Stephen F. Austin
#2 Central Arkansas
SFA, Central Arkansas Battle in Southland Conference Tournament Title Match
11/17/2018 11:58:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Ladyjacks go in search of first NCAA Tournament bid since 2006
Southland Conference Tournament | Finals | Tournament Central | Tickets
Match Thirty-Four
#1 SFA (31-2) vs. #2 Central Arkansas (26-5)
Sunday, Nov. 18 | 3:05 p.m. | Prather Coliseum (3,900) | Natchitoches, La.
Live Stats | Watch (ESPN+/ESPN app) | SFA Match Notes
Play-by-Play | Lyn Rollins
Analysis | Tiara Gibson
THE FIRST SERVE
• For the first time in almost a decade, the SFA volleyball team heads to the Southland Conference Tournament championship match. Sunday afternoon at 3:05 p.m., the top-seeded Ladyjacks do battle with second-seeded Central Arkansas with the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
• ESPN+ and various ESPN apps will carry the third 2018 showdown between the Ladyjacks and Sugar Bears. Lyn Rollins and Tiara Gibson will provide play-by-play and analysis of the second Southland Conference Tournament matchup between SFA and Central Arkansas.
• SFA is playing in the Southland Conference Tournament championship match for the first time since 2009 while Central Arkansas is making its fifth appearance in the league tournament title match over the last nine seasons.
• The Ladyjacks' four Southland Conference Tournament titles are the most by any current Southland Conference squads while the Sugar Bears' three are second-most by all current Southland teams.
• The only other time the Ladyjacks and Sugar Bears met in the Southland Conference Tournament came in 2013. That year, top-seeded Central Arkansas swept eighth-seeded SFA 3-0 in the quarterfinal round en route to winning its second consecutive Southland Conference Tournament.
LET'S TALK STREAKS (AND WINS)
• SFA's 28-match winning streak is currently the longest in the nation at the moment. Top-ranked BYU has won its first 27 matches to begin the season to possess the nation's second-longest active winning streak
• That winning streak by SFA is also the longest in program history. With Friday's Southland Conference Tournament quarterfinal win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Ladyjacks passed 2006 edition of the the team for the longest winning streak in program history. That 2006 squad won 26 in a row which included the program's first - and so far only - NCAA Tournament victory.
• SFA is a perfect 11-0 in road matches this season. That makes the Ladyjacks one of only two NCAA Division I volleyball teams in the land who have not lost a true road match this season (BYU is the other). Also, the Ladyjacks' 11-match winning streak in road matches is the lengthiest in the nation.
• Not only is SFA perfect on the road, but it is perfect inside Shelton Gym this season, too. The Ladyjacks are 14-0 on their home floor and have won 15-straight matches there dating back to last season. That gives SFA the nation's eighth-longest active home court winning streak and makes it one of 16 teams in the land this year that haven't lost a home match.
• Dating back to last season, SFA has also won 17 consecutive Southland Conference matches - the seventh-longest active in-conference winning streak in all of NCAA Division I volleyball.
• No team in the nation has amassed more wins so far than SFA. The Ladyjacks' 31 victories are three more than the next closest team in the land. East Tennessee State has won 28 matches so far this season while Pittsburgh and Denver have each been victorious in 27.
SCOUTING CENTRAL ARKANSAS | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
SFA vs. UCA | 8-13 (.381)
In Nacogdoches, Texas | 5-5 (.500)
In Conway, Ark. | 3-7 (.300)
At neutral sites | 0-1 (.000)
Streak | SFA won three
Last five matches | 4-1 (.800)
Last 10 matches | 5-5 (.500)
In three-set matches | 5-8 (.385)
In four-set matches | 3-2 (.600)
In five-set matches | 0-3 (.000)
Humphreys vs. Central Arkansas | 8-13 (.381)
Jones Chatman vs. SFA | 2-4 (.333)
Last meeting | at UCA 1, SFA 3 (10/16/18)
• Since losing to the Ladyjacks 3-1 back on October 16, 2018, Central Arkansas has won 10 matches in a row and goes in search of its second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance when they take on SFA in the Southland Conference Tournament title bout.
• Much like the Ladyjacks, Central Arkansas possesses a potent, multi-pronged offensive attack. Samantha Anderson (3.74 kills/set) and Haley Tippett (3.19 kills/set) lead that attack while Savanah Allen (2.42 kills/set) and Kellen Dunn (2.33 kills/set) are big parts of it as well.
• Central Arkansas leads the Southland in attack percentage (.250), kills per set (13.59) and assists per set (12.73).
• Allen and Amari Mitchell represent the Sugar Bears' two biggest front row defensive threats. They average 0.94 and 0.90 blocks per set respectively.
• Amanda Dimon has proven to be one of the biggest service threats in the Southland as her 0.31 aces per set leads Central Arkansas and ranks fourth in the league.
• In the back row, Emily Doss needs just three more digs to become the fourth Southland player this season to reach 500. Her 4.40 digs per set are the sixth-highest average in the league.
LAST TIME OUT
• Senior setter McKenzie Brewer accumulated a match and career-best five service aces while senior middle blocker Makenzee Hanna pounded down a team-high 12 terminations to help the top-seeded Ladyjacks take down fifth-seeded Houston Baptist 3-0 in the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals.
• Hanna was the only Ladyjack with 10 or more terminations as SFA defeated the Huskies in the Southland Conference Tournament for the first time.
• Junior setter Ann Hollas turned in a 22-assist, 11-dig double-double to help SFA get by Houston Baptist. That double-double was Hollas' team-leading 14th of the year.
• SFA was out-blocked 10.5-10 by Houston Baptist in the win, marking only the seventh time in 2018 that the Ladyjacks have finished with fewer blocks than their opponent. SFA is 5-2 in those matches.
COMING UP NEXT
• Two options remain for the Ladyjacks depending on the outcome of Sunday's Southland Conference Tournament championship match. If SFA wins, they will advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006. SFA would learn its first-round opponent and site of that match on Sunday, Nov. 25 at 7:30 p.m. when the NCAA Volleyball selection show airs on ESPNU. If SFA falls, it will see its season continue in the NIVC. The NIVC bracket will be released on Sunday, Nov. 25 right after the NCAA Tournament field is announced.
-SFA-
