Stephen F. Austin
UNC Greensboro
SFA Splits on Final Day of Baylor Classic
9/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Rice 3, SFA 0
Ferrell Center – Waco, Texas
Records: SFA (6-8); Rice (10-3)
SFA 3, UNC Greensboro 0
Ferrell Center – Waco, Texas
Records: SFA (7-8); UNC Greensboro (10-5)
Up Next: vs. Nicholls State – Thursday, Sept. 24 – 6:30 p.m.
WACO, Texas – Following a pair of hard-fought setbacks to open its slate at the Baylor Classic, the Stephen F. Austin women’s volleyball team worked its way back into the win column with a three-set triumph over UNC Greensboro as part of a 1-1 showing at the Ferrell Center on Saturday afternoon.
“One of our goals at the beginning of the season was to be at .500 before our conference matches started and right now we’re one game under that,” said head coach Debbie Humphreys. “We wanted our non-conference schedule to be challenging and to use it as a good test before beginning Southland Conference play.”
MATCH ONE: Rice 3, SFA 0 (18-25, 14-25, 18-25)
SFA found itself at a disadvantage when trading blows with the multi-pronged attack plan of the Owls as the Ladyjacks conjured up a hitting percentage of just .114 compared to the figure of .347 laid down by Rice.
Another slow start slowed down SFA considerably through the course of the opening frame. The Owls raced out to a 7-1 edge in the first stanza and even though Justice Walker and Shannon Connell kills bookended a 3-0 spurt by SFA, the Ladyjacks could only manage to pull within three points of the Owls during the set.
Finding open pieces of real estate on the floor of the Ferrell Center proved to be a difficult task for SFA who racked up only six kills on 25 attempts with five errors (.040) in the first set. Those troubles weren’t in play for the Owls, as the Conference-USA squad smashed down kills at a rate of .310.
Consecutive terminations from Tori Bates and Jordan McArdle allowed SFA to leap ahead for the first time in the match, and the Ladyjacks edge ballooned to as many as two (3-1) before the Owls turned the tables with a 6-0 scoring barrage.
Portia Okafor was the main culprit, flooring three of her match-high nine kills during that span, but a trio of Owls would strike for kills during that stretch.
A Rice service error helped SFA shrink its disadvantage on the scoreboard to five, 15-10, but the Owls ended the set with a 10-4 scoring spree to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Armed with the intention to force extra sets, the Ladyjacks swapped points with the Owls in the early stages of the deciding frame, but Rice wrested control of the set away from SFA for good by employing a 10-0 run to open up a 13-4 lead.
Jacque Allen registered four kills and added four block assists for SFA while McArdle swung down on a team-best five terminations. OJ Olson gathered up a match-high 16 digs while Connell passed out a team-best 11 assists.
Okafor led the Owls’ charge on offense by swinging at an impressive clip of .818. She was one of four Rice players who registered seven or more kills.
MATCH TWO: SFA 3, UNC Greensboro 0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-16)
A cleaner style of play – coupled with some high-efficiency offense – helped the Ladyjacks wrap up the Baylor Classic on a winning note with a straight-set victory over the Spartans.
Paced by 11 kills from Abby McIntyre and another 10 from Jacque Allen, the Ladyjacks hit .333 in the match and only allowed UNC Greensboro to attain the lead on one occasion.
“We played much better in this match than we’ve been playing as of late,” Humphreys said. “This team turned the corner today and got a good base to work from when our conference schedule starts this week.”
McArdle and Walker teamed up for a block which put SFA ahead 24-18 in the opening set, but the Spartans had machinations of pushing things to extra points. Ashley Muench floored a trio of kills and Jessica Brezwyn added a termination as well as a service ace to make matters 24-23, but Walker put the Ladyjacks ahead 1-0 with a set-clinching kill.
SFA showed off their most effective offensive set of the weekend during the second frame. The squad slammed down 12 kills on 24 attempts while committing just two errors for an attack percentage of .417. The Ladyjacks defense stepped up, too, limiting the Spartans to an attacking clip of .152.
Knotted at three points with the Spartans in the deciding frame, SFA received a pair of service aces from McIntyre as part of a 5-0 run which allowed them to take control for good. The Ladyjacks’ lead rose to as many as nine points and capped their win with a 5-2 match-ending surge.
Connell finished up with a team-high 31 assists and served as the primary set-up woman on the offensive end. Olson totaled another 15 digs to bring her 2015 total to 256 – the second-highest mark among all Southland Conference student-athletes.
Following an absence of nearly three weeks, SFA will make a return trip to Shelton Gym on Thursday, Sept. 24, to begin Southland Conference play. The Ladyjacks will begin their league slate with a 6:30 p.m., tussle against Nicholls.
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