Stephen F. Austin
20-2,7-0
Incarnate Word
4-14, 2-6
Double-Doubles from Brewer and Coleman Help SFA Rip Incarnate Word and Reach 20-Win Mark
10/11/2018 8:32:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Ladyjacks stay perfect in Southland Conference action, run winning streak to 17
SAN ANTONIO - Playing without one of their most formidable front-row presences, the SFA volleyball team still managed to make short work of yet another foe and reached a milestone in the process.
Senior outside hitter Haley Coleman turned in a 10-kill, 12-dig double-double, senior setter McKenzie Brewer added a 15-assist, 11-dig double-double of her own and the Ladyjacks handled Incarnate Word, 3-0, Thursday night at the McDermott Convocation Center to become the first NCAA Division I volleyball team in the nation to reach the 20-win mark.
The win, SFA's 17th in a row, kept the Ladyjacks atop the Southland Conference standings and pushed the team's record to 20-2 and a perfect 7-0 in league action. It also marked the team's fifth-consecutive season of 20 or more wins and the 22nd in the tenure of 31st-year head coach Debbie Humphreys.
SFA got the victory without the services of junior middle blocker Danae Daron, but Incarnate Word was also missing a big piece of their attack as senior outside hitter Autumn Lockley - the Cardinals' leader in kills per set - was not in uniform, either.
SET ONE | SFA 25, Incarnate Word 18
• With each team trying to get the job done without the services of one of their big boppers, it was SFA who managed to draw first blood largely due to the duo of Ann Hollas and Anyia Williams.
• Though the Ladyjacks finished with just one more kill than the Cardinals in the set (11-10), it was SFA's front-row defense and Incarnate Word's inaccurate attack that helped the visitors open up the lead. Hollas racked up three block assists and the Cardinals committed seven unforced attack errors in the frame to stall their offense - which was already without the hard-hitting services of senior outside hitter Autumn Lockley - even more.
• Senior Makenzee Hanna fired in a kill and Anyia Williams added the first of her four terminations in the frame during SFA's 6-2 run to begin the match and the Ladyjacks never looked back.
• Though the Cardinals narrowed the gap to 14-12 with a 6-1 run featuring a pair of service aces by Pilar Gonzaba, the Ladyjacks recovered by watching Haley Coleman begin a 3-0 run to answer things with a kill.
• SFA's setters finished things off in the set with Hollas putting down a pair of kills and senior McKenzie Brewer adding one of her own during the Ladyjacks' 7-3 surge to end the frame.
• The Ladyjacks held the Cardinals to a .000 attack percentage in the opening set
SET TWO | SFA 26, Incarnate Word 24
• The service pressure that was absent from SFA's corner in the opening frame was there in spades early in the middle frame. Peyton Redmond put in a pair of service aces while Hollas added one of her own during the Ladyjacks' 4-1 run to begin things.
• Redmond added a kills during a 5-1 SFA run that pushed the visitors' edge to 12-7 before Incarnate Word started feeding Bethany Clapp and Maddie Slaughter in an attempt to make a comeback.
• Slaughter conjured up a pair of aces and added two kills while Clapp added a termination and a block assist during Incarnate Word's 9-2 run that handed the home team a 16-14 lead.
• UIW remained in front until Anyia Williams pounded down a no-doubt termination to start a 2-0 run by the Ladyjacks that put them up 20-19. Redmond and Hollas helped SFA break a 20-20 deadlock by putting down one kill apiece in SFA's 3-0 run that made matters 23-20 but the Cardinals would not fly away without a fight.
• Clapp added two more terminations while Slaughter turned in one of her own to help UIW pull even at 24-24. The Cardinals' hopes, however, were dashed after a ball handling error was called on Gonzaba which gave SFA the lead. Coleman finished things off with a kill - her third of the set - to put SFA up 2-0.
SET THREE | SFA 25, Incarnate Word 20
• Wanting to get on the road as quickly as possible, SFA watched its offense run at its most efficient clip of the night in the third and final frame. The Ladyjacks hit .326 in the set and racked up 17 of their 40 terminations.
• The teams swapped points throughout the early stages of the frame before SFA broke a 10-10 deadlock with a 3-1 spurt featuring kills from Coleman and Anyia Williams.
• That gave the visitors the separation they needed and another 4-1 run - this one kick-started with the first collegiate kill from freshman middle blocker Neena Perdue - upped SFA's edge to 18-14.
• It was Perdue who capped SFA's fifth Southland Conference sweep of the season, ending SFA's 5-3 match-clinching run with her second and final termination of the night.
KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• In order to lock up the win, SFA hit .236 and held the Cardinals to an attacking clip of .158 in the match. Though both teams increased their effectiveness on offense as the match progressed, SFA used a 7-3 edge in blocks to get the better of Incarnate Word for the seventh time in nine all-time meetings.
• Coleman may have finished with the most kills, but it was Redmond who won the points battle for the Ladyjacks Thursday night. The senior finished with nine kills and three of SFA's four service aces to wrap up a 12-point night. Redmond also scooped up nine digs.
• Reigning Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week Marisabel Torres picked up right where she left off by diving for a match-high 16 digs to go along with one of SFA's 38 assists.
• Hollas finished with team-high honors in assists (20) and blocks (five) while posting four kills and a winner from the service line.
• Anyia Williams hit a team-best .500 in the victory, finishing with seven kills and four block assists.
• Brewer's 15-assist, 11-dig double-double was her fourth double-double of the season while Coleman's 10-kill, 12-dig job was also her fourth of 2018.
• Julia Monday and Maddie Slaughter each finished with 10 kills to lead Incarnate Word's offensive attack. Slaughter added two of the team's four service aces while Gonzaba added the other two to compliment her 34-assist, 12-dig double-double.
QUOTABLE
SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys on playing without the services of Danae Daron | "It's a challenge for sure and while you want all your pieces healthy we felt like we were going to be better served moving forward if Danae didn't play tonight. That allowed us to give some of our other middles some time and see how they responded. That's the only way we're going to know what they can do for us and tonight Neena got her first real time. She did a nice job by coming in, hitting a nice percentage and showing what she's able to do.
…on SFA's defensive effort | "Incarnate Word played really well tonight. They were in attack mode for the entire match and came at us right from the first serve. They passed really well and they were just being really aggressive offensively. We played really good defense at the net and on the floor and tonight I thought our defense was much better than our offense. You're going to have nights like that, and tonight was one of those night and we found a way to get it done.
…on what to work on with a four-day break between matches | "It's just about being sharp in everything that we're doing and that's certainly what we're going to focus on in our next couple of days of practice. That all starts in serve/receive so we can allow our setters to get into a rhythm. If we can get those first two contacts to happen at a high level I'm confident that our outsides and middle will be able to put those balls away. It's all about rhythm and making sure we have ours tuned up to the level it needs to be at is our primary focus.
…on how to deal with getting every team's best shot night in and night out | "For us it's just about going out and playing aggressive volleyball and finding a way to win because teams are going to come at us. There are talented players on all of the teams and there's teams that have different strength and weaknesses. Once you know that, it becomes more about making those in-game adjustments and trying to gut it out which is what we have had to do time and time again this year."
COMING UP NEXT
• SFA's four-match Southland Conference road swing comes to an end Tuesday evening in Conway, Ark., when the Ladyjacks take the floor or the Prince Center for a high-profile rematch with Central Arkansas. Set for a 6:00 p.m. first serve, the match will be the second of the season between the Ladyjacks and Sugar Bears - the two top teams in the Southland standings.
-SFA-
