Stephen F. Austin
University of the Incarnate Word
SFA Collides with Incarnate Word Thursday Night in the Alamo City
10/11/2017 4:37:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SFA has won three of four all-time meetings against Incarnate Word in San Antonio
Stephen F. Austin (16-5, 4-1 Southland) at Incarnate Word (3-11, 2-5 Southland)
Thursday, Oct. 12 | 7:00 p.m. | McDermott Convocation Center (2,000) | San Antonio, Texas
Live Stats | Listen (SFAVolleyblog.net) | SFA Match Notes
• After starting a three-match Southland Conference road trip with its first true road win since September 2, the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team will attempt to move to 2-1 in league road matches when the Ladyjacks match up with Incarnate Word for the eighth time in program history Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. inside the McDermott Convocation Center.
• Junior outside hitter Haley Coleman needs to accumulate only 17 more kills to reach 500 for her collegiate career. Her current total of 483 is the highest among the Ladyjacks' ranks and currently she's the only member of the team to have 200 or more kills to her credit in 2017. She is one of nine Southland Conference players who have racked up 200 or more terminations thus far in 2017 and has pounded down 13 or more in three of her last four outings.
• Heading into Thursday night's match, the Ladyjacks are 4-1 in Southland Conference play and sit in fourth place in the league standings. SFA is one of three teams in the 13-team league with just one loss in conference play and trails first-place Sam Houston State (6-0 Southland), second-place Houston Baptist (6-1 Southland) and third-place Central Arkansas (5-1 Southland).
• After posting a 2-0 record last week, SFA's RPI rose seven spots, putting the Ladyjacks 89th nationally. As of Monday's rankings, the Ladyjacks' RPI ranks above current top-100 RPI power five institutions such as Kansas State (93rd), Texas Tech (96th) Georgia Tech (98th) and Arizona (99th).
• The Ladyjacks continue to lead the Southland Conference in overall hitting percentage with a mark of .253 that ranks 42nd among all NCAA Division I volleyball teams. In Southland Conference tilts, SFA is hitting .296 which is the best figure in the 13-team league.
• SFA is one of six Southland Conference teams who have collected 100 or more service aces so far in 2017. The Ladyjacks' 112 total aces are the second-highest total in the league and are the 26th-most by any NCAA Division I volleyball team this season.
• Those who unable to make the trip to the Alamo City to witness the match between SFA and Incarnate Word can follow along with live stats of the match as well as Greg Miller's high-spirited play-by-play on SFAVolleyblog.net.
SCOUTING INCARNATE WORD | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Record vs. Incarnate Word | 5-2
• In Nacogdoches, Texas | 2-1
• In San Antonio, Texas | 3-1
• At neutral sites | 0-0
• Humphreys vs. Incarnate Word | 5-2
• Since beginning their 2017 season with a five-set triumph over Quinnipiac in Pullman, Wash., the Cardinals have gone 2-11. Incarnate Word's two other victories this season have come against Southland Conference foes from the state of Louisiana in Southeastern Louisiana and Nicholls.
• Incarnate Word has not won a match or a set in the month of October and returns to its home court at McDermott Convocation Center looking to pick up its third-ever victory over SFA. Last week, the Cardinals fell 3-0 to both Northwestern State and Central Arkansas in road matches.
• Offensively it's junior Autumn Lockley who leads Incarnate Word into battle. In her first season as an upperclassman, Lockley is tops among the Cardinals' ranks in both total kills (148) and kills per set (2.90). The only other member of Incarnate Word's team who is averaging greater than two kills per set is sophomore Cameron Edwards. One of three players with 100 or more kills on the Cardinals' roster, Edwards is putting down 2.27 terminations per frame on the strength of a .177 attack percentage.
• Patrolling the middle for the Cardinals are a pair of formidable seniors who comprise one of the Southland's most effective blocking fronts. The only two players on the team who have blocked 40 or more balls, Sarea Alexander (0.84 blocks per set) and Bryaunea Hall (0.78 blocks per set) have racked up exactly half of the Cardinals' 108 team blocks. Both are effective offensively as well as Hall has totaled 105 kills (1.91 per set) while Alexander's total stands at 90 (1.64 per set). In terms of attack percentage, Alexander's mark of .297 leads the team and ranks eighth in the Southland Conference.
• Announcing her candidacy for Southland Conference Freshman of the Year with a strong back-row defensive effort is Madelynn Miller. The first-year player has posted double-digit digs in all but two of the Cardinals' 14 matches and has racked up a team-best 249 scoops through 55 sets played. Her digs per set average of 4.53 ranks second among all Southland Conference players and on offense her 19 service aces represent a team-high.
LAST TIME OUT
• For the third time in 2017, three Ladyjacks registered 10 or more kills and SFA withstood a mid-match push from Lamar to lay claim to a 3-1 triumph over the Cardinals in Beaumont last Saturday afternoon.
• Haley Coleman, Corin Evans and freshman Anyia Williams each put down 14 kills for the Ladyjacks who racked up 61 terminations less than three days after accumulating a season-low 28 in a 3-0 Southland Conference victory over New Orleans.
• Williams, who received her first collegiate start, attacked at a team and match-leading rate of .464 in the victory. She committed just one error on 28 swings and also led the team with a season-best five block assists.
• In addition to her team-high 14 kills, Coleman completed her team-leading seventh double-double of the season by scooping up 17 digs. The junior was one of two Ladyjacks who finished the four-set match with double-digit digs with senior libero Lexus Cain being the other. Cain dove for a season-high 25 digs in the win, which was her sixth effort of 20 or more digs in 2017 in addition to being an SFA single-match high in that category this season.
• Saturday's match marked only the second time in 2017 that SFA did not generate more service aces than its opponent. The Ladyjacks are 1-1 this season when finishing a match with fewer service winners than their opponents.
CAIN CLIMBS THE CHARTS
• With 20 more digs, senior libero Lexus Cain will move up to ninth all-time in program history in terms of total digs. The Amarillo, Texas, native currently has 1,408 and once she gets those 20 she will move past four-year letterwinner Krisna Johnson.
• Currently, Cain's career digs per set average of 3.39 ranks as the sixth-highest all-time in SFA's record book.
COMING UP NEXT
• The final stop on the Ladyjacks' three-match Southland Conference road trip is Corpus Christi, Texas, on Saturday afternoon. There, SFA will match up with two-time defending Southland Conference champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 1:00 p.m. inside the Dugan Wellness Center.
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