Stephen F. Austin
Sam Houston State University
Ladyjacks Head to Huntsville for Saturday Morning Clash with Bearkats
11/3/2017 11:10:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
SFA sits one-and-a-half matches ahead of Sam Houston State for first place in Southland
Match 31
Stephen F. Austin (24-6, 12-2 Southland) at Sam Houston State (14-12, 10-3 Southland)
Saturday, Nov. 2 | 11:00 a.m. | Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum (6,100) | Huntsville, Texas
Live Stats | Listen (SFAVolleyblog.net) | SFA Match Notes | Southland Conference Standings
THE FULL ROTATION
• Able to get back in the win column earlier in the week, the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team travels south from Abilene, Texas, to Huntsville, Texas, for a Saturday morning rivalry match rife with both Southland Conference regular season title and Southland Conference Tournament seeding implications. At 11:00 a.m., the Ladyjacks do battle with Piney Woods rival Sam Houston State in a match featuring two of the top three teams in the league standings.
• SFA remains tied with Central Arkansas for the top spot in the Southland Conference standings with a 12-2 record in league play while the Bearkats lurk just one-and-a-half matches behind with a 10-3 showing in Southland matches.
• With results from around the Southland Conference earlier in the week, the Ladyjacks are assured one of the top three seeds for the 2017 Southland Conference Tournament. SFA owns a two-and-a-half match lead over a group of four teams (Houston Baptist, McNeese, Northwestern State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) who are all tied for fourth place in the league standings.
• Saturday morning's match pits two of the winningest active NCAA Division I head coaches against one another. Between Debbie Humphreys and Brenda Gray - the head coaches for SFA and Sam Houston State respectively - some 1,337 total victories and a combined 64 years of head coaching experience are represented. Both Humphreys and Gray have over 650 wins to their credit making them two of the top 15 active NCAA Division I coaches in terms of total wins.
• SFA brings the top team hitting percentage in the Southland Conference with it to Huntsville for Saturday morning's match. The Ladyjacks are hitting .261 overall and a conference-best .286 in Southland Conference matches. Defensively, SFA is holding opponents to an attack percentage of only .167 - the second-best opponent hitting percentage in the Southland Conference. The Ladyjacks' digs per set average of 16.52 and opponent blocks per set average of 1.48 are also Southland Conference bests.
• Individually, junior Makenzee Hanna still leads the Southland Conference in terms of total attack percentage with her mark of .357. Sophomore Danae Daron's hitting percentage of .333 is the third-highest in the 13-team league making SFA the only team in the league with two players among the top five in terms of hitting percentage.
SCOUTING SAM HOUSTON STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Record vs. Sam Houston State | 34-22 (.607)
• In Nacogdoches, Texas | 20-8 (.714)
• In Huntsville, Texas | 12-9 (.571)
• At neutral sites | 2-5 (.286)
• Humphreys vs. Sam Houston State | 34-21 (.618)
• The possibility of an outright Southland Conference title is still within the realm of possibility for the Bearkats who will take part in their final home match of 2017 when the Ladyjacks come to town Saturday morning. The volleyball edition of the Battle of the Piney Woods will serve as senior day for a pair of Bearkats - Jordyn Vaughn and Brooke White. Sam Houston State trails SFA and Central Arkansas by one-and-a-half matches for the top spot in the Southland Conference standings with three regular season matches left.
• When it comes to offense, it's difficult to find a better one-two punch in the Southland Conference than the combination of Vaughn and White. Vaughn leads Sam Houston State in terms of total kills (372) and kills per set (3.96) while White isn't far behind as she has pounded down 295 terminations for a per-set average of 3.35. Vaughn's kills per set average is the best in the Southland Conference while White ranks sixth in the league in that statistical category.
• By adding the offensive prowess of Taylor Cunningham to that of her two aforementioned teammates, it yields a whopping 77.6-percent of the Bearkats' kill total throughout the 2017 season. Cunningham averages 2.69 kills per set on the strength of a team-best attack percentage of .286 and aside from herself, Vaughn and White, Sam Houston State does not have a single player with more than 91 kills.
• As a result of dishing the ball to her kill-happy teammates, Sam Houston State setter Jaclyn Ward ranks second in the Southland Conference with an assists per set average of 10.10. She is one of only two players from around the 13-team league who is averaging over 10 assists per frame.
In addition to her offensive skill set, Cunningham serves as the best front-row defender the Bearkats have at their disposal. Her 1.24 blocks per set lead Sam Houston State and rank second among all Southland Conference players. Complimenting Cunningham is Courtney Littlefield who is averaging 0.88 rejections per frame which has helped Sam Houston State rise to fourth in the Southland in terms of blocks per set (2.26).
• Coupled with their front row defense is a collection of five players who averaging at least 2.29 digs per set who have helped the Bearkats limit opponents to an attack percentage of only .169. Addison Miller leads Sam Houston State in digs with an average of 3.86 per set - the ninth-highest average in the Southland. White has scooped up an average of 3.04 digs per set to rank second on the team in that category.
• Only one team - Abilene Christian - has been able to defeat the Bearkats on the floor of Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum this season. Sam Houston State's Southland Conference setback to the Wildcats puts its home court record at 7-1 in 2017.
LAST TIME OUT
• Two of the top blocking teams in the Southland Conference crossed paths inside Moody Coliseum on Thursday evening and at the end of the night Stephen F. Austin remained tied with Central Arkansas for first place in the league standings after the Ladyjacks made use of a fast start and a powerful service game to get by the Wildcats 3-1.
• Abilene Christian slipped to 10-15 and 6-7 in Southland play. The Wildcats own a one-match lead over Incarnate Word for the eighth and final spot in the Southland Conference Tournament.
• Junior outside hitter Peyton Redmond put forth her second double-double effort of the season by posting a team-best 10 kills to go along with 12 digs. The Liberty Hill, Texas, product was the only Ladyjack who finished the match with double-digit kills.
• For the second-straight match, SFA was out-blocked by the opposition after Abilene Christian racked up 11 rejections - tied for the most by a Ladyjack opponent in 2017.
• The Wildcats' front row defensive efforts were negated, however, by an SFA offense that overcame an attack percentage of .170. Both Makenzee Hanna and Danae Daron delivered nine kills and hit .368 or better while Ann Hollas dished out 32 assists. Hollas added seven kills of her own on the strength of a .556 attack percentage.
• Four Ladyjacks - Cain, Hanna, Hollas and Corin Evans - finished with two service aces each as SFA held a 9-8 edge in aces over the Wildcats. In addition to that, the Ladyjacks committed just five errors from the service line compared to the 10 Abilene Christian finished with.
• Daron added six total blocks and was one of six Ladyjacks who finished with multiple rejections. In all, SFA finished with 10 blocks which helped it limit Abilene Christian to an attack percentage of only .113.
• Senior libero Lexus Cain collected a match-best 17 digs and elevated her career dig total to 1,556 - the fifth-most in the history of the program. The Amarillo, Texas, product moved up two spots on the Ladyjacks' career digs chart with those 17 scoops and is 14 digs away from producing her second-straight season of 500 or more.
• Freshman Morgan Hinds came off the bench and scooped up a season-best eight digs.
COMING UP NEXT
One week from Saturday, the Ladyjacks return to Shelton Gym for their final regular season match of the 2017 campaign. SFA takes on Lamar at noon in what will also be the final home match for two Ladyjacks - Lexus Cain and Sam Rodriguez. Those two players will be honored for their contributions to the program in a brief pre-match ceremony.
-SFA-
