Stephen F. Austin
University of South Florida
Ladyjacks Head East for Mississippi State Bulldog Invitational
8/31/2017 12:50:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SFA will face four opponents in program's first-ever trip to Starkville
Mississippi State Bulldog Invitational | Friday-Saturday, Sept. 1-2 | Starkville, Miss. | Newell-Grissom Building (2,000)
SFA Match Notes
SFA (3-1) vs. South Florida (1-2)
Friday, Sept. 1 | 10:00 a.m. | Live Stats | Listen (SFAVolleyblog.net)
SFA (3-1) vs. Grambling State (1-2)
Friday, Sept. 1 | 5:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Listen (SFAVolleyblog.net)
SFA (3-1) at Mississippi State (1-2)
Saturday, Sept. 2 | 9:00 a.m. | Watch (SEC Network+) | Live Stats | Listen (SFAVolleyblog.net)
SFA (3-1) vs. Tulane (3-1)
Saturday, Sept. 2 | 1:00 p.m. | Live Stats | Listen (SFAVolleyblog.net)
THE FIRST SERVE
• Making the program's first-ever trip to Starkville, Miss., the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team is one of five squads from four different conferences that make up the field for the Mississippi State Bulldog Invitational. SFA rides into SEC country sporting a three-match winning streak following a Wednesday evening triumph at Louisiana-Monroe.
• While in the Magnolia State, SFA will do battle with all four of the other teams that comprise the Mississippi State Bulldog Invitational field - South Florida, Grambling State, Mississippi State and Tulane. That four-match slate begins Friday at 10:00 a.m. when SFA takes on South Florida before wrapping up the first day of the invite with a 5:00 p.m. match with Grambling State.
• Saturday's pair of matches pit the Ladyjacks against the host Bulldogs at 9:00 a.m. before their four-match slate ends at 1:00 p.m. with a showdown against Tulane.
• Live stats will be available for every one of the Ladyjacks' matches in Starkville and SFA's tilt against Mississippi State will be streamed live on SEC Network+.
• Also making the journey of roughly seven hours from Nacogdoches to Starkville is long-time Ladyjack volleyball aficionado Greg Miller who is set to call all four of SFA's matches in the Mississippi State Bulldog Invitational on SFAVolleyblog.net.
LAST TIME OUT
• Junior Haley Coleman turned in her second double-double of 2017 - a 13-kill, 13-dig effort - as SFA ran its winning streak over Louisiana-Monroe to four with a 3-0 triumph on the Warhawks home court of Fant-Ewing Coliseum Wednesday night.
• Thanks largely to a strong defensive effort by the Ladyjacks, Louisiana-Monroe hit only .034 in the match. That's the lowest single-match attack percentage by an SFA opponent this season and Louisiana-Monroe remained winless in both matches and total sets played in 2017 as a result.
• Junior Makenzee Hanna continued an exceptionally strong start at the service line to start her days as an upperclassman. The DeSoto, Texas, product hit pay dirt on another pair of aces to up her 2017 total to eight. That total is tops in the Southland Conference and 17th among all NCAA Division I volleyball players.
• Hanna was equally as effective on defense, racking up a team-best three block assists in the victory. As of Thursday morning, her 14 total blocks represent the most by any player in the Southland Conference and she is one of five players around the 13-team league with a blocks per set average of 1.00 or better.
• Not only did Wednesday night's match represent SFA's third-straight win, it also gave head coach Debbie Humphreys a victory on her birthday. Since the year 2000, SFA has posted a 5-4 record when playing on Humphreys' birthday.
SCOUTING SOUTH FLORIDA | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Record vs. South Florida | 0-0
• In Nacogdoches, Texas | 0-0
• In Tampa, Fla. | 0-0
• Humphreys vs. South Florida | 0-0
• Serving as the hosts of the USF Invitational one weekend ago, the Bulls collected a 3-0 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff against losses to both Northwestern and Arkansas. The team's three-match slate in Starkville represent the squad's only trio of matches outside the state of Florida until the tail end of September and the Bulls arrive in Starkville led by Priscilla Ehieze and her AAC-leading hitting percentage of .520. Her 2.90 kills per set lead the squad from an offensive standpoint, but four other players are all contributing 2.00 or more kills per set to the team's attack including Reagan Darvey (2.43) Doris Carter (2.13) and Nikkia Benitez (2.00). In the back row, Maria McLamb has racked up 45 digs (4.50 per set) to lead the Bulls' defensive effort.
SCOUTING GRAMBLING STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Record vs. Grambling State | 9-0
• In Nacogdoches, Texas | 7-0
• In Grambling, La. | 1-0
• At neutral sites | 1-0
• Humphreys vs. Grambling State | 9-0
• In search of its first-ever win over SFA as well as its first triumph over an NCAA Division I opponent in 2017, the Tigers' offensive efforts are headed up by Chasity Nicks and her team-best 19 kills (2.11 per set). She is one of three players on the roster who average 2.00 kills per set with the others being Tess Reynolds (2.20) and Kitagbe Cisse (2.25).
SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Record vs. Mississippi State | 4-0
• In Nacogdoches, Texas | 2-0
• In Starkville, Miss. | 0-0
• At neutral sites | 2-0
• Humphreys vs. Mississippi State | 0-0
• Each and every time SFA has met Mississippi State in the past, the result has been a win by the Ladyjacks and in order to push its all-time record over the Bulldogs to 5-0 the team will have to slow down an offense that ranks in the upper tier of the SEC. The Bulldogs are tops in the league in terms of total service aces (24) and get their kills from three primary sources - all of whom average 3.00 kills per set or higher. Foremost among that group is Jelena Vujcin who has totaled 55 terminations (3.93 per set). She is followed by Sara Maddox (3.50 kills/set) and Khristian Carr (3.00). Morgan Kath is the motor that runs the Bulldogs' offense as she averages 10.64 assists per set while Gabby Zgunda (4.71 digs/set) gets is done defensively.
SCOUTING TULANE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Record vs. Tulane | 4-2
• In Nacogdoches, Texas | 1-1
• In New Orleans, La. | 2-1
• At neutral sites | 1-1
• Humphreys vs. Tulane | 4-2
• Both of the Ladyjacks' losses to Tulane have come in the last two meetings between the two clubs and as of Thursday morning SFA and Tulane are the only two teams who are on winning streaks of three matches. After dropping their season opener at Louisiana, the Green Wave bounced back and defeated the Ragin' Cajuns 3-0 before bouncing South Alabama twice last Saturday. Tulane boasts two of the nation's best in terms of service and back-row defense in Justine Bowers and Kaylie McHugh. Bowers has already totaled 10 aces through four matches and ranks fifth nationally in that statistical category while McHugh's dig total of 79 is the 14th-highest among all NCAA Division I volleyball players. Offensively, the Green Wave have no shortage of kill-generating options as the team boasts five players who average two or more kills per set. Heading up that list is Dayna Kern (2.73 per set ) and Lexie Douglas (2.67 per set).
COMING UP NEXT
• At long last, the Ladyjacks make their 2017 Shelton Gym debut by serving as the host of the Holiday Inn Express SFA Volleyball Invitational. SFA welcomes Texas Southern, Tulsa, Colgate and Little Rock to Shelton Gym for the two-day invitational which is scheduled to start on Friday, Sept. 8.
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