2017 SFA Volleyball Camp Report: Outside Hitters
8/21/2017 1:03:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Group of eight outsides will compete for playing time in 2017
In preparation for the upcoming volleyball season, SFAJacks.com will be doing a position-by-position preview of the 2017 Ladyjacks. This is the third of those four pieces and it focuses on the outside hitters - Haley Coleman, Corin Evans, Makenzee Hanna, Shayla Eagleton, Rita Marques, KK Payne, Peyton Redmond and Xariah Williams
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Over the years, funneling the offense of the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team through a seemingly endless line of top-flight middle blockers and outside hitters has presented Ladyjacks setters with a good problem to have.
That task has been made a little more difficult in 2017 due to the sheer numbers of options the Ladyjacks boast at the outside hitter position.
Of the team's 12 returning letter winners from 2016, six of them generated offense from that position. That group of six was comprised entirely of underclassmen and accounted for 562 of the 1,270 kills - roughly 45-percent - the squad accumulated one season ago. With all of those players returning, and with the addition of one true freshman to that group, the team could see its offense spread out even further than in years past.
The breakdown for the outside hitters group is one freshman, three sophomores and three juniors, all of which bring different styles to the Ladyjacks' attack plan. Two regular faces in last season's lineup - juniors Haley Coleman and Peyton Redmond - are back for their first years as upperclassmen and expanded on their repertoire to become highly effective six-rotation players.
Year three of Coleman's tenure in purple and white comes on the heels of a 2016 season in which she led the team in service aces (27) and ranked second only to Lexus Cain in both digs per set and total digs. The Rockwall, Texas, product dug up 3.19 attacks per set to go along with her 1.11 kills per set and her two-way play became stronger as the season progressed.
Each of her three double-doubles on the year came on or after Oct. 27, culminating with a 12-kill, 26-dig effort in a Southland Conference home win over New Orleans. In all, Coleman turned in 14 double-digit dig outings
The only outside hitter on the squad to start each and every one of the Ladyjacks' matches in 2016, Redmond's positive impact was felt in both the offensive and defensive departments. Following a freshman season at East Tennessee State University where she was used sparingly, the Liberty Hill, Texas, native showcased her versatility during her inaugural season in SFA colors by averaging 1.57 kills and 2.81 digs per set.
Those numbers were good for fifth and third respectively among the team's ranks and Redmond also showed off her service game by racking up 25 aces from behind the service line - the second-highest total on the team.
Rounding out the three juniors in the group of outside hitters is Makenzee Hanna who has the ability to slide over and play middle blocker as well. In all, the DeSoto, Texas, product has played in 48 matches through her first two seasons and has gone for 50 or more blocks in each of those campaigns. For her career, Hanna is averaging 1.99 kills per set.
A back-row attacker due to her skills on defense, Corin Evans returns to the Ladyjacks' ranks after a year where she averaged 2.62 digs per set through 81 sets. Averaging just 0.36 kills per set, her offensive numbers may not have been gaudy but she has showed the ability to generate quality swings in the front line when stationed there.
Payne provided the Ladyjacks with a substantial scoring punch both in the starting lineup and as a reserve throughout 2016 and laid down a sturdy foundation to build on for year two during the final week of SFA's season. As the Ladyjacks' only Southland Conference All-Tournament Team choice last season, the Garden Ridge, Texas, product totaled 14 kills and four block assists during the team's pair of tournament matches.
That helped her average 2.19 kills per set - the highest average among the team's group of returners - to go along with 0.65 digs and 0.38 blocks per frame.
Also In the mix to secure more playing time in her sophomore seasons is Xariah Williams who competed in six matches as a true freshman in 2016.
The only newcomer joining the ranks of the outside hitters is Rita Marques who comes to Nacogdoches following a sparking prep career at Danbury High School. The Danbury, Texas, product was a three-sport athlete as a prep and received reps along with the rest of the outside hitters in the Ladyjacks' intrasquad scrimmage last Saturday.
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Released earlier in the month of August, the 2017 Southland Conference preseason poll projected the Ladyjacks to finish second in the 13-team league behind two-time defending champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Cain and sophomore setter Ann Hollas secured preseason All-Southland Conference accolades, too. SFA's lone senior, Cain earned a spot on the All-Southland Conference Preseason First Team while Hollas was tabbed as an All-Southland Conference Preseason Second Team performer after taking over as the squad's go-to setter in the early stages of 2016.
The Ladyjacks' 2017 campaign begins Friday, August 24, on the campus of Stetson University in DeLand, Fla. While there, SFA will be one of four teams that make up the field for the Stetson Invitational and the Ladyjacks are set to take on Florida International in the second match of the invitational's first day at 3:30 p.m.
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