Stephen F. Austin
University of Louisiana at Monroe
SFA Continues Lengthy Road Swing with Wednesday Evening Match at ULM
8/29/2017 5:56:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Ladyjacks have won four in a row against winless Warhawks
Match Four | SFA Match Notes
Stephen F. Austin (2-1) at Louisiana-Monroe (0-3)
Wednesday, Aug. 30 | 6:00 p.m. | Fant-Ewing Coliseum (7,000)
Live Stats | Audio (SFAVolleyblog.net)
THE FIRST SERVE
Continuing an eight-match road swing to begin the 2017 season, the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team's next stop is Fant-Ewing Coliseum on the campus of Louisiana-Monroe where the Ladyjacks are set to do battle with the Warhawks in a non-conference tilt at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday evening.
Wednesday's match will be the 44th all-time meeting between the two teams with SFA owning a dominant 38-5 edge. Three of the last four times the squads have crossed paths in Fant-Ewing Coliseum SFA has emerged as the victors and the Ladyjacks are on a four-match winning streak against their non-conference rivals from Monroe.
SCOUTING LOUISIANA-MONROE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
Record vs. Louisiana-Monroe | 38-5
In Nacogdoches, Texas | 20-1
In Monroe, La. | 18-4
Humphreys vs. Louisiana-Monroe | 38-3
The Warhawks have yet to win a set let alone a match following an opening weekend that saw them suffer 3-0 setbacks to Utah State, Arkansas and CSU Bakersfield at the University of Arkansas Classic. Those losses pushed their winless streak to seven matches dating back to the 2016 campaign and Louisiana-Monroe currently ranks last in the 12-team Sun Belt Conference in four statistical categories including attack percentage (.077), opponent hitting percentage (.283), assists per set (8.44) and kills per set (8.89). Offensively, Catherine Griffith is the only member of the squad who is averaging greater than two kills per set (2.33) and she leads the team in attack percentage with a mark of .265. Griffith also serves as the team's leader in front row defense as she has averaged 1.00 blocks per set.
THE EAGLE HAS LANDED
• All sophomore Shayla Eagleton did throughout her first two matches of 2017 was surpass her entire statistical output from her freshman season.
• Hailing from Richmond, Texas, Eagleton took part in SFA's matches against Central Connecticut State and Stetson at the Stetson Invitational and posted 10 or more kills in each of the tilts.
• Against Stetson, Eagleton hammered down a team and career-high 15 kills on 20 errorless swings to finish with an attack percentage of .750. That attack percentage also stands as the second-best single-match hitting percentage by a player with 20 or more attacks in all of NCAA Division I volleyball.
• Eagleton got it done defensively as well, racking up eight total blocks through her pair of matches. Currently, her average of 1.00 blocks per set leads the team.
• Her performance through that two-match stretch earned her a spot on the Stetson Invitational All-Tournament Team and Eagleton currently leads SFA in both kills per set (2.88) and attack percentage (.514).
• Among all Southland Conference players, Eagleton ranks second in attack percentage and sixth in terms of blocks per set. On the national scene, her attack percentage of .514 is the 18th-best among all NCAA Division I players.
MAK ATTACK
• Offensively, defensively and at the service line, middle blocker Makenzee Hanna enjoyed a highly productive start to her junior season through the Ladyjacks' three-match swing at the Stetson Invitational last weekend.
• Through that span, the DeSoto, Texas, product racked up a team-leading six service aces - including a career-high three in SFA's four-set win over Stetson. That pushes her aces per set average to 0.55 - the sixth-highest in the Southland Conference and the 84th-best in the nation.
• Standing tall in the front row, Hanna also led SFA in terms of defense by amassing a squad-best 11 blocks over the weekend. Hanna's 1.00 blocks per set average ranks sixth among all Southland Conference players and is tied for the team lead.
WE CAN DIG IT
• Thanks to individuals such as Lexus Cain and Ann Hollas, there is no shortage of high-level back row defense being played by SFA so far this season.
• Cain, the team's lone senior, picked up right where she left off in 2016 by totaling 53 digs through the team's opening weekend. That works out to an average of 4.82 per set which is the second-best in the Southland Conference and 85th nationally.
• Not only the team's setter, Hollas scooped up 3.18 digs per set during SFA's three-match stretch in Florida to begin the season last weekend.
• Junior Haley Coleman - who also earned a spot on the Stetson Invitational All-Tournament Team - averaged 2.73 digs per set to go along with 2.55 kills and 0.55 blocks per set.
SOPHOMORE SLUMP
• During the team's opening weekend at the Stetson Invitational, sophomore Corin Evans stepped to the forefront of the Ladyjacks' attack plans on offense.
• Against Stetson, Evans established new career highs in both kills (14) and attack attempts (39) while tying a career-best with a pair of block assists.
• Through only seven sets played, Evans has racked up 24 kills and a kills per set average of 3.43 that leads the team and ranks fourth among all Southland Conference players.
FOLLOW OUR LEAD
• With the numbers all tallied up though the opening weekend of volleyball, SFA leads the Southland Conference in no fewer than six statistical categories including digs per set (17.73), attacks per set (39.18), digs (195), kills (150), total attacks (431) and total blocks (24.0).
COMING UP NEXT
• The next - and final - stop on SFA's eight-match road swing to start 2017 is Starkville, Miss., where the Ladyjacks are one of five teams who will be competing in the Mississippi State Bulldog Invitational. In all, SFA is scheduled to take part in four matches throughout their two-day stay in the Magnolia State beginning with showdowns against South Florida (10:00 a.m.) and Grambling State (5:00 p.m.) on Friday.
-SFA-
