC Player of the Week honors. Junior Tori Bates and sophomore Justice Walker contributed double-digit kills in each match as well for SFA. The Ladyjacks rank first in the conference in hitting percentage (.298), assists per set (14.68) and kills per set (15.63) over the first three weeks of SLC action.
• Olson Honored - Stephen F. Austin junior libero OJ Olson has been named the Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week two times this season, most recently for the week beginning on Sept. 22. The SFA libero compiled 42 digs over six sets during the week, averaging 7.00 digs per set to help the Ladyjacks defeat Nicholls State (3-0) and McNeese State (3-0) and start 2-0 in the conference. She helped SFA limit the two conference foes to a combined .129 attack percentage over the period. Olson is second in the SLC in digs (373) and ranks third in digs per set (5.25) this season. Olson was also recognized for her defensive play during the week of Sept. 8-14 during which time she was named the Louisiana Tech Invitational MVP.
• All-Tournament Team Recognition - Senior Jill Ivy was named to the All-Rice Invitational Team after a terrific tournament on Sept. 19-20. The outside hitter compiled 36 kills on a .257 attack percentage, dug up 22 balls and dropped in three service aces across SFA's three matches. The all-tournament honor was Ivy's second of the season
• Tournament Champs - The Ladyjacks swept matches against New Orleans (3-0), Texas-Pan American (3-1) and host Louisiana Tech (3-1) at the 2014 Louisiana Tech Fairfield Inn Volleyball Invitational on Sept. 12-13. SFA won nine of 11 sets in the two-day tournament to claim their first team championship of the year.
• Ivy's 1,000 - Senior outside hitter Jill Ivy became the most recent Ladyjack to go over 1,000 kills, breaking into the four-digit mark against Tennessee State (Aug. 30) in the Arkansas Invitational. Ivy, who entered her final SFA campaign with 981 kills, has recorded 261 through 20 matches this season to bring her career total to 1,242. She currently needs 14 kills to move into the top ten on SFA's all-time career kills list.
• Tabbed Fifth in SLC - SFA was picked to finish fifth in the Southland Conference in polls conducted by the league's coaches and sports information directors, the conference office announced Thursday, Aug. 21. The Ladyjacks earned 103 votes in the SID poll and 99 points in the coaches poll.
• Preseason All-SLC - The Ladyjacks placed juniors Jill Ivy and OJ Olson on the preseason all-conference first team, the Southland Conference office announced Wednesday, Aug. 20. Both Ivy and Olson were second-team all-conference selections last season for SFA.
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