Stephen F. Austin
McNeese State
SFA Tops McNeese State in Straight Sets
9/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Stephen F. Austin women’s volleyball team made quick work of McNeese State on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Cowgirls in straight sets (25-12, 25-21, 25-20) in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The win gives the Ladyjacks a 2-0 start in the Southland Conference for the third consecutive year. SFA has won seven of their last nine matches.
“I thought we played really well today,” said head coach Debbie Humphreys. “We were focused and played very aggressively. All around it was just a solid performance by everyone in every aspect of our game and that’s what we need to keep doing. We’ve seen a lot more consistency night-in and night-out, which is what you want when conference time rolls around.”
Senior Jill Ivy powered the SFA offense with her 13th double-digit kill performance of the season, putting down a match-high 16 kills. She committed just one error on 37 attacks for an efficient .405 hitting percentage.
The Ladyjack defense, led by juniors OJ Olson and Madison Martin, kept the Cowgirls off balance for the entire match. SFA (9-7, 2-0 SLC) limited McNeese State (9-7, 0-2) to a .134 attack percentage compared to the Ladyjacks’ mark of .276. Olson had 19 digs while Martin recorded 14 for SFA.
Junior Jacque Allen was a huge factor at the net once again for the Ladyjacks. She had a hand in six rejections to help SFA out-block McNeese nine to three.
Senior Paige Holland flirted with a triple-double, playing a huge role in multiple aspects of the match. The Magnolia, Texas native tallied 35 assists, dumped in seven kills and posted eight digs for SFA. She also had two block assists to contribute to her balanced stat line.
Holding a slim 6-5 advantage in set one, SFA used a 6-0 streak, led by two kills from Holland and a service ace by junior Tori Bates to pull away with the lead, 12-5. The Ladyjacks won the race to 15 when Ivy pounded one to the floor to make it 15-9. The Ivy kill was just one of five for the outside hitter in the set.
SFA experienced little resistance the rest of the way. Holland’s third kill of the frame, a slick dump shot on two, and a Justice Walker winner capped a 25-12 set one victory for the Ladyjacks.
SFA posted a robust .387 attack percentage in the set while limiting McNeese State to a .083 mark.
Unlike the opening set, in which the Ladyjacks never trailed, the second set was tight throughout. The Cowgirls used a 4-0 spurt to take their first lead of the match at 11-9, but SFA quickly regained control. Two Cowgirl attack errors and an Allen kill gave SFA the 15-13 lead – a lead that was never relinquished.
Ivy closed out the set with back-to-back kills, giving the Ladyjacks the 25-21 win in set two and a 2-0 advantage heading into the break.
SFA jumped ahead early in the third set and led by as many as nine en route to a 25-20 victory. The Ladyjacks were up 19-10 when the Cowgirls made a late push. Despite cutting the SFA lead to 23-20, the comeback fell short and a Bates service ace closed the set and gave SFA the 3-0 sweep – its second in three days.
Bates had another nice afternoon for the Ladyjacks, contributing eight kills, eight digs and two aces in the match.
SFA will return home to Shelton Gym on Thursday, Oct. 2 for their SLC home opener against Incarnate Word. The match is set to start at 6:30 p.m.
-SFA-
