Stephen F. Austin
10-1
Colgate University
7-2
Ladyjacks Claim Holiday Inn Express SFA Invitational Tournament Crown with Wins over Colgate and Little Rock
9/9/2017 11:40:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Cain named MVP, Brewer and Evans collect All-Tournament accolades as SFA's winning streak hits 11
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin made all the right moves in Shelton Gym Saturday, improving to 11-1 on the season and capturing the Holiday Inn Express SFA Invitational title with a four-set win over Colgate followed up with a 3-0 triumph over Little Rock in last game of the invitational.
The wins - 11 in a row to be precise - just keep on coming for the Ladyjacks who are off to their best start in the history of the program. Senior Lexus Cain was named the MVP of the tournament while junior McKenzie Brewer and sophomore Corin Evans each earned a spot on the all-tournament team as a result of their efforts.
Match One | SFA 3, Colgate 1
It would have been difficult for the Ladyjacks to match the pure power of Colgate's offensive weapons, so instead of trying to out-gun the Raiders SFA kept the pressure on their New York adversaries from the service line to keep them off-kilter.
SFA fired in eight service aces and received a grand total of 30 points off of Colgate service errors (12) and attack attempts that went either long or wide (18) to make sure its winning streak reached double-digits. The Ladyjacks secured their win despite finishing with fewer kills (49-41) and blocks (10-7) than the Raiders.
"The thing I think we did better than anything else this weekend was make our opponents really uncomfortable with our service game," said Ladyjacks' head coach Debbie Humphreys. "When we can do that, we dictate the tempo of the the match and we're had so many different people step up for us on any given night at any different position which makes it very difficult for people to stop us."
Corin Evans turned in a 12-kill, 10-dig double-double and Ann Hollas added a 20-assist, 10-dig double-double of her own. Lexus Cain dug up a team-high 13 attack attempts and leading the way at the service line was Makenzee Hanna who collected a trio of SFA's aces. Offensively, the Ladyjacks hit .236 in the match while 26 attack errors limited the Raiders' offensive effectiveness to a hitting percentage of just .163.
Colgate carried a 19-16 lead into the final stage of the first set, but consecutive attack errors by Katie Stansbury followed up with a kill from McKenzie Brewer knotted matters at 19. The score was tied at 20 and 22 before kills from Coleman, Daron and Evans helped the Ladyjacks close out the frame on a 3-1 run to take a 1-0 lead.
The Raiders battled back in the second frame after SFA's attack backed off substantially. In the second set, the Ladyjacks totaled only five kills against three errors to hit .069 but Colgate did not suffer from those same offensive difficulties. Six of the 25 points scored by Colgate in the frame came off of service aces which helped the Raiders open up a 20-12 lead.
On the serve of Hanna, SFA pulled within two points, 20-18, by going on a 6-0 run. An attack error by Jaelah Hutchison cut Colgate's lead to 22-21, but Hutchison recovered to punch down a pair of kills during the Raiders' 3-0 run to finish the set and tie things at 1-1.
Four different SFA players put down one kill in a 5-1 SFA run to start the third frame. The Ladyjacks never trailed in the set and pushed their lead to nine, 17-8, with another 4-0 run midway through the frame.
Kills from Anyia Williams and Evans in the last stages of the set helped SFA finish off the Raiders to open up a 2-1 lead.
Primed to force a fifth set, Colgate secured a 10-9 lead but once again Hanna's aggressive service game made the Raiders change their plans. The junior served up another ace and Colgate committed five unforced errors during an 8-1 SFA run that pushed the Ladyjacks' lead to 18-11.
Down the stretch, Hanna and Anyia Williams teamed up for a pair of blocks and SFA finished the set with a 4-0 run consisting of one of those aforementioned rejections, a service ace from Hollas, a kill from Coleman and a Colgate error to take the match.
Match Two | SFA 3, Little Rock 0
Powered by a three-pronged offensive attack, the Ladyjacks claimed the title of Holiday Day Inn Express SFA Invitational champions with a straight-set triumph over Little Rock in the final match of the evening. Daron and Coleman punched down 14 kills apiece while Evans added 10 of her own and completed her double-double with 10 digs.
Directing an SFA offense that hit .310 in the victory, Hollas passed out a match-best 31 assists and completed a double-double by scooping up 13 digs. Coleman added a match-best 16 digs which helped the Ladyjacks limit Little Rock to an attacking clip of just .155.
Although they weren't able to negate the Trojans' offensive firepower entirely, the Ladyjacks did a fine job of limiting the damage by Little Rock's powerful outsides. No Trojan exceeded eight kills and Little Rock never hit above .180 in any of the three sets.
Even though the final result was a favorable one for SFA, it was the Trojans who jumped out to an early lead in two of the three sets. Four different Little Rock players struck for kills as part of a 5-1 run by the Trojans to open the game.
Little Rock kept up their early lead by holding an 11-7 advantage over the Ladyjacks before SFA changed its fortunes with a well-timed scoring run. Through a set-changing 13-1 surge, Daron pounded down three kills while Coleman and Hanna added two more each to push SFA ahead 20-12.
That lead was more than enough to keep the Trojans at bay for the rest of the set and Lexus Cain gave SFA a 1-0 lead by ending the frame with her only service ace of the night.
The squads traded the first six points of set two before SFA broke a 3-3 deadlock with a 4-1 run featuring one of Evans' two service aces and a sneaky touch kill from McKenzie Brewer. In all, the Ladyjacks smashed 15 kills to the floor of Shelton Gym throughout the to run away with a win in the second frame.
Two Little Rock blocks helped the Trojans claim an 11-10 lead in the third and final set before SFA showed off its own defensive prowess. Uncorking a 6-0 run which featured a rare kill from Cain, a service ace from Coleman and two block assists off the mitts of Alexis Alexander, SFA opened up a 16-11 lead and never trailed again.
Even though Daisha Gillard's kill trimmed the Ladyajcks' lead to 22-20 late, SFA managed to close things out by receiving a pair of kills from Daron and one more from Coleman.
A former Southland Conference adversary comes to Nacogdoches on Tuesday evening to wrap up the Ladyjacks' five-match home stand. SFA meets up with Texas State at 6:30 p.m. that day in its final non-conference home match of the regular season.
-SFA-
