Stephen F. Austin
15-5, 3-1Southland
New Orleans
7-10, 1-4Southland
SFA Handles Error-Prone New Orleans in Three Sets
10/4/2017 9:20:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
No Ladyjack goes over seven kills but Privateers commit 28 unforced errors to help SFA win
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Now in its fifth year as a part of the Southland Conference, the University of New Orleans volleyball team still has yet to win a league match in the state of Texas. The Stephen F. Austin volleyball team made sure to extend that ignominious streak inside Shelton Gym Wednesday evening.
Monstrous offensive numbers were hardly necessary for the Ladyjacks as they received 28 points via unforced errors from the Privateers in order to secure a 3-0 victory over their Southland Conference rivals from the Pelican State.
No player in the match amassed more than seven kills, but a stifling SFA defensive effort in conjunction with the Privateers' error-prone ways helped limit UNO to an attack percentage of just .045 in the Ladyjacks' eighth-straight win in the series.
"I think we played hard tonight and our defense was much better than it was last Saturday at Houston Baptist, but offensively i think that we're not clicking like we were a couple weeks ago," commented SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys who watched her team move from fifth up to fourth place in the Southland standings.
"We have a couple of days and our focus will be on regaining our high tempo and just getting some confidence back on offense with what we're doing," continued Humphreys. "We have gotten a away from having a balanced attack in the last couple matches and becoming one-dimensional is not good for us."
Sophomore Ann Hollas dished out 21 assists and completed her double-double bid with 10 digs. Those numbers were complimented by her three kills and three block assists. Junior Makenzee Hanna, the league's leader in attack percentage, and Haley Coleman each drove down five kills for SFA which hit .253 in the win. A strong does of service pressure helped SFA keep New Orleans off balance and the Ladyjack finished the match with six aces. Conversely, UNO committed 13 service errors which helped elimanated the need any gaudy attacking totals by SFA.
Evans launched down two of her match-high seven kills during a 4-1 opening salvo for the Ladyjacks. Ten of SFA's 25 points in the lopsided opening frame came courtesy of unforced errors by the Privateers and three of those errors came during an 8-1 SFA run that upped the hosts' edge to 24-8. UNO closed the gap slightly by reeling off four-straight points before Evans finished the frame with her fourth termination.
Keeping the pressure on the Privateers, the Ladyjacks erased a 4-2 UNO lead early in the middle frame by receiving kills from four players in a 9-1 run which handed the hosts an 11-5 lead. Again, 10 unforced New Orleans errors helped SFA ease to a big win in the middle set.
Although SFA accumulated only nine kills in the middle set, the Ladyjacks did not commit an error and finished the set with a .474 attack percentage. On the other side of the net, everything seemed to go long for UNO which finished with five kills against 11 errors for an attack percentage of -.200.
The Privateers' service problems loomed large in the final set, especially in the final points of the frame. Returning to the floor intent on forcing at least four sets, New Orleans posted the first three scores of with a kill, a block and a bad set by the Ladyjacks. Sandwiched between SFA runs of 6-2 and 5-1 was a 5-1 Privateer scoring surge which featured a pair of kills from Rhyan Rand to make sure UNO remained within two points of the Ladyjacks.
"In the final set New Orleans simply stopped making as many errors," Humphreys said. "We knew going in they were a very capable team and they were able to clean things up and show that."
Holding firm to its two-point lead, SFA watched UNO turn the Ladyjacks' 15-13 advantage into a 17-16 lead by the visitors with a 4-1 run. Through that surge, Kaitlyn Grice pounded down a pair of kills and Brianna Vega added an additional one for the Privateers who posted 16 terminations in the frame - four more than they put down through the first two sets combined.
Following Vega's kill, a bad set by UNO drew the teams even at 16. It was the first of eight ties that would occur through the remainder of the match. With things knotted at 23, the sixth of seven UNO service errors pushed SFA in front and the Privateers' final miscue from the service line broke a 24-24 deadlock before Sam Rodriguez's lone service ace of the night ended the match.
Ryan and Rondolyn Bryant floored six kills apiece for New Orleans and Lexus Cain led an SFA back-row defensive effort by scooping up a match-high 13 digs. Peyton Redmond came off the bench and totaled eight scoops through the three-set match.
Next up on the Ladyjacks' to-do list is to keep Lamar from posting its first Southland Conference victory. SFA heads to Beaumont, Texas, Saturday afternoon for a league match with the Cardinals who are 2-11 and 0-3 in league tilts. First serve inside McDonald Gym is set for 1:00 p.m.
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