Stephen F. Austin
6-1
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Mississippi State University
4-3
Ladyjacks Make it Six Straight Wins by Downing Error-Prone Mississippi State
9/2/2017 11:45:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Coleman finishes with 10 kills, five SFA players post five or more
STARKVILLE, Miss. - One of the most common phrases used in gambling parlance states that the house always wins.
That was not the case in Starkville - or Stark Vegas as it is commonly known as - Saturday morning as the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team rolled into the Newell-Grissom Building on a five-match winning streak and with all of the necessary cards to submit a winning hand.
Once again relying on a diverse array of offensive options, five Ladyjacks finished with five or more kills, Ann Hollas posted her third double-double of the season and SFA increased its winning streak to six matches by downing an error-prone Mississippi State squad in three sets.
Hollas passed out 20 assists and McKenzie Brewer added 17 more as SFA struck for 44 kills and hit .311 in the win. Conversely, the Mississippi State attack struggled and finished with 33 kills against 22 errors for a .096 attack percentage. Lexus Cain (19) and Corin Evans (13) each posted double-digit digs to make sure the Bulldogs' chances to find open floor space were few and far between.
Haley Coleman finished with a team-best 10 kills for SFA and sophomores Danae Daron and Xariah Williams added nine and seven respectively in the winning effort - SFA's fifth in a row over Mississippi State. Both Makenzee Hanna (six kills) and Shayla Eagleton (five kills) hit .364 or higher and finished with two blocks apiece.
Each of the squads traded runs throughout the majority of the opening set before the Ladyjacks made their move midway through the frame. Trailing 15-13, SFA got kills from Daron, Evans and Eagleton as part of a 4-0 run which put the Ladyjacks in front.
The teams continued to swap points and drew even at 20-20 before Coleman keyed a 5-1 SFA run to end the frame with a pair of terminations.
Mississippi State's only lead of the final two frames came after it won the first point of the second set. SFA quickly erased that momentary deficit by turning to Daron who punched down a pair of kills and added a block assist in the 6-1 Ladyjack run that followed.
Each time Mississippi State countered with a run of its own, however, SFA came up with an appropriate response to make sure the Bulldogs never jumped in front.
Breaking the fifth and final tie of the frame was the job of Xariah Williams who made matters 16-15 SFA with a touch kill that kick-started a 4-1 Ladyjack run that ensured the visitors would never fall behind or get tied up again.
Six of the Ladyjacks' last eight points in the middle set came courtesy of unforced Mississippi State errors which included four on the attack and two from the service line.
The Mississippi State miscues did not let up in the final frame as three of the Ladyjacks' points through an 8-1 run to open the frame came off of unforced errors by the Bulldogs. Hollas served up her only ace of the match during that surge while Hanna added a pair of kills.
Where the Bulldogs' attack plan sputtered along at an attacking clip of just .037 in the final frame, SFA's thrived. The Ladyjacks pounded down 14 kills on 23 swings with just a single error to post a .565 attack percentage in the last set. Most of those terminations came in the middle portion of the segment as the Ladyjacks needed to turn in just three of them in their 8-2 run at the tail end of the set which clinched the win.
The Ladyjacks won the last four points of the set and Evans had a direct hand in two of them as she posted a kill and an ace through that span.
Mississippi State's Jelena Vujcin swung down on a match-high 14 kills, but no other Bulldog exceeded seven terminations.
Just one opponent stands between the Ladyjacks and a perfect 4-0 weekend from the Magnolia State. That foe is Tulane, who boasts a five-match winning streak of its own and SFA will square off with the Green Wave in search of win number seven in a row at 1:00 p.m. Saturday.
-SFA-
