Stephen F. Austin
University of Central Arkansas
Ladyjacks Start Southland Schedule by Battling Central Arkansas
9/20/2017 10:01:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
SFA has won five-straight Southland Conference openers dating back to 2012
Stephen F. Austin (12-4) vs. Central Arkansas (11-1)
Thursday, September 21 | 6:30 p.m. | Shelton Gym (600) | Nacogdoches, Texas
Live Stats | Watch (ESPN3/ESPN app) | SFA Match Notes
THE FIRST SERVE
• A pair of Southland Conference heavyweights are set to collide inside Shelton Gym Thursday evening when Stephen F. Austin battles Central Arkansas at 6:30 p.m. in a match that signals the beginning of conference play for both squads.
• The Ladyjacks and Sugar Bears are the only two squads in the 13-team Southland Conference that have posted 10 or more triumphs so far in 2017 and UCA heads into Shelton Gym armed with a three-match winning streak - the longest current streak in the league.
•Only one team from the 13-team Southland Conference can claim to hold an above-.500 record against SFA and that team is Central Arkansas. The Ladyjacks and Sugar Bears split the two regular season meetings between the clubs in 2016 with each squad earning a 3-0 victory at home and with those results UCA leads the all-time series between the two programs by a 13-5 margin.
• Dating back to 2012, SFA won each of its last five Southland Conference openers and since the Ladyjacks joined the league prior to the start of the 1988 season they have gone 20-9 in conference openers.
• Each and every point of the matchup between SFA and Central Arkansas will be carried nationwide on ESPN3 and the ESPN app with the always-knowledgable Greg Miller providing play-by-play and analysis.
LAST TIME OUT
• A weekend in Houston, Texas, as one of four participants in the Rice Adidas Invitational II yielded a four-set win for Georgetown followed by losses to Arkansas State (3-0) and Rice (3-2) for the Ladyjacks.
• SFA's victory over Georgetown pushed the Ladyjacks' all-time record over current BIG EAST members to 4-3. It was also SFA's first victory over a current member of the BIG EAST since the Ladyjacks bested Butler by a 3-0 score on September 7, 2012.
• Junior Makenzee Hanna earned a spot on the Rice Adidas Invitational II All-Tournament Team. It was the second all-tournament team selection for Hanna in 2017 who upped her hitting percentage to .333 - the fourth-highest figure among all Southland Conference players.
• In addition to her accuracy on the attacking front, Hanna averaged 1.06 blocks per set through the three-match invitational. That hiked her blocks per set average for 2017 to 0.96 - the seventh-highest in the Southland Conference. Additionally, the junior's 55 total blocks are the third-most of all student-athletes in the 13-team league.
SCOUTING CENTRAL ARKANSAS | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Record vs. Central Arkansas | 5-13
• In Nacogdoches, Texas | 3-5
• In Conway, Ark. | 2-7
• At neutral sites | 0-1
• Humphreys vs. Central Arkansas | 5-13
• Winners of 11 of its first 12 matches, Central Arkansas has matched the program's best start to a season in its short time as an NCAA Division I member. Seven of those 11 triumphs have come by scores of 3-0 and in their most recent tilt the Sugar Bears emerged as the victors in their first five-set match of the season - a neutral-site confrontation with Tulsa who also pushed SFA to five sets in Shelton Gym on September 8.
• Through the first four weeks of the regular season, three of the eight Southland Conference Player of the Week award winners have worn UCA colors. Samantha Anderson took home the league's first Offensive Player of the Week award on August 28 and sophomore setter Elizabeth Armstrong earned the title of Offensive Player of the Week Monday afternoon after averaging 11 assists per set en route to the title of tournament MVP at the Oral Roberts Invitational.
• Armstrong leads the Southland Conference by dishing out 10.40 assists per set and runs an offense that leads the 13-team league in kills per set (13.90) and is tied with SFA for first in the conference with a team attack percentage of .241.
• No matter where Armstrong happens to set the ball, there are individuals who are more than happy to rack up the kills. Four Central Arkansas regulars average 2.2 or more kills per set and Anderson leads that quartet by hammering down 3.37 termination per frame on the strength of a .350 attack percentage. Both of those figures are among the top three in terms of all Southland Conference players and fueled further by Haley Tippett (3.21 kills per set ), Abbie Harry (2.81 kills per set) and Megan Nash (2.23 kills per set) the Sugar Bears' offense represents one of the most varied - and dangerous - in the league.
• Everything starts with the service game for Central Arkansas and the Sugar Bears possess one of the nation's best in that area. UCA averages 1.83 service aces per set - the best average in the Southland Conference and the 11th-best average among all NCAA Division I volleyball teams. Individually, Nash leads the way for Central Arkansas with 18 aces and a Southland Conference-best 0.45 aces per set average. In all, four UCA players have racked up 11 or more aces through the early stages of the season.
SOUTHLAND SUPREMACY
• Far more often than not, the Ladyjacks have found themselves on the winning side of the scoreboard in Southland Conference matches when Debbie Humphreys occupies the coaching chair. Now in her 30th season, Humphreys is the owner of an astounding 335-117 record in Southland Conference matches.
• Of the 21 current and former institutions that have competed under the Southland Conference banner, only Central Arkansas (133-43, .756 win %) holds a better winning percentage in Southland matches than the Ladyjacks' mark of .744.
• Under Humphreys' watch, the Ladyjacks have finished below the .500 mark in Southland Conference play only five times through 29 seasons dating back to 1988.
• On three occasions, Stephen F. Austin has made it through the entire Southland Conference schedule without suffering a setback. The most recent of those campaigns took place in 2014 when SFA laid claim to its eighth league crown. Prior to that, SFA ran the table in 2005 (19-0) and 2006 (16-0).
SHELTON SUCCESS
• Following a brief period of time in which the Ladyjacks played their home games in William R. Johnson Coliseum, Shelton Gym reclaimed its title as SFA's home facility prior to the start of the 2011 season. Since then, the Ladyjacks have posted a 57-20 (.740) record in the facility.
• In program history, Shelton Gym has been remarkably kind to the Ladyjacks. SFA has gone 187-55 all-time in the facility - a mark which translates to a .773 winning percentage.
• Since Debbie Humphreys has been the head coach of Stephen F. Austin, the Ladyjacks' record in Shelton Gym stands at 183-51. That works out to a .782 winning percentage.
• Shelton Gym was the home of the Ladyjacks from its first season of volleyball until 2000. From 2000-2010, SFA played its home games at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
START ME UP
• Through its first 12 matches of the 2017 campaign, SFA posted an 11-1 record. That record included an 11-match winning streak which at the time was the longest active winning streak in the nation.
• SFA's 11-1 start was the team's best over the first 12 matches in the history of the program. Prior to 2017, the program's best record through its first 12 matches of the season was 10-2 which happened in 2008, 2005, 1998, 1994 and 1993.
• The 11-match winning streak the Ladyjacks possessed was the eighth-longest in the history of the program. SFA has posted four winning streaks of 20 or more matches with its longest coming in 2006 when the team strung together 26 consecutive triumphs.
NON-CONFERENCE, NON-ISSUE
• With its non-conference schedule in the books, the Ladyjacks head into Southland Conference play with 10 or more victories for the first time since 2009.
• Through SFA's 16-match non-conference schedule, no fewer than seven different Ladyjacks earned spots on various all-tournament teams and SFA claimed a pair of tournament titles. The Ladyjacks emerged as the victors in the Mississippi State Bulldog Invitational and the Holiday Inn Express SFA Invitational.
CAIN CLIMBS THE CHARTS
• Now in her second season as the Ladyjacks' libero after spending the first two years of her collegaite career as a defensive specialist, senior Lexus Cain has already etched her name into the progarm's record books.
• For her career, Cain has amassed 1,316 digs - the 10th-most in a career in the history of SFA volleyball.
• Since the start of the 2016 season, the Amarillo, Texas, product has scooped up 10 or more digs in 43 of SFA's 47 matches and has never posted back-to-back matches of fewer than 10 digs in that same span.
FOLLOW OUR LEAD
• With the Ladyjacks' non-conference numbers all tallied up, SFA leads the Southland Conference in no fewer than seven statistical categories including hitting percentage (.241), opponent hitting percentage (.160), total assists (686), total blocks (118), total kills (741), total service aces (89) and total attack attempts (2,054).
ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN
• If there's one thing that SFA opponents have learned while scouting the Ladyjacks in 2017, it's that the team has a multitude of different weapons it can go to to generate kills.
• Although junior Haley Coleman is the only person on SFA's roster who resides among the top ten kill per set generators in the Southland Conference (10th, 2.78 kills per set), sophomores Corin Evans (2.71 kills per set) and Danae Daron (2.29 kills per set) both average 2.00 kills per set or more to round out the top three offensive threats for the Ladyjacks.
• Of the 16 matches the Ladyjacks have taken part in, they have had seven different players lead the team in kills. Tops among that group is Coleman who has produced team highs in kills during seven of SFA's matches.
• On the list of the top ten players in terms of hitting percentage in the Southland Conference, SFA is one of two teams in the league to boast two players on that list. Junior Makenzee Hanna ranks fourth in the conference with a .333 attack percentage while sophomore Danae Daron (.325 attack percentage) ranks sixth on the list.
EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE
• A strong and tight defense - both in the front row and in the back line - has been another component of the Ladyjacks' successes to begin the 2017 season.
• Sophomore Shayla Eagleton and junior Makenzee Hanna lead SFA in terms of blocks per set by averaging 0.96 rejections per frame. Their blocks per set average is the seventh-best in the Southland Conference and SFA is one of three teams in the league with multiple players in the top ten in blocks per set.
• Lexus Cain leads SFA in terms of digs per set with 4.17, but three other players who have been in SFA's regular rotation - Haley Coleman (2.96), Corin Evans (2.55) and Ann Hollas (2.24) - are all averaging at least two digs per set as well.
• Added all together, that SFA defense has held opponents to a hitting percentage of just .160 - the best opponent hitting percentage figure in the Southland and the 41st-best nationally.
SERVES YOU RIGHT
• Bringing a great deal of pressure from the service line is always a goal of the Ladyjacks, but they have been especially successful in that department through the first 16 matches of the season.
• Six players - Ann Hollas (19), Corin Evans (17), Makenzee Hanna (14), Haley Coleman (11) , McKenzie Brewer (11) and Lexus Cain (10) - have each racked up 10 or more aces so far this season. Hollas' 19 aces lead the team and work out to an average of 0.32, but by virtue of having played in fewer sets than Hollas, Evans' average of 0.33 aces per set leads the team and ranks ninth in the Southland Conference.
• As a team, SFA has racked up 89 service aces compared to only 48 by their opponents. That total is the highest in the Southland Conference and the eighth highest in the nation. The Ladyjacks' aces per set average of 1.51 also stands as the third-best in the Southland Conference and the 70th-best nationally.
• Tulane bore the brunt of a massive service attack by the Ladyjacks on Saturday, Sept. 2. SFA racked up 11 aces in that four-set victory - the most by the team in a match this season. Evans swung for four of those aces and in all four Ladyjacks racked up multiple aces in the victory.
COMING UP NEXT
• Separated by less than 100 miles, SFA and Northwestern State will take part in the 56th installment of their longstanding Southland Conference rivalry when the two teams match up inside Shelton Gym at 1:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
-SFA-
