Stephen F. Austin
Florida Atlantic University
Ladyjacks Start 2017 Season at Stetson Invitational
8/24/2017 4:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SFA will play three opponents in opening weekend of 2017
Stetson Invitational | SFA Match Notes
Stephen F. Austin (0-0) vs. Florida Atlantic (0-0)
Friday, Aug. 25 | 3:30 p.m. (CT) | Edmunds Center (DeLand, Fla.) | Live Stats
Stephen F. Austin vs. Central Connecticut State
Saturday, Aug. 26 | 12:30 p.m. (CT) | Edmunds Center (DeLand, Fla.) | Live Stats
Stephen F. Austin vs. Stetson
Saturday, Aug. 26 | 5:00 p.m. (CT) | Edmunds Center (DeLand, Fla.) | Live Stats | Watch (ESPN3)
FIRST SERVE
• Making its first trip to the state of Florida since 2013, the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team opens up its 2017 season by heading for the campus of Stetson University in DeLand where it will be one of four squads taking part in the Stetson Invitational.
• While playing in the Edmunds Center (4,000) - the Hatters' home facility - the Ladyjacks' season will begin with a 3:30 p.m. (CT) showdown with Florida Atlantic on Friday afternoon. SFA's Saturday slate sees the Ladyjacks match up with first-time opponent Central Connecticut State at 12:30 p.m. (CT) before closing their three-match set by tangling with host institution Stetson at 5:00 p.m. (CT). That non-conference bout with the Hatters will be available for viewing nationwide on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
• Live statistical coverage of all three matches will be provided courtesy of the Stetson University athletic media relations department. Links to both live stats and live video can be found on SFAJacks.com and in-match updates will be provided on a regular basis at @SFA_Volleyball on Twitter.
SCOUTING REPORT
Florida Atlantic | Roster • Schedule • 2016 Statistics
Record vs. Florida Atlantic | 1-0
In Nacogdoches, Texas | 0-0
In Boca Raton, Fla. | 0-0
At neutral sites | 1-0
Last meeting | SFA 3, vs. Florida Atlantic 0 (played in Orlando, Fla.) • Oct. 29, 1994
One of the Owls' biggest weapons from 2016 - Maja Ristic - was lost to graduation and when she left so did her 3.68 kills per set from 2016. Florida Atlantic does return junior Abbi Reid from a 2016 club that went 15-14 and bowed out of the C-USA Tournament in the quarterfinal round. Reid ranked 102nd nationally with a hitting percentage of .335 one season ago and collected All-C-USA First Team accolades as a result.
Central Connecticut State | Roster • Schedule • 2016 Statistics
Record vs. Central Connecticut State | 0-0
In the 2017 NEC Preseason Poll, the Blue Devils picked up a pair of first place votes and were chosen to finish third in the eight-team league. With the duo of Maddie Smith and Brooke Schwab leading the way, Central Connecticut State's front row defense was among the nation's best as the team averaged 2.58 blocks per set - the best average in the NEC and the 28th-best in the land. Smith is the only part of that duo that returns for 2017 and the senior also added 1.20 kills per set. Another big piece that returns for Central Connecticut State is sophomore Morgan Woycik who led the team in kills (264) and kills per set (2.49) through the 2016 campaign.
Stetson | Roster • Schedule • 2016 Statistics
Record vs. Stetson | 1-0
In Nacogdoches, Texas | 0-0
In DeLand, Fla. | 1-0
Last meeting | SFA 3, at Stetson 0 • Sept. 8, 2002
Stetson collected just four wins last season and enters the 2017 campaign hoping to snap an 11-match losing streak. The Hatters' top three kill leaders from 2016 all departed following the season, leaving lone senior Shelby Connors as the team's top returner. Last year, Connors averaged 1.48 kills and a team-best 0.98 blocks per set.
LET'S GET STARTED
• Since head coach Debbie Humphreys took command of the SFA volleyball program prior to the start of the 1988 season, SFA has posted a record of 14-15 in season openers - good for a winning percentage of .482.
• Although the above record does not stand above the .500 mark, the way the Ladyjacks start has not been indicative of the end result of each of their seasons. In 12 of the 15 years SFA has lost its season opener with Humphreys in charge, the Ladyjacks have registered an overall record above .500.
• Last season the Ladyjacks won their opening match for the first time in 2013 by capturing a 3-1 triumph over Eastern Illinois in the first-ever meeting between the two programs. A win Friday afternoon over Florida Atlantic would mark consecutive wins in season openers for the first time since 2012 and 2013.
• Five of the eight Southland Conference championships captured by SFA in its program history have come when the team has been defeated in its first match out of the gates (1994, 1995, 1996, 2005, 2014).
• Three out of the four NCAA Tournaments the Ladyjacks have taken part of have each come in a season where they experienced a setback in their first match as well (1994, 1997, 1999).
• For a four-year stretch from 2006-09, the Ladyjacks captured wins in their season-opening matches - all of which occurred in either three or four sets. That run stands as the longest streak of wins in season openers in program history.
SECOND FIDDLE
• Released earlier in the month of August, the 2017 Southland Conference Preseason Poll had the Ladyjacks picked for a second-place finish in the 13-team league behind two-time defending league titleholder Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Voters in the poll included the league's head coaches and volleyball sports information directors.
• SFA racked up 246 points in the preseason listing - 16 more than Piney Woods rival Sam Houston State who received three first place votes en route to a third-place spot. Perennial league powers Houston Baptist (fourth, 219 points) and Central Arkansas (fifth, 206 points) rounded out the top five programs.
• For the third-straight season, SFA opens its Southland Conference schedule at home. This time, the squad's first match in league play pits it against Central Arkansas (Thurs., Sept. 21).
GREATEST HITS
• Both of the Ladyjacks' kill leaders from a season ago (Abby McIntyre and Justice Walker) may have departed, but by no means will SFA be hard-pressed for offense in 2017.
• Among the 12 returning letter winners for 2017 are juniors Haley Coleman and Peyton Redmond, and sophomores KK Payne and Makenzee Hanna. Those four each accounted for at least 1.11 kills per set last year and in all SFA returns 62.2-percent of its kill production (790 out of 1,270) from last season.
SET UP FOR SUCCESS
• For the first time in over a decade, the Ladyjacks welcome the reigning Southland Conference Freshman of the Year back for her sophomore season.
• Ann Hollas was named the league's top freshman at the conclusion of the 2016 regular season, becoming the first Ladyjack to earn that title since Lauren Railey did so in 2005. Hollas, a native of Longview, Texas, averaged 8.34 assists per set in her first season of collegiate competition and directed an SFA attack plan that ranked fifth in the Southland Conference in hitting percentage (.185) and led the league in attacks per set (38.05).
• Hollas had some preseason acclaim come her way earlier in the month of August, too, as the sophomore was named a Preseason All-Southland Conference Second Team choice.
CAN YOU DIG IT?
• Defensively, there were just a handful of NCAA Division I volleyball teams around the country that posted better numbers than the Ladyjacks did in 2016. As a team, SFA scooped up 18.00 digs per set - the fifth-best average nationally and the best in the 13-team Southland Conference.
• A main reason for that was the play of Lexus Cain who averaged 5.22 digs per set on her own. That figure was good for the nation's 14th-highest average and the best in the Southland Conference.
• Cain, who hails from Amarillo, Texas, is the lone senior on SFA's 20-woman roster and etched her name in the Ladyjacks' record books by scooping up 564 digs in 2016. That's the ninth-highest total number of digs in a single season in program history.
• The senior was tabbed a Preseason All-Southland Conference First Team choice earlier in the month of August after earning All-Southland Conference Second Team accolades as a junior.
BUILDING BLOCKS
• One of the individuals who helped the Ladyjacks construct one of the nation's top front-row defenses in 2016 was senior Justice Walker who graduated in August. Her Southland Conference-leading 1.33 blocks per set represented the 32nd-best average nationally and helped lift SFA to 36th in the land in terms of team blocks per set (2.53). The other key piece of the team's front-row defense - Danae Daron - returns for year two in SFA colors.
• A sophomore in 2017, Daron distinguished herself as one of the top freshmen in the Southland Conference by ranking fifth in the league in blocks per set (1.08) and ninth in attack percentage (.276). She was the only freshman in the conference to appear in the top-ten in each of those statistical categories.
NICE TO MEET YOU
• Of the 20 individuals that comprise the Ladyajcks' 2017 roster, seven of those players are true freshmen.
• Alexis Alexander, Margaret Dean, Morgan Hinds, Regan Humphreys, Rita Marques, Anyia Williams and Lauren Wright all come to SFA fresh off highly-decorated high school careers.
• Not only have the Ladyjacks welcome new players into the fold, there are two new individuals in the coaching ranks for 2017. Kailee May enters her first season as an assistant coach for SFA this season after spending six years as a club level coach in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area.
• May played her collegiate volleyball at Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y., and graduated from that institution in 2011.
• JD Wisener signed on as a volunteer assistant coach for SFA in the summer of 2017, too. A 2016 graduate of Texas Tech, he worked with the Red Raiders volleyball program as a practice player during his time in Lubbock.
THE BIG 3-0
• Once she sets up shop on the sidelines of the Edmunds Center Friday afternoon, SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys will begin her 30th season as the Ladyjacks' bench boss. That makes her one of just 20 coaches across all of NCAA Division I who have 30 or more years of head coaching experience as 2017 gets going.
• Through her 29 previous seasons, Humphreys has accumulated 636 wins, making her one of 20 active NCAA Division I head coaches with 600 or more victories to their credit. Additionally, her win total is the 15th-highest in terms of all active NCAA Division I head coaches and her career winning percentage of .660 is the 45th-best on the active coaches chart.
ALL TEXAS, ALL THE TIME
• For the fifth consecutive season, SFA's roster is comprised exclusively of individuals who hail from the state of Texas.
• The last non-Texan to occupy a spot on the Ladyjacks' roster was Sabrina Burns in 2012. The four-year letterwinner called McAlester, Okla., home and wrapped up her days in purple and white with 394 career blocks - the eighth-most all-time in the SFA record books.
COMING UP NEXT
• In their first of three matches in the state of Louisiana this season, the Ladyjacks head to northern part of the state to tangle with Louisiana-Monroe. The fourth match of their eight-match road trip to open the 2017 campaign is slated for a 6:00 p.m. first serve inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum Wednesday evening.
-SFA-
