Stephen F. Austin
Nicholls
Ladyjacks' Homecoming Week Wraps Up Saturday as Nicholls Enters Shelton Gym
10/20/2017 11:21:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
SFA has won nine of last 10 meetings with Nicholls
Stephen F. Austin (20-5, 8-1 Southland) vs. Nicholls (4-19, 2-8 Southland)
Saturday, Oct. 21 | Noon | Shelton Gym (600) | Nacogdoches, Texas
Live Stats | Watch (Facebook Live) | SFA Match Notes
• The culmination of Stephen F. Austin's homecoming week occurs Saturday as does the last of the Ladyjacks' three home matches of the week when Southland Conference adversary Nicholls pays a visit to Shelton Gym for a league matchup at noon.
• After running their winning streak to six in a row following the events of Thursday evening, SFA managed to keep pace with league-leading Sam Houston State who got past Incarnate Word in four sets that same evening. At 8-1 in Southland Conference play, the Ladyjacks sit just a half game behind the Bearkats who have won each of their first eight league tilts.
• SFA remains the best attacking team in the Southland Conference, owning a .260 team hitting percentage. In Southland Conference matches, the Ladyjacks' team attack percentage of .296 also leads the 13-team league and individually SFA possesses the top two attackers in all matches and in league matches as well. Junior Makenzee Hanna is hitting .340 - a shade ahead of Kaitlyn Grice of New Orleans who is attacking at a .339 clip - to lead the Southland. Freshman Anyia Williams has stepped to the forefront in Southland Conference matches and has posted a league-best attack percentage of .505 - over 13 percentage points higher than the next closest player - in league contests.
• Balance has been the name of the game for the Ladyjacks since the season began and that pattern continues to hold true. SFA does not boast a single player in the league's top ten in kills per game, assists per game or points per game but ranks among the top 15 among all NCAA Division I volleyball teams in terms of assists (15th, 1,085), digs (12th, 1,489), service aces (12th, 136) and kills (10th, 1,177).
LAST TIME OUT
• SFA became the first Southland Conference team - and just the sixth NCAA Division I volleyball team in 2017 - to arrive at the 20-win plateau by getting double-digit kill performances from four players to turn back a feisty McNeese squad in four sets Thursday evening inside Shelton Gym.
• Junior Haley Coleman led the way offensively, putting down a team-best 14 kills and adding a team-high 19 digs. Those 19 digs represented a season high for Coleman and her 14 kills represented the 13th time in 2017 that she put down double-digit terminations in a match.
• Locking down all the open real estate on the Ladyjacks' back row, Lexus Cain amassed 19 digs as well and scaled a rung on the Ladyjacks' all-time digs chart in the process. The Amarillo, Texas, product pass Jenny Orndorff for eighth all-time on SFA's career digs list and now has 1,463 for her career.
• In order to finish off the Cowgirls, the Ladyjacks employed an 11.5-9 advantage in blocks. Five of those blocks - a career-high - came courtesy of sophomore Xariah Williams while another five were credited to Anyia Williams.
• Included in that group of four players with 10 or more kills was Corin Evans who finished with 12. It was her first match of 10 or more kills since she put down 14 at Lamar on Oct. 7 and the Katy, Texas, product finished up her double-double bid by generating 14 digs.
• For the fifth-straight match, freshman Anyia Williams led the Ladyjacks in attack percentage. The first-year player generated 10 terminations - her fourth outing of 10 or more kills in the last five matches - while hitting .333.
SCOUTING NICHOLLS | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Record vs. Nicholls | 43-6
• In Nacogdoches, Texas | 22-2
• In Thibodaux, La. | 15-3
• At neutral sites | 6-1
• Humphreys vs. Nicholls | 42-5
• Picking up their first road win in over one year with a 3-1 victory over Lamar Thursday evening in Beaumont, the Colonels roll into Nacogdoches with their sights set on winning back-to-back Southland Conference matches for the first time since October of 2016. Prior to their win over the Cardinals, the Colonels had been 0-10 in true road matches during the 2017 campaign.
• At 4-19 and 2-8 in Southland Conference play, the only two teams are sit lower in the league standings than Nicholls are Lamar and Southeastern Louisiana.
• A trio of Colonels - led by Imanie WIlliams - pound down kills at a rate greater than two per set. Williams leads the squad with 2.42 terminations per frame while Stephanie Tobison ranks first on the squad in terms of overall terminations (184, 2.33 per set). Brieanna Hill rounds out the Colonels' main triumvirate of attackers by averaging 2.04 kills per set.
• One of the five Nicholls players who have 100 or more kills to their credit this season, Emily Weimer chips in 1.79 kills per frame and boasts the squad's best attack percentage at .263. No other Colonel regular attacks at a rate higher than .148.
• Distributing the offense falls on the shoulders of Jade Piper who has also made a name for herself as one of the best servers in the Southland. Piper dishes out a team-best 7.49 assists per set and is tops on the team with 24 service aces.
• The other Nicholls player with 20 or more service aces is Emily Venable who has accumulated 23 of them through the Colonels' 23 matches. She represents the Colonels' top back-row defender as well, digging up 4.04 balls per set which is the eighth-highest average in the Southland Conference.
• In terms of blocking, the Colonels' total of 104 in 2017 is the lowest of the 13 Southland Conference squads. Leading the was for Nicholls is Sydney Lerille who averages 0.53 blocks per frame.
• In terms of mileage, there is not a longer Southland Conference road trip than the one SFA is poised to go on next week. The Ladyjacks embark on a trek of some 373 miles for a Thursday evening meeting with New Orleans inside the Human Performance Center. First serve in the Big Easy is set for 6:30 p.m.
-SFA-
