Stephen F. Austin
0-1
Florida Atlantic University
2-0
Slow Start Hampers Ladyjacks in 3-0 Setback to Florida Atlantic
8/25/2017 5:09:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Hollas finishes with double-double, Hanna leads offense with seven kills
Stetson Invitational
Florida Atlantic 3, Stephen F. Austin 0 (25-11, 25-22, 25-19)
Records: Stephen F. Austin | 0-1 • Florida Atlantic | 2-0
Up next: vs. Central Connecticut State (0-1) | Sat., Aug., 26 | 12:30 p.m. CT
Up next: at Stetson (0-0) | Sat., Aug., 26 | 5:00 p.m. CT
DeLAND, Fla. - In its second match ever inside the Edmunds Center on the campus of Stetson University, the Stephen F. Austin volleyball dropped its opening match of the 2017 campaign, falling 3-0 to Florida Atlantic on Friday afternoon.
Through its leadoff match, SFA was forced to contend with a well-oiled Florida Atlantic squad that amassed 56 kills on the strength of a .376 attack percentage. Sophomore setter Ann Hollas logged SFA's first double-double of the season by picking up 23 assists to go along with a team-high 12 digs, but her efforts were offset by a 21-kill match by FAU's Sigourney Kame. She was one of three Owls who registered 10 or more terminations and FAU finished +26 in that statistical category once the final numbers were tallied.
"Our offense was never able to start clicking and we just got off to a really slow start," said SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys. "Once we settled down in the second set, we passed better and watched our offense improve but as a whole our level of discipline needs to be higher in order to win matches."
Four Ladyjacks finished with five or more kills led by Mackenzie Hanna's seven. Sophomore Danae Daron provided a strong presence in the front row by racking up four block assists to go along with a trio of terminations. Fellow second-year player Xariah Williams - who made her first appearance in the starting lineup - finished with five kills and a trio of block assists of her own.
Although SFA totaled five blocks to four by the Owls, the Ladyjacks' offense just could not match the level of FAU's. SFA put forth a .181 hitting percentage effort during the match and totaled 30 kills.
"Everything Kame touched turned to gold when she attacked and while we did out-block them, we had too many negative blocks," Humphreys continued. "As a team we need to be more disciplined and what was most frustrating was that we put ourselves in a great position to win in the second and third sets and could not finish it off."
A powerful FAU attack pushed the Ladyjacks back on their heels out of the gates as Jordan Yauch and Kame combined for six kills during a 12-5 opening surge by the Owls.
Haley Coleman's first kill of the match trimmed SFA's deficit to 13-7 before the Owls handed things over to Kristi Tekavec. She slammed down three kills over the course of a 6-1 run that pushed the Ladyjacks' deficit to 19-8. SFA never trimmed the Owls' lead back down below 10 points for the remainder of the frame, but came out intent on evening things up in the middle set.
Two more kills from Coleman coupled with one each from Redmond and Xariah Williams staked SFA to an early 5-3 lead before the Owls responded with a 5-0 run of their own to retake the lead. Following another timeout, the Ladyjacks battled back and drew matters at 11-all following an FAU attack error and a combo block from Xariah Williams and Danae Daron.
The rejection from the sophomore tandem started a lengthy streak of back-and-forth play which featured 12 ties. Redmond's service ace that put the Ladyjacks ahead 22-21 appeared to give SFA both the momentum and the separation it needed to finish the set and pull even, but the Owls had other ideas.
Right out of FAU's timeout, the Owls flipped the script and rattled off four consecutive terminations to take the frame by a 25-22 score and put SFA at a 2-0 disadvantage.
Down to their final chance to force extra sets, the Ladyjacks looked as though they had finally managed to lay the groundwork for a win in the third frame. Following a service error by Lexus Cain that put SFA down 4-3, kills from Hollas, Xariah Williams and Coleman as well as a service ace from Makenzee Hanna represents a large part of an 8-2 run which handed SFA an 11-6 lead.
SFA managed to maintain its multi-point cushion well into the middle leg of the set after Sam Rodriguez served up another ace that made things 16-11. Directly after that ace, however, the Owls' offense sprung back to life and try as they might the Ladyjacks were unable to stop it.
FAU ended the set - and the match - by embarking on a 14-3 run that featured eight kills and a pair of service aces.
Saturday presents the Ladyjacks with a pair of opportunities to secure their first victory of 2017. At 12:30 p.m. CT, SFA meets up with Central Connecticut State on the floor of the Edmunds Center before concluding their three-match slate at the Stetson Invitation by taking on the host Hatters at 5:00 p.m. CT.
-SFA-
