Four Ladyjacks Collect All-Southland Honors, Humphreys Repeats as SLC Coach of the Year
11/14/2018 11:32:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Hollas named Southland Conference Setter of the Year, joins Coleman and Daron on All-Southland First Team
Complete Southland Conference Release
FRISCO, Texas - As a result of its exemplary efforts through the regular season, the SFA volleyball team saw a number of its key players - as well as its head coach - rake in honors from the Southland Conference when the league revealed its major award winners and All-Conference teams Wednesday morning.
SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys was named the Katrinka Jo Crawford Southland Conference Coach of the Year for the second-straight season while junior setter Ann Hollas took home the title of Southland Conference Setter of the Year. Hollas was joined by senior Haley Coleman and junior Danae Daron on the All-Southland Conference First Team while senior Makenzee Hanna earned All-Southland Conference Honorable Mention acclaim.
The Ladyjacks captured the program's 10th Southland Conference title by posting a perfect 16-0 record in league action through the regular season.
For the seventh time in her tenure as the Ladyjacks' leader, Humphreys was named the Katrinka Jo Crawford Coach of the Year after leading SFA to its fourth-ever undefeated run through the Southland Conference regular season. Under the direction of their 31st-year bench boss, the Ladyjacks have amassed a nation-leading 29 victories through the conclusion of the regular season and own the nation's longest active winning streak at 26 matches.
Through career so far, Humphreys has accumulated 691 total victories which are the 14th-most by any active NCAA Division I volleyball coach at the moment. Of those 690 wins, 365 of them have come in Southland matches where Humphreys' career winning percentage of .754 is the third-highest in the history of the league. SFA's 26-straight wins this season have also matched a program record.
Of the five major Southland Conference awards available for players to win on an annual basis, Hollas has now laid claim to a pair of them throughout her collegiate career. The 2015 Southland Conference Freshman of the Year became SFA's fourth Southland Conference Setter of the Year recipient, joining Paige Holland (2014) and JJ Jones (2004, 2005) as the only three players who have collected that particular honor.
Expanding her game during her first season as an upperclassman, Hollas totaled a team-leading 13 double-doubles and notched the Ladyjacks' first triple-double since 2012 with a 10-kill, 12-dig, 29-assist outing in a non-conference home win over Tennessee State. Though she did not rank among the top ten performers in the Southland in any statistical category, it was the all-around play of Hollas that turned the most heads.
The junior averaged 1.47 kills, 6.37 assists, 2.64 digs, 0.74 blocks and 0.22 service aces per set, making her one of the most consistent six-rotation players in the nation. In all, Hollas turned in five outings of 10 or more kills, four matches with five or more blocks and a pair of 20+ dig matches. With Hollas helping direct its attack, SFA ranks second in the Southland with a team attack percentage of .241.
Already having made SFA volleyball history by becoming the first Ladyjack to capture a SportsImports/AVCA NCAA Division I National Player of the Week honor, Daron was placed on the All-Southland Conference First Team for the second-straight season. The Crosby, Texas, product continued to maintain her reputation as one of the league's best offensive players by leading the league in attack percentage with a mark of .346.
Her 1.28 blocks per set are tops among the Ladyjacks' ranks and represent the second-best average in the Southland. A two-time Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week this season, Daron also ranks third on the team in kills per set with an average of 2.31. In all, the junior has posted 10 or more kills in eight matches this season and has hit at least .429 in each of her last four outings. In a 3-1 win over Abilene Christian, Daron amassed a career-high 13 blocks - the second-most in a single match in SFA history. Those 13 rejections are also the most by an NCAA Division I player in a four-set match this season.
Another repeat selection on the All-Southland Conference First Team, Coleman has reached the 1,000-dig and 1,000-point milestone during a banner 2018 season thus far. SFA's top offensive threat, the Rockwall, Texas, product leads the team in kills per set with 2.86 and ranks ninth in the Southland in points per set (3.42).
A starter in 31 of SFA's matches, Coleman generated 10 or more terminations on 16 occasions and scooped up 10 or more digs 12 times through the regular season. Her 30 service aces lead SFA while her 2.67 digs per set are the second-highest among SFA's ranks.
Now in her final season of collegiate volleyball, Hanna latched on to All-Southland Conference Honorable Mention acclaim after helping SFA become one of the nation's best defensive squads in 2018. One of three Ladyjacks with 100 or more blocks, Hanna's blocks per set average of 0.96 ranks third on the team and eighth in the Southland Conference.
For her part on offense, Hanna is one of five Ladyjacks averaging at or better than 2.00 kills per set. The DeSoto, Texas, product is right at 2.00 kills per set with an attack percentage of .278 thus far through 2018. She and Hollas are the only two SFA players who have played in each of the Ladyjacks' 106 sets this season.
Once again, SFA has earned the top overall seed for the Southland Conference Tournament and will begin its quest for an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 2006 on Friday morning at Prather Coliseum in Natichtoches, La. At 11:00 a.m., the Ladyjacks take on eighth-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first of four quarterfinal matches in the Southland Conference Tournament.
2018 Southland Conference Volleyball Major Awards
Player of the Year | Taylor Cunningham | Sr. | MB | Sam Houston State
Freshman of the Year | Bethany Clapp | OH | Incarnate Word
Newcomer of the Year | Ehize Omoghibo | OPP | Jr. | New Orleans
Libero of the Year | Channing Burleson | Sr. | Northwestern State
Setter of the Year | Ann Hollas | Jr. | SFA
Katrinka Jo Crawford Coach of the Year | Debbie Humphreys | SFA
All-Southland Conference First Team
Taylor Cunningham | Sr. | MB | Sam Houston State
Samantha Anderson | Sr. | RS | Central Arkansas
Danae Daron | Jr. | MB | SFA
Haley Tippett | Sr. | OH | Central Arkansas
Mikayla Vivens | So. | OH | Houston Baptist
Ann Hollas | Jr. | S | SFA
Kendall Bosse | Sr. | S | Abilene Christian
Madison Wallace | Sr. | OH/RS | Sam Houston State
Haley Coleman | Sr. | OH | SFA
Madison Green | Jr. | RS/S | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Channing Burleson | Sr. | OH/L | Northwestern State
Bethany Clapp | Fr. | OH | Incarnate Word
All-Southland Conference Second Team
Kaitlyn Grice | Sr. | MB | New Orleans
Hannah Brister | So. | OH | Northwestern State
Savannah Allen | Sr. | MB | Central Arkansas
Jacey Smith | Sr. | OH | Abilene Christian
Keegan Nelms | Jr. | OH | McNeese
Madison O'Brien | Sr. | S | Houston Baptist
Honorable Mention | Makenzee Hanna (SFA), Breanne Chausse (Sam Houston State), Rachel Young (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi), Emily Doss (Central Arkansas), Lauren Walker (Abilene Christian), Blessing Dunn (New Orleans), Jaclyn Ward (Sam Houston State), Madeline Drake (Northwestern State)
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