Stephen F. Austin
7-1
Tulane University
5-2
SFA Overpowers Tulane to Claim Mississippi State Bulldog Invite Title
9/2/2017 4:44:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Coleman named tournament MVP, Daron and Hanna collect All-Tournament honors
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Since the 2017 season started up, the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team has spent less than 24 hours in Nacogdoches due to travel complications brought on by Hurricane Harvey.
Despite playing matches in three states over an eight-day period, the results have proved that the Ladyjacks don't necessarily need a home crowd behind them to get the job done.
Setting the tone with an exceptionally strong service game, SFA laid claim to the title of Mississippi State Bulldog Invitational champions by claiming a 3-1 victory in the final match of the tournament. SFA racked up 11 service aces - four of which came from sophomore Corin Evans and complimented her nine kills and 12 digs.
With the win, the Ladyjacks put an end to the Green Wave's five-match winning streak and hiked their string of successive victories to seven - the program's longest since reeling off 17 in a row en route to the Southland Conference regular season title in 2015.
Along with the team tournament title, a trio of Ladyjacks gathered up some individual hardware as a result of their play throughout the two-day tournament. Haley Coleman captured the title of tournament MVP by submitting a 12-kill, 10-dig outing in SFA's final match. Both Makenzee Hanna and Danae Daron finished with eight kills and five combined block assists to earn spots on the all-tournament team.
Hollas helped SFA's offense hum along at a .248 clip by dishing out 22 assists that complimented her two kills, six digs and three aces. Shayla Eagleton single-handedly out-blocked the Green Wave in the match, finishing with seven block assists and one solo rejection. As a team, SFA owned a 12-4 advantage in blocks over their non-conference foes from the Big Easy.
Plans for another three-set victory went by the wayside in the middle portion of the opening frame when SFA watched Tulane erase a four-point deficit by taking off on a 6-0 surge to take a 19-17 lead - an advantage it would not relinquish for the rest of the frame.
Daron rifled in a kill to tie things at 22-all before Tulane upped its streak of consecutive sets won to 12 by rattling off the final three points of the frame. The Green Wave's finishing move culminated with a service ace from Kaylie McHugh.
Quickly erasing any plans Tulane had to take control in the second set, SFA socked the Green Wave with an 11-4 scoring punch out of the gates which featured a pair of aces and two kills off the hands of Evans.
Tulane's response came in the form of a 7-1 run that cut the Ladyjacks' once-comfortable lead down to just one, 12-11. Anyia Williams, however, started a 4-0 spurt with a kill that gave SFA a five-point cushion once it culminated with a combo block from Hanna and Coleman.
The Green Wave closed to within three, 17-14, before SFA came alive down the stretch and uncorked an 8-4 set-winning surge which was highlighted with kills from four different players. In the set, Tulane's attack percentage diminished greatly as the hit just .053 in the frame compared to a .237 clip in the first set.
Taking the momentum they had gathered up in the second, the Ladyjacks began set three on a 7-0 run. With Hollas' serve guiding them, SFA had three different players hit home on kills in that initial surge. Hollas drove home a pair of aces in that span, too.
That set-opening run proved to be integral for SFA's plans of victory as Tulane closed the gap to just three, 18-15. Fortunately, that was as close as the Green Wave got after another ace from Evans and an Anyia Williams termination sparked a 4-0 run to lift the Ladyjacks' advantage to 22-15. Once Hanna hit the gym floor with her set-ending kill, SFA never fell behind again.
With just 25 more points separating the Ladyjacks from a win, they left little in doubt during set number four. Seven of the frame's first nine points went to SFA and three of those point were made possible by unforced Tulane errors. Back-to-back kills from Coleman pushed the Ladyjacks' edge to eight, 12-4, and thanks to a .355 attack percentage in that set SFA made sure the Green Wave did not get too close.
Tulane closed to within five, 20-15, by scoring three in a row, but out of SFA's timeout the Ladyjacks posted five of the next six points to take the match. The Green Wave committed eight service errors and hit .149 in the loss. Lexie Douglas led the way for Tulane with a match-high 13 kills.
In possession of the Mississippi State Bulldog Invitational championship trophy as well as the longest winning streak in the Southland Conference, the Ladyjacks head back to Nacogdoches for a stretch of five-straight matches beginning with the Holiday Inn Express SFA Volleyball Invite. SFA is set to hunker down in Shelton Gym and start its four-match tournament slate Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. when in takes in intrastate foe Texas Southern.
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