Stephen F. Austin
23-5, 11-1SLC
Southeastern Louisiana University
2-24, 0-12SLC
Hanna Leads Ladyjacks in 3-0 Victory at Southeastern Louisiana
10/28/2017 3:51:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Junior hits .706 and tallies 12 kills as SFA maintains top spot in Southland standings
HAMMOND, La. - Fueled by a 12-kill, six-block performance by junior outside hitter Makenzee Hanna, the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team stretched its winning streak to nine matches and remained in first place in the Southland Conference by battering Southeastern Louisiana 3-0 (25-14, 25-11, 25-18) at the University Center on Saturday afternoon.
Not only did SFA maintain its place atop the Southland Conference standings, it was strengthened slightly thanks to a four-set win by Central Arkansas over Sam Houston State in Conway, Ark., earlier in the afternoon. Now the Ladyjacks' lead in the league standings is one full game over Central Arkansas who took over second place with its win over the Bearkats.
Hanna's kill total - made possible by an impressive .706 attack percentage - equaled exactly half of Southeastern Louisiana's as the Lady Lions accumulated just 24 terminations. Getting kills was a difficult task to accomplish against an SFA defense which sprung for 11 blocks in the front row and received 21 of its 58 digs from senior libero Lexus Cain.
With that performance, Cain became only the seventh player in program history to reach the 1,500-dig mark. Currently the Amarillo, Texas, product has 1,514 scoops throughout her career.
Due to Hanna's high attack percentage, the Ladyjacks' team mark settled at .350 in the match compared to a figure of .067 by Southeastern Louisiana. Danae Daron and Corin Evans each hit above .300 and delivered nine kills while Evans and Peyton Redmond added two service aces each.
The only lead Southeastern Louisiana enjoyed came in the opening frame in which the Lady Lions netted three of the first four points of the match. The hosts remained in front after a bad set by SFA made matters 6-5, but Evans started the Ladyjacks comeback with a kill which represented the first point of a 3-0 Ladyjack run.
After Hanna capped the surge with another termination, Southeastern Louisiana never led again. Right after the hosts posted their second block of the set to tie things at 9-9, Daron started a 7-0 SFA run with a kill. It was one of three terminations by three different SFA players, the last of which came from Peyton Redmond and gave the visitors a 16-9 edge.
Three of SFA's seven service aces came in the opening set, the last of which came from Redmond and gave SFA a 22-12 advantage.
SFA carried its hot hitting into the middle frame as Hanna sandwiched a pair of kills around an ace from Evans to put the visitors up 3-0 early.
Southeastern Louisiana battled back and pulled even when Grayce Bateman's kill brought the score to 7-7, but the Ladyjacks' answer came in the form of a 6-0 run in which three players slammed down kills.
A separate 5-0 run later in the frame upped the visitors already substantial lead to 12, 22-10, before a Southeastern Louisiana error, an ace from Redmond and a kill from Anyia Williams closed out the set and put the Ladyjacks ahead 2-0.
The third and final frame saw the Ladyjacks win 13 of the first 20 points before the visitors were forced to weather a brief scoring run by Southeastern Louisiana. Jodi Edo punched down a pair of kills during a stretch in which the hosts tallied three straight points to cut SFA's edge to 13-10.
Out of an SFA timeout, the Ladyjacks took off on a 10-2 run which was aided by four unforced errors by the hosts. Southeastern Louisiana staved off three set point tries by the Ladyjacks before Hanna's final kill of the night locked up SFA's 11th 3-0 victory of 2017.
Savannah Alcazar provided a team-best six kills for Southeastern Louisiana to go along with a service ace - the only one the Lady Lions tallied. Lexie Torres scooped up 12 of the hosts' 46 digs in the setback.
Up next for the Ladyjacks is a Halloween night showdown in Shelton Gym with two-time defending Southland Conference champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. First serve in SFA's second-to-last home match of the season has been set for 6:30 p.m.
-SFA-
