Stephen F. Austin
16-5, 4-1
Lamar University
2-12, 0-4
SFA Powers Past Lamar in Four Sets
10/7/2017 3:39:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Coleman, Evans and Williams punch down 14 kills each, SFA moves to 4-1 in SLC play
BEAUMONT, Texas - Fewer than 72 hours after registering their lowest kill output of 2017 and walking away with a win, the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team ramped up its offense by a couple of levels in order to stay in the thick of the upper-echelon teams in the Southland Conference.
Behind 14 kills apiece from Haley Coleman, Corin Evans and Anyia Williams - who made her first collegiate start - SFA powered past Lamar Saturday afternoon inside McDonald Gym.
Both Evans and Williams hit at a clip of .400 or above with the latter leading all players in the match with a figure of .464. Coleman racked up 17 digs as well to complete her seventh double-double of the season while Lexus Cain led all players with a season-high 25 digs.
"We did a really good job defensively in this match both with our floor defense and our net defense," remarked SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys following the win. "Additionally we were able to take better out-of-system swings and aside from a couple of short stretches we passed better than we have been. Lamar is always a scary team because they're so athletic and when they cut down on their mistakes they're so tough to stop."
In addition to her effective showing on offense, Williams led an SFA front-row defensive effort by racking up a match and career-best five block assists. That helped the Ladyjacks claim an 8-3 edge in total blocks and offset a 4-2 advantage in service aces by Lamar.
Following a stretch of five ties through the first 12 points of the match, Murielle Hlavac keyed a 4-1 Lamar run by punching down a trio of terminations that pushed the Cardinals ahead 10-7. That lead, however, was short lived as SFA's multi-pronged offense reestablished itself and went on a 9-1 run to give the visitors the lead for the remainder of the frame.
Williams punched down three kills while Coleman added two more during the scoring spree and in all four Ladyjacks provided kills that helped move SFA ahead 16-11. A 4-0 Lamar run shrank the Ladyjacks' lead to 18-16 before the visitors answered with a 4-1 spurt of their own to go up 22-17. To cap off an effective first set, Williams blasted down two more kills down they stretch to give SFA a 25-19 win in the opening frame.
A much tighter second set that featured nine ties played out in favor of the visitors as well.
A well-timed dose of offense by the Ladyjacks put the kibosh on the Cardinals' bid to tie the match. Down 22-21, SFA finished the frame on a 4-0 run that started with Lamar's second service error of the match and from there kills from Hanna, Coleman and Evans finished things and put the visitors 25 points away from victory.
Lamar, however, came out and hit the Ladyjacks with a 6-1 run to begin the third set. SFA's deficit grew to seven points, 12-5, before the visitors used a 17-8 run to go up 22-20. With only three points separating them from a straight-set victory, SFA instead gave up a 5-1 run to Lamar to force a fourth set. Two of the Cardinals' four service aces came during that surge.
Whatever momentum the Cardinals gathered up with their first set win in over two-and-a-half weeks was short lived as SFA received kills from five different players and a pair of blocks to open up an 8-3 lead early in the fourth and final frame.
The Ladyjacks' lead never dipped below three points through the rest of the set and SFA pounded down six of its 15 kills in the set through an 11-4 run to close out the match and seal a ninth-straight win over the Cardinals.
Tomar Thomas fired in a match-best 16 kills for the Cardinals who remain winless in Southland Conference play. Bre'ala Box added 12 terminations while Ivette Dim chipped in 10. The Cardinals' Haley Morton distributed a match-high 49 assists
SFA bid for a third-straight Southland Conference victory will take place in San Antonio, Texas, on Thursday night as the Ladyjacks continue their three-match road trip with a stop at Incarnate Word. First serve between the Ladyjacks and Cardinals has been set for 7:00 p.m. inside McDermott Convocation Center.
-SFA-
