Stephen F. Austin
Southeastern Louisiana
Ladyjacks Head to Hammond for Thursday Night Tilt at Southeastern Louisiana
10/3/2018 5:20:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SFA hopes to stay perfect in Southland play while on four-match road trip
Match Twenty
SFA (17-2, 4-0 Southland) at Southeastern Louisiana (1-14, 0-4 Southland)
Thursday, Oct. 4 | 7:00 p.m. | Hammond, La. | University Center (7,500)
Live Stats | Watch ($) | Listen (SFAVolleyblog.net) | SFA Match Notes (PDF)
Play-by-Play/Analysis (SFAVolleyblog.net) • Greg Miller
THE FIRST SERVE
• Following a month of September in which it spent all but one day inside Texas state lines, the SFA volleyball team heads out on a lengthy Louisiana road trip to continue Southland Conference action. Riding a 14-match winning streak, the Ladyjacks embark on a 300-plus mile journey to Hammond, La., Thursday night for a 7:00 p.m. showdown with league adversary Southeastern Louisiana.
• Longtime Ladyjack volleyball backer Greg Miller is also headed out on the road to Louisiana where he will deliver his hard-hitting brand of play-by-play and analysis of Thursday night's match over an internet radio stream available at SFAVolleyblog.net.
• In the first edition of the NCAA's volleyball RPI which was released Monday afternoon, SFA's RPI stood at a Southland Conference-best 47. That's the highest RPI for the team since the final RPI listing of the 2006 season put the team at 43rd. The next closest Southland Conference institution on Monday's RPI list was Central Arkansas who boasted a ranking of 137.
• The Ladyjacks head out on their four-match road swing in possession of a 14-match winning streak. That streak is the third-longest in the nation behind only eighth-ranked Pittsburgh and top-ranked BYU, both of whom have reeled off 15-straight wins. In addition to SFA, 13th-ranked Cal Poly has also picked up 14-straight victories.
• No NCAA Division I volleyball team in the nation has exceeded SFA's win total, but one team has matched it. Both SFA and Valparaiso have 17 wins to their credit in 2018. Four of SFA's wins are of the Southland Conference variety and the Ladyjacks are one of two teams in the league who have yet to suffer a loss in conference action. Around the nation, there are 60 squads including SFA who have not los a conference tilt through the early stages of league play.
• SFA continues to lead the Southland Conference in a number of statistical categories including blocks per set (2.51), hitting percentage (.253), kills per set (13.44), win-loss percentage (.895), total assists (816), total kills (887) and total blocks (165.5).
LAST TIME OUT | SFA 3, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0
• A fierce front-row defensive effort coupled with a strong service game helped the Ladyjacks close out the month of September on a winning note as SFA took care of the Islanders in three sets last Saturday afternoon inside Shelton Gym.
• Senior outside hitter Haley Coleman established a new career high by serving up five aces against the Islanders. Those five aces also tie an SFA season-high for individual service aces as freshman Marisabel Torres also accumulated five aces in SFA's 3-0 non-conference victory over Grambling State on Saturday, Sept. 8.
• Junior middle blocker Danae Daron led the charge for the Ladyjacks on offense by slamming down a match-high 12 terminations and hitting a season-best .667. Daron added a pair of service aces, too, to help SFA out-ace the Islanders 7-2.
• As a team, SFA racked up 11 rejections compared to only two by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Junior setter Ann Hollas established a new career high by putting forth a match-best seven block assists while Daron added six block assists of her own.
• Senior setter McKenzie Brewer passed out a team-high 15 assists and co-led an SFA attack that hit .300 in the tilt. Brewer now sits just 13 assists away from an even 1,000 in her collegiate career.
SCOUTING SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
SFA vs. Southeastern Louisiana | 37-6 (.860)
In Nacogdoches, Texas | 18-2 (.900)
In Hammond, La. | 16-3 (.842)
At neutral sites | 3-1 (.750)
Streak | SFA won four
Last five matches | 4-1 (.800)
Last 10 matches | 7-3 (.700)
In three-set matches | 23-2 (.920)
In four-set matches | 12-1 (.923)
In five-set matches | 2-3 (.400)
Humphreys vs. Southeastern Louisiana | 36-5 (.878)
Smoot vs. SFA | 1-7 (.125)
Last meeting | at SLU 0, SFA 3 (10/28/17)
• At home for their next four matches, the Lady Lions will be trying to put a stop to a 14-match losing skid that dates back to Saturday, Aug. 25, when they entertain SFA Thursday night. Southeastern Louisiana's lone victory of 2018 came that day when they bested SWAC adversary Southern by a 3-1 score in Troy, Ala.
• The Lady Lions will also be looking for their first home victory since they scored a 3-1 Southland Conference win over McNeese on October 18, 2016.
• Senior defensive specialist Lexie Torres leads Southeastern Louisiana and ranks 11th in the Southland Conference with a digs per set average of 3.36.
• Offensively, Elyssa Purcell has been leading the Lady Lions' attack with a kills per set average of 1.83. She is one termination away from getting to 100 on the year. Caroline Golden, Maddy Katchen and Jodi Edo are all averaging 1.72 kills per frame but none are hitting above .087.
• Haley Baker (3.65 assists per set) and Michelle Mirarchi (3.39 assists per set) have split time running the Lady Lions' offense which generates 9.75 kills per set on the strength of a .116 attack percentage.
• The lion's share of the work in terms of front-row defense has been done by Sam Gomez who is averaging 0.82 blocks per set. She has been responsible for 41 of the team's 88 blocks including 15 of the team's 27 solo stuffs.
THE TRIO
• A big reason why the Ladyjacks are one of the top blocking teams in the nation has to do with the play of three individuals - Danae Daron, Makenzee Hanna and Anyia Williams.
• Daron posted the 300th block of her career last Saturday in the Ladyjacks' 3-0 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Hanna needs 10 more rejections to hit that same career total.
• Currently Daron ranks third in the Southland with a blocks per set average of 1.17 while her season total of 74 rejections is the second-highest in the Southland and the 34th-highest nationally.
• For her part, Hanna ranks fifth in the Southland and 174th nationally with 59 total rejections. On the Southland charts, Williams' average of 1.07 is the sixth-highest in the league.
• Those three have helped SFA accumulated the 14th-most blocks of all NCAA Division I volleyball teams this season (165.5) while ranking second in the Southland and 41st nationally in opponent hitting percentage (.168).
THE TRIO PART TWO
• Three of Southland Conference's top attackers by percentage are wearing SFA uniforms. Junior middle blocker Danae Daron leads the Ladyjacks and the conference with an attack percentage of .339.
• Sophomore middle blocker Anyia Williams (.316) and senior middle blocker Makenzee Hanna (.312) rank seventh and eighth respectively in the Southland in terms of attack percentage.
NOT TOP TEN
• One of the calling cards of the Ladyjacks is their diversity on offense. Just one player - senior outside hitter Haley Coleman - ranks among the top ten in the Southland in terms of kills per set. Coleman's team leading average of 2.88 terminations per frame is the 10th-best in the 13-team league.
• Senior outside hitter Peyton Redmond (2.53 kills/set) and junior middle blocker Danae Daron (2.48 kills/set) rank 15th and 18th respectively in the league in that statistical category.
• The Ladyjacks have had six different players lead the team in kills at least one time through the team's 19 matches this season.
COMING UP NEXT
• In an early-morning battle, SFA closes out the Louisiana portion of its four-match road swing by entering the cavernous confines of Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches, La., to face off against longtime Louisiana rival Northwestern State. First serve in the Southland Conference skirmish has been set for 11:00 a.m. Saturday morning.
-SFA-
