Stephen F. Austin
Lamar University
SFA Starts Three-Match Road Trip by Battling Lamar in Beaumont
10/6/2017 10:13:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Ladyjacks (15-5, 3-1 Southland) have won eight straight against the Cardinals (2-11, 0-3 Southland)
Stephen F. Austin (15-5, 3-1 Southland) at Lamar (2-11, 0-3 Southland)
Saturday, Oct. 7 | 1:00 p.m. | McDonald Gym (500) | Beaumont, Texas
Live Stats | Watch | Listen (SFAVolleyblog) | SFA Match Notes
THE FIRST SERVE
• Beaumont, Texas, is the first stop for the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team during a three-match Southland Conference road swing as the Ladyjacks get set for a Saturday afternoon battle with Lamar inside McDonald Gym at 1:00 p.m.
• Dating back to 2011, the Ladyjacks have posted eight-straight victories over the Cardinals. Included in that run is a stretch of four consecutive SFA triumphs on Lamar's home floor.
• Heading into Saturday afternoon's clash with the Cardinals, SFA still sits in fifth place in the Southland Conference standings with a 3-1 record in league tilts. The Ladyjacks are one of four teams in the 13-member league who have lost one conference match and also included in that group is Houston Baptist and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - both of whom are tied for second in the Southland standings with a 5-1 in-conference record - and Central Arkansas who resides in fourth place with a 4-1 league showing so far. Sam Houston State sits atop the league leaderboard with its perfect 5-0 record in Southland play.
• The Ladyjacks continue to lead the 13-team Southland Conference in hitting percentage (.251), opponent hitting percentage (.163) and opponent blocks per set (1.46). In the conference-only statistical rankings, SFA's attack percentage of .301 and opponent blocks per set average of 1.23 are also league-best marks.
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Record vs. Lamar | 30-21
• In Nacogdoches, Texas | 15-9
• In Beaumont, Texas | 13-11
• At neutral sites | 2-1
• Humphreys vs. Lamar | 30-20
• Fresh off of a nine-day break, Lamar returns to its home court with intentions of posting its first Southland Conference victory in almost one full year. The Cardinals' last league win came inside that facility on Nov. 1, 2016, when they fought back for a 3-2 triumph over Houston Baptist.
• Not only are the Cardinals in search of their first league victory of 2017, they are also trying to win their first set in over two weeks. Since posting a 3-0 non-conference triumph over Prairie View A&M on Tuesday, Sept. 19, Lamar has lost three straight matches all by 3-0 scores to Southland foes Northwestern State (Sept. 21), Central Arkansas (Sept. 23) and Houston Baptist (Sept. 28).
• Defensively, it's Ivette Dim who leads the Cardinals' efforts in the front row. The junior has taken part in all 41 of Lamar's sets this season and ranks second in the Southland with 1.27 blocks per set. Her 52 total rejections represent over one-third (33.5-percent) of the Cardinals' team total and have helped Lamar rise to sixth in the 13-team league with an average of 2.00 blocks per frame.
• Sidelined for the Cardinals' first three matches of the season, junior Tomas Thomas returned to the lineup on Sept. 8 and has been the team's offensive leader since. The only player among Lamar's ranks to average north of three kills per set, Thomas pounds down an average of 3.11 winners per frame - the sixth-highest average in the Southland. Additionally, her attack percentage of .242 is tops among all Lamar players.
• Murielle Hlavac is Lamar's leader in terms of total kills (100) and her 2.56 winners per frame make her one of three individuals on the team with two or more kills per set. Dim (2.20 kills per set) is also among that trio.
• One of Lamar's two seniors, Haley Morton sets up the Cardinals' offense and dishes out assists at a rate of 7.41 per set. That figure represents the eighth-highest average in the Southland Conference.
LAST TIME OUT
• The 14th-straight victory for the Ladyjacks inside Shelton Gym came at the expense of a New Orleans team that committed a grand total of 28 unforced errors - including 13 service miscues - through the three-set Southland Conference match.
• SFA's victory over the Privateers was its eighth in a row which matched its longest active winning streaks against other Southland Conference opponents Lamar and Nicholls.
• Corin Evans slammed home a match-high seven kills while Makenzee Hanna and Haley Coleman added five each. That trio accounted for 17 of the Ladyjacks' 28 winners which was their lowest kill total this season and the first time in 2017 that SFA did not reach the 30-kill mark in a match.
• New Orleans attacked at a rate of only .045 making them the fifth team to hit below the .100 mark against SFA in 2017. The Privateers' 13 service errors in the match were the most by an SFA opponent this season and the fourth time that one of the Ladyjacks' foes has committed double-digit service errors in 2017.
• Ann Hollas dished out 21 assists and put the finishing touches on her team-leading seventh double-double of 2017 with 10 digs. The sophomore out of Longview, Texas, is one of three SFA players with at least five double-doubles in 2017 joining Haley Coleman (six) and Corin Evans (five) in that club.
• Two of the Ladyjacks' six service errors came off of serves from senior Lexus Cain who also finished with a match-best 13 digs.
MAK ON THE ATTACK
• After putting down five kills on eight errorless swings in the Ladyjacks' Wednesday night victory over New Orleans, junior Makenzee Hanna upped her attack percentage in Southland Conference matches to .500. and her overall attack percentage in 2017 to .362. Not only do those figures lead the 13-team league, but it puts the DeSoto, Texas, in an exclusive club.
• Including Hanna, only 13 NCAA Division I volleyball players from around the nation are attacking at a rate of .500 or higher in conference matches. The only other player from a school in the state of Texas who is on that list is Rice's Grace Morgan and the full list of individuals whoa re hitting at .500 or better in league play is below.
Florida A&M | Candeleria Herrera | .656
Wichita State | Abbie Lehman | .592
Bethune-Cookman | Rakaya Neely | .583
Stanford | Tamie Alade | .583
Illinois | Ali Bastianelli | .571
Stanford | Audriana FItzmorris | .571
Rice | Grace Morgan | .570
Western Kentucky | Rachel Anderson | .559
Princeton | Nnenna Ibe | .559
LSU | Jacqui Armer | .556
Idaho | Devonne Ryter | .526
Wichita State | Emily Hiebert | .516
SFA | Makenzee Hanna | .500
FOLLOW THE LEADERS
• Three of the Southland Conference's top ten team attack percentages in a single match belong to the Ladyjacks, including a league-set .406 mark in a 3-0 home victory over Central Arkansas. That makes SFA the only Southland team to record an attack percentage of .400 or better in a match this season.
• SFA's .377 attack percentage in its four-set victory over South Florida is the league's best in four-set matches. It's followed by a .342 effort by the Ladyjacks in a 3-1 win over Stetson in which SFA amassed 63 kills - the most by a Southland Conference team in a four-set match this season.
• Sophomore Shayla Eagleton and junior Makenzee Hanna have each produced two of the league's top ten hitting percentages in a single match this season as well. Eagleton hit .750 against both Stetson and Central Arkansas which represents the third-best attack percentage in a single match by all league players while Hanna hit .727 against Northwestern State (fourth-best in a single match in the league) and .667 when facing Central Arkansas (10th-best in a single match in the league).
CENTURY CLUBS
• Head coach Debbie Humphreys constructed a demanding schedule for the Ladyjacks in 2017 and so far SFA has been up to the challenge. SFA's RPI of 97 puts the Ladyjacks in the top 100 and gives them the second-highest RPI among all Southland Conference teams. Only Central Arkansas (76th) owns a higher RPI than SFA.
• Junior Haley Coleman needs 31 more kills to reach 500 for her collegiate career. Fellow third-year player Makenzee Hanna needs one more kill to get to 400 in her SFA career.
COMING UP NEXT
• The next stop on the Ladyjacks' three-match road swing is San Antonio, Texas, for a Thursday night matchup with Incarnate Word. First serve at the McDermott Convocation Center has been set for 7:00 p.m.
-SFA-
