Stephen F. Austin
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Ivy Propels SFA Over Corpus Christi
10/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Senior Jill Ivy posted a monster double-double and the Stephen F. Austin women's volleyball team earned another big Southland Conference victory, beating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-18) on Thursday night at Dugan Wellness Center. The Ladyjacks (12-7, 5-0 SLC) are 10-2 over their last 12 matches dating back to Sept. 10.
SFA's 5-0 start to conference play is the best start for the program since 2008.
"The most exciting thing to me was that we really weren't clicking on all cylinders tonight but we still found a way to win," said head coach Debbie Humphreys. "That's important. If you're a good team, you find a way to win even when some things aren't going well for you."
One thing that went very well for the Ladyjacks was the play of Ivy as she turned in big numbers on both sides of the ball on Thursday night. The Katy, Texas native posted 20 kills while swinging .486 in the attack and recorded a career-high 17 digs for SFA. Ivy has 38 digs total over the team's last three matches.
Senior Paige Holland played a big role in Ivy's efficiency, dishing out 54 assists on the night. The setter led the Ladyjacks to a .331 team attack percentage and came one dig away from a double-double of her own.
Junior Tori Bates floored 14 kills for SFA without committing an error in the match and finished with a .538 hitting percentage. Sophomore Justice Walker chipped in 10 kills for the Ladyjacks.
Defensively, juniors Madison Martin and OJ Olson joined Ivy with double-figure digs, totaling 15 and 18, respectively. The trio helped limit the Islanders (9-12, 2-2 SLC) to a .222 attack percentage.
SFA found itself in an early hole in set one at 9-5, forcing a Humphreys timeout. The Ladyjacks would come alive however, with a spark from their senior setter. Holland dumped in a kill to get the ball back in SFA hands and then helped her team rattle off six straight points while at the service line. The 7-0 run gave the Ladyjacks a 13-11 lead, but the Islanders were too much down the stretch in a 25-22 AMCC set one victory.
The first set loss for SFA was the first dropped set in 2014 Southland Conference play - the longest unbeaten streak to start a conference season since the Ladyjacks won 18 straight sets in 2007. That team finished 15-1 in the SLC regular season.
SFA would rebound in a big way after the opening set loss, winning the next three sets to claim the 3-1 victory.
The Ladyjacks clung to a small lead for most of the first half of set two and won the race to 15 (15-12) on a Corpus Christi service error. Bates helped SFA extend its advantage to 17-13 with back-to-back kills, forcing an AMCC timeout.
SFA fended off a late Corpus Christi rally and took set two 25-19 with an Ivy kill on set point. At the break, Ivy had 10 kills and Bates had seven to pace the attack. The duo committed just one error combined and hit at a .457 clip over the first two periods.
The Ladyjacks grabbed their first lead of the third set at 7-6 and, despite a very tight battle, never trailed from there on the way to a 25-22 win. The teams came even at 12-12, 15-15 and 16-16 but SFA finally separated at the end and finished the set on another Ivy winner.
In the fourth frame, SFA built a 15-9 lead and faced little pressure the rest of the way to a 25-18 win. Junior Jacque Allen, along with Holland and junior Keeley Kainer, notched two big blocks down the stretch for the Ladyjacks to close out the four-set win.
Allen finished with seven rejections to lead the SFA block.
Up next, the Ladyjacks will head to Houston on Saturday for a match with Houston Baptist at 1:00 p.m. in Sharp Gym. SFA will then return home for a stretch of six straight matches inside Shelton Gym from Oct. 16 - Nov. 1, starting with Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
-SFA-
