SFA Hits the Road for Two SLC Matches
10/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Game 19: Stephen F. Austin (11-7, 4-0 SLC) vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (9-11, 2-1 SLC)
Thursday, Oct. 9 (7 p.m.) - Dugan Wellness Center (Corpus Christi, Texas)
• Live Stats | Video
Game 20: Stephen F. Austin (11-7, 4-0 SLC) vs. Houston Baptist (7-10, 2-1 SLC)
Saturday, Oct. 11 (1 p.m.) - Sharp Gym (Houston, Texas)
• Live Stats | Live Internet Radio Coverage: SFA VolleyBlog
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin women's volleyball team is set for a two-match road trip this week as they hope to continue their furious start to Southland Conference play. The Ladyjacks will first square off against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m., and then travel to Houston for a contest with Houston Baptist on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
SFA is a perfect 4-0 in the SLC over the first two weeks of action, sweeping Nicholls State and McNeese State on the road in week one, and defeating Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian in straight sets at Shelton Gym last week. The Ladyjacks haven't yet dropped a set in the SLC - the only team in the conference that can boast the achievement. The 12-0 unbeaten set streak for SFA to start SLC play marks the longest for the program since 2007. The 2007 squad finished the year with a 15-1 record in the Southland.
The Ladyjacks are now 11-7 overall, and have won nine of their last 11 matches dating back to Sept. 10.
NOTES:
• SFA vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - Thursday evening's match between SFA and Corpus Christi will be the 15th meeting between the two schools, with the Ladyjacks holding a 10-4 advantage in the series. The Islanders got the best of the Ladyjacks last season, winning 3-1 (20-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-14) on Oct. 17 in Corpus Christi.
• Scouting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - The Islanders enter Thursday's match with a 2-1 SLC record and a 9-11 mark overall on the season. Corpus Christi fell in five sets to Southeastern Louisiana to open up conference play before beating New Orleans (3-0) and Houston Baptist (3-1) over the last two weeks. AMCC also defeated Southland opponents Incarnate Word (3-1) and Abilene Christian (3-0) in non-conference action earlier in the season. The Islanders and the Ladyjacks have also each faced Texas-Pan American and Rice this year with similar results. AMCC beat UTPA 3-1 and 3-0 while losing to Rice 3-0, and SFA beat UTPA 3-1 while falling to Rice 3-1.
The Islanders are led offensively by senior Brianna Brink, who has 261 kills over 78 sets with a .212 attack percentage this year. Freshman Kristyn Nicholson distributes the attack and has compiled 596 assists through 67 sets. Defensively, Corpus Christi has three players with more than 200 digs with junior Hailey King pacing the group, posting 300 digs in 75 sets played. AMCC was picked to finish third out of 13 teams in the conference according to both the preseason coaches and SID polls.
• SFA vs. Houston Baptist - The Ladyjacks and the Huskies are deadlocked at 3-3 in the all-time series heading into Saturday afternoon's match, although SFA hasn't defeated HBU since 1988. The Ladyjacks swept the Huskies three times that year and the teams waited 23 years before resuming the series in 2011. HBU has since won three straight, including a five-set comeback victory (21-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-4) last year on Oct. 19 in Houston.
• Scouting Houston Baptist - The Huskies, who are currently 7-10 overall, 2-1 in the SLC, host Northwestern State on Thursday before getting SFA on Saturday. HBU swept New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana to begin conference action before losing to Corpus Christi 3-1 on the road last Saturday. The only common opponent in the non-conference schedule for SFA and HBU was Texas Southern - a team both programs beat 3-0.
The Houston Baptist offense is led by a pair of sophomores: Jessica Wooten paces the attack with 209 kills on .201 hitting and Kayla Armer has posted a team-high 610 assists through 17 matches. Armer currently ranks first in the SLC with 12.20 assists per set in conference matches. On the other side of the ball, the Huskies have a pretty balanced receiving game with five players having at least 100 digs to their name in 2014. Senior Haley Hoffman has a team-high 240 digs and junior Allison Doerpinghaus is the HBU presence at the net with 67 total blocks. The Huskies were tabbed 6th of 13 teams in the Southland in both the preseason coaches and SID polls this year.
• Up Next - SFA will return to Shelton Gym next week to start a six-match home stretch, beginning with Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday and New Orleans on Saturday. The Ladyjacks will host three more conference matches the following week from Oct. 21-25 before wrapping up the home SLC schedule against Central Arkansas on Saturday, Nov. 1.
• Efficient Attack - The Ladyjacks are coming off their best week offensively after 3-0 sweeps of Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian. The squad posted a hitting percentage of .333 and committed just 21 attack errors over the two matches - the best in both categories for SFA during any two-match stretch this season. Outside hitter Jill Ivy grounded a match-high 18 kills and middle blocker Jacque Allen chipped in 10 kills on .643 hitting against ACU on Saturday to lead SFA. The Ladyjacks rank first in the SLC in hitting percentage (.288) and kills per set (15.00) over the first two weeks of conference play.
• 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 (341) and ranks third in digs per set (5.33) 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.
• Helping Hand - The Ladyjacks rank first in the Southland Conference with 12.44 assists per set over the team's first 64 sets in 2014. Senior Paige Holland is a big reason why. The setter, who currently ranks fifth on SFA's all-time career assists list with 3,944 distributions, has recorded 553 assists so far this year.
• All-Tournament Team for Ivy - 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 225 through 18 matches this season to bring her career total to 1,206. She currently needs 50 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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