Stephen F. Austin
12-3
Arkansas State University
7-6
Ladyjacks Tripped Up by Arkansas State, 3-0
9/16/2017 4:24:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SFA suffers third setback of 2017, Payne puts down season-high 10 kills
HOUSTON - The problems presented by a slow start by the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team were compounded by a potent Arkansas State attack plan as the Ladyjacks dropped a 3-0 decision to the Red Wolves at Tudor Fieldhouse in the penultimate match of the Rice Adidas Invitational II Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore KK Payne generated a season-high 10 kills to lead SFA's offense but Arkansas State operated its offense at an attacking clip of .313 to hand the Ladyjacks just their third loss of 2017.
Makenzee Hanna added nine kills and sophomore Danae Daron put down seven while SFA went away from a 6-2 system it had turned to for a large portion of its non-conference schedule. Sophomore Ann Hollas dished out 28 of SFA's 39 assists as the Ladyjacks' primary setter.
Discombobulated from the start, SFA committed a trio of unforced errors through Arkansas State's 7-1 run to begin the first set. Recovering momentarily after consecutive terminations from Daron and Payne as well as Red Wolves attack error the Ladyjacks cut Arkansas State's lead down to 9-6 but that was as close as SFA would get for the remainder of the frame.
Able to pound down kills seemingly at will, the Red Wolves hit an impressive .484 during the opening frame, racking up 17 of the 25 points required with terminations. While the Ladyjacks did manage to put up a decent attack percentage of .241 on the strength of 11 kills against four errors on 29 swings, Arkansas State's hot start proved insurmountable.
The squads swapped points during the early stages of the middle frame before Arkansas State managed to string together scores and take the lead for the rest of the set. Following a Haley Coleman kill that knotted matters at six, a termination from the Red Wolves' Carlisa May and a subsequent bad set by McKenzie Brewer pushed Arkansas State up by an 8-6 tally.
On seven occasions, SFA managed to whittle Arkansas State's lead down to just one point. The last time the Ladyjacks closed to within one was following another termination from Daron which made matters 21-20. Following that winner, the Red Wolves turned back to their offense and took a 2-0 lead by using a 4-1 run featuring a trio of kills from two different players.
Needing a strong start in the third frame to force a fourth set, five different Ladyjacks smashed down kills during SFA's 5-3 surge to begin the frame. Through the set, SFA managed to maintain that lead as it stood at 18-16 following an Arkansas State service error.
Following that error, however, the Red Wolves put up four unanswered points on two SFA attack errors as well as terminations from Timber Terrell and Drew Jones to take a 20-18 lead. Again SFA managed to shrink Arkansas State's lead to one point but much like what transpired in the middle frame the Red Wolves took off on a 4-1 run to close the set and the match.
Drew and May tied for match-high honors with 12 kills to pace the Red Wolves' offensive operation. Defensively, Peyton Redmond (12), Lexus Cain (11) and Coleman (10) posted double-digits in digs to lead the Ladyjacks defensively.
At 6:00 p.m. Saturday evening, SFA is scheduled to cross paths with host Rice inside Tudor Fieidhouse to close out their three-game swing at the Owls' Adidas Invitational II.
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