SFA Heads East for Saturday Showdown with UCA
10/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Stephen F. Austin (17-11, 8-3 Southland) at Central Arkansas (13-10, 9-2 Southland)
Saturday, Oct. 31 • Noon
Prince Center • Conway, Ark.
Live Stats • Live Video
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Armed with a four-match winning streak and hitting its stride at an critical juncture, the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team will pack its bags and set off on a five-hour odyssey to Conway, Ark., where Central Arkansas – the second-place team in the Southland Conference – stands to oppose them.
Although there are still over two weeks remaining in the regular season, SFA could move up in the standings headed into its final four league bouts of the season with a win over the Sugar Bears in the Prince Center. Currently one game ahead of the Ladyjacks for second-place in the league standings, an SFA victory would allow the Ladyjacks to overtake their rivals.
SFA vs. Central Arkansas: No other Southland Conference team has managed to do what Central Arkansas has accomplished when facing the Ladyjacks and that’s post a winning record against SFA. In 15 all-time meetings with the Sugar Bears – all of which have come since 2006 - SFA’s mark stands at 4-11. Last season, SFA put the kibosh on its 11-match losing skid against UCA by handing a Sugar Bears a 3-0 loss on Shelton Gym. Facing Central Arkansas in Conway has proven to be an equally difficult task for SFA as its record against the Sugar Bears in the Prince Center is 2-5.
Scouting Central Arkansas: Since the season began, senior outside hitter Heather Schnars has been on a mission to secure her second-straight Southland Conference Player of the Year honor and that has yielded another batch of positive results for the Sugar Bears. The numbers racked up by the Californian are unquestionably impressive – her 4.17 kills per set and 0.61 service aces per frame are both tops in the 13-team Southland Conference and rank 33rd and third among all other NCAA Division I volleyball players. Jeni Jones – who is in the midst of her first season as a head volleyball coach at any level – has harnessed Schnars’ power as well as that of middle blocker Megan Nash to make her head coaching debut a successful one. Hailing from the USA’s neighbor to the north, Nash is the SLC’s leader and the 42nd-best player in the nation in terms of blocks per set (1.27). A potent offensive force, too, Nash averages 2.20 kills per set and another middle blocker – freshman Samantha Anderson – has presented problems for the opposition by averaging 2.15 kills and 1.00 blocks per frame. One of the best home-court advantages in the league is another card the Sugar Bears have up their sleeves. Twelve of the last 13 matches UCA has taken part in have resulted in wins for the Sugar Bears who are 8-1 on their home floor with five of those triumphs coming by a score of 3-0. In fact, UCA hasn’t dropped a set in its last four matches and owns a record of 7-1 in the month of October.
Central Arkansas in the Southland: Below is how the Sugar Bears rank statistically in various categories among the 13-team conference:
All Matches
Hitting Percentage - .213 (3rd)
Opponent Hitting Percentage - .172 (2nd)
Assists – 11.08 (11th)
Kills/Set – 12.12 (8th)
Blocks/Set – 2.45 (1st)
Service Aces/Set – 1.64 (3rd)
Digs/Set – 12.64 (13th)
Conference Matches Only
Hitting Percentage – .260 (1st)
Opponent Hitting Percentage – .121 (1st)
Assists – 11.84 (7th)
Kills/Set – 13.19 (3rd)
Blocks/Set – 2.68 (1st)
Service Aces/Set – 1.38 (4th)
Digs/Set – 13.97 (10th)
Humphreys on Central Arkansas: “We know Central Arkansas is a very good team. They have a great player in [senior outside hitter Heather] Schnars and she’s surrounded by a good supporting cast. They also had a new coach come in this year, so it has taken them a little while to figure out their identity. They’ve improved tremendously since the start of the season and right now they’re doing some great things on both sides of the net. We know it’s going to be a battle of two very good, aggressive teams, but we have to go in there and be the ones that are more aggressive. We can’t just sit back and worry about defending them all match. We have to go on the attack as well and make them worry about defending us. Our kids’ heads are in the right place and we know it’s going to be a hard-fought match.
Last Time Out: Senior libero waited until she was back in front of a pro-Ladyjack congregation before etching her name into another area of SFA’s volleyball history books. With her first dig in SFA’s 3-0 non-conference victory over Grambling State on Wednesday evening, the Cedar Park, Texas, product became just the third player in program history to total 2,000 digs in a career. Not just buoyed by Olson’s history-making performance, SFA received yet another strong outing from freshman Makenzee Hanna who slapped down 13 kills on the strength of a .524 attack percentage. Also helping SFA run its win streak to four matches was an 11-service ace performance by the hosts.
Freshman Force: Needing to pack a more powerful punch from the outside hitter position, the Ladyjacks turned to true freshman Makenzee Hanna and in the five matches since doing they SFA hasn’t been disappointed. A 6-0 product of DeSoto, Texas, Hanna forced herself to the forefront of SFA’s attack plan and has registered at least 10 kills while hitting .300 or above in the last five matches for the Ladyjacks. Through SFA’s last five bouts, Hanna is averaging 12.4 kills, 5.8 digs, 2.4 blocks and 1.8 service aces per match while boasting an attack percentage of .364.
Block Party: One of the major components of the Ladyjacks’ four-match winning streak has been their strong defensive play in the front row. Over their last four matches, SFA has out-blocked the opposition 39-16.5 which works out to an average of 9.75 rejections per match during that span.
Middle Ground: It’s no secret that the Ladyjacks will work the ball to their middles, but despite that piece of public knowledge, senior Jacque Allen and junior Justice Walker haven’t seen many opponents who can slow them down. Between the two of them, one-fifth of the top 10 hitters in the Southland Conference are represented as Allen ranks sixth in the league with an attack percentage of .317. Walker isn’t far behind as she sits in eighth with a hitting percentage of .305. Both have eclipsed 250 kills and Walker leads SFA with an average of 2.65 per set. In terms of blocking, Allen owns the fifth-best blocks per set average (1.03) in the 13-team league and her 105 total rejections are the 33rd-most among all NCAA Division I volleyball players. On SFA’s all-time career blocks charts, Allen ranks second in solo rejections (84), ninth in block assists (333) and sixth in total blocks (417).
The 600 Club: The architect of the Ladyjacks’ success, Debbie Humphreys is in the midst of her 28th season as SFA’s head coach and earlier in 2015 she reached a coaching benchmark that few in the NCAA can claim to have laid claim to. With a 3-0 triumph over Columbia in Shelton Gym on Saturday, Sept. 5, Humphreys secured her 600th career coaching victory. Currently, Humphreys is the 16th-winningiest active coach at the NCAA Division I level with a record of 613-314 (.661).
Stacking Up in the Southland: Below is how the Ladyjacks rank statistically in various categories among the 13-team conference:
All Matches
Hitting Percentage - .210 (5th)
Opponent Hitting Percentage - .193 (5th)
Assists – 11.52 (5th)
Kills/Set – 12.19 (5th)
Blocks/Set – 2.08 (4th)
Service Aces/Set – 1.09 (11th)
Digs/Set – 16.17 (2nd)
Conference Matches Only
Hitting Percentage – .215 (5th)
Opponent Hitting Percentage – .203 (8th)
Assists – 11.76 (9th)
Kills/Set – 12.42 (9th)
Blocks/Set – 2.51 (3rd)
Service Aces/Set – 0.84 (12th)
Digs/Set – 16.20 (4th)
Looking Ahead: Heading into the final two weeks of 2015 Southland Conference play, the schedule has shaken out in SFA’s favor as the Ladyjacks will play their final four league tilts in Shelton Gym. Next Thursday, SFA shoots for a season sweep of Lamar when the Cardinals soar into Nacogdoches for a 6:30 p.m. altercation. The Ladyjacks close out their two-match week by welcoming Northwestern State onto their home floor for a 2:00 p.m. showdown on Saturday, Nov. 7.
-SFA-
