Stephen F. Austin
12-2
Georgetown University
6-5
SFA Returns to Win Column, Defeats Georgetown 3-1 in Houston
9/15/2017 6:08:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Three Ladyjacks generate 10 or more kills in first meeting between SFA and Georgetown
HOUSTON - Paced by 12 kills apiece from Haley Coleman and Makenzee Hanna as well as 10 more from Peyton Redmond, the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team returned to its winning ways by downing Georgetown, 3-1, in the second match of the Rice Adidas Invitational II at Tudor Fieldhouse on Friday afternoon.
Although they were unable to match the Hoyas' height across the board, that didn't stop SFA from getting the upper hand on their rivals from out east in a number of defensive categories. In addition to her team-leading kill total, Hanna led a great front-row defensive effort by amassing six block assists that helped the Ladyjacks out-block Georgetown by a 9-3 margin.
"We passed really, really well tonight and as a result were able to put up some pretty ridiculous offensive numbers," said SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys who watched her team exceed the .300 attack percentage in three of the four sets. "Lexus Cain had a phenomenal match in the back row and for all the good things we did tonight there there is still so much more we can improve on."
Cain racked up a match-high 20 digs and that defensive effort helped limit the Hoyas to an attack percentage of .173 throughout the match.
"We have been getting matches where two or three members of our team really go off and excel," Humphreys continued. "The question is, what's going to happen when we all have one of those nights? We haven't had that happen just yet but we've have enough pieces to make it happen and it's something that we need to have happen if we want to accomplish our goals."
Georgetown came out firing and racked up seven of its 12 kills in the first set as part of a 10-6 run to start the match before SFA made its move.
On the serve of Redmond, SFA managed to erase its early deficit by accumulating eight of the next nine points to open up a 14-11 advantage. Through the surge, Redmond pounded down three kills while Coleman and Corin Evans added one apiece.
With that, SFA never trailed for the remainder of the frame and although the Hoyas trimmed the Ladyjacks' lead to one point on two occasions SFA responded with scores of its own each time to maintain their edge. The Ladyjacks finished off their 16-kill assault in the opening frame by receiving a set-ending termination from Danae Daron who helped her squad hit .306 in the set.
Redmond's serve continued to be the Ladyjacks' ace in the hole as the second set as SFA was forced to erase yet another Georgetown lead. Following a 4-1 run by the Hoyas that put the Ladyjacks' deficit at 10-9, SFA scored the next five points beginning with a termination from Redmond and ending with another off of the hand of Daron to go up 14-10.
The Ladyjacks' offense enjoyed its peak performance in the set as well as SFA generated another 16 kills on only 26 swings against three errors for an attack percentage of .500. Five of those terminations came during SFA's 7-1 surge to close the frame.
Things took a worrisome detour in the third frame after the Ladyjacks' offense unraveled and posted only seven kills. All of the problems the Hoyas had through the first two frames were not present in the third as they racked up eight kills during an 11-4 run to close out the set.
Those problems SFA had, however, were limited to just one frame as the Ladyjacks returned to their previous efficient form in the final set. Six kills, five unforced Georgetown attack errors and a service ace from Cain helped the Ladyjacks start the frame on a 13-4 run and from there the Hoyas remained in the rearview mirror.
Georgetown managed to close within five points, 20-15, before SFA closed things out by receiving four kills from three different players as part of a 5-1 run to end the match.
Coming into the match, Georgetown's Symone Speech had posted an attack percentage of .475 while averaging 3.67 kills per set in 2017. SFA made sure to quiet the Hoyas' go-to player and she finished with a pedestrian - by her standards - line of nine kills and five errors on 21 swings (.190 attack percentage). Aima Eichie finished with a team-high 12 kills to lead Georgetown while Paige McKnight passed out a match-best 34 assists.
SFA's final pair of non-conference tilts of the 2017 regular season are set to take place Saturday at Tudor Fieldhouse. At 12:30 p.m. the Ladyjacks will match up with Sun Belt west division favorites Arkansas State before closing out their two-match day with a showdown against host Rice at 6:00 p.m.
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