Stephen F. Austin
28-2, 15-0SLC
Nicholls
3-25, 1-14SLC
SFA Blasts Nicholls 3-0 to Claim Outright Southland Conference Title
11/8/2018 7:47:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Coleman delivers 11 kills in straight-set victory
THIBODAUX, La. - There will be no sharing of the 2018 Southland Conference regular season title.
The SFA volleyball team made sure of that by getting 11 kills from senior Haley Coleman and five more from both Anyia Williams and Xariah Williams to take out Nicholls 3-0 inside Stopher Gymnasium Thursday evening.
SFA pushed its winning streak to 25 matches - the longest in the nation and the second-lengthiest winning streak in program history, too.
SET ONE | SFA 25, Nicholls 18
• Makenzee Hanna and Anyia Williams each delivered a pair of kills for SFA during the visitors' 8-2 run to begin the match. Nicholls never led through the opening frame but did manage to close within four points with consecutive kills before SFA powered ahead once again.
• With their lead down to 12-8, SFA went to Coleman who punched down a trio of terminations through a 5-0 run by the visitors. Ann Hollas added one of the Ladyjacks' five service aces during that surge, too, to help SFA up its lead to 17-8.
• Nicholls cut SFA's lead down to five points with a 4-1 run that made the score 21-16 but out of a timeout the Ladyjacks answered with a 4-2 surge to conclude set one.
• SFA held the Colonels to an attack percentage of .103 in the set while the Ladyjacks operated at an offensive efficiency rate of .231.
SET TWO | SFA 25, Nicholls 15
• The only lead the Colonels had in the frame came when Hollas committed a service error to start things off. That was one of the few things that went wrong for SFA in the set, however, as the Ladyjacks answered with a 9-3 run featuring service aces from McKenzie Brewer and Coleman to go up 9-4.
• Nicholls' Aaliyah Burras punched down a kill that cut SFA's lead to 9-5. That was as close as the Colonels would get the rest of the way, though. A 7-1 SFA run made possible by four unforced errors by the Colonels as well as terminations from Coleman and Redmond upped the visitors' edge to 16-6.
• The Colonels never got closer than seven points away from tying things up and SFA used three of its 11 blocks in the match to get the job done in the middle frame, too.
• As a result of SFA's front-row defense, Nicholls hit -.088 in the set, Conversely, SFA hit .320, generating nine kills against one error.
SET THREE | SFA 25, Nicholls 17
• Keeping its foot on the gas, SFA started the final set on a 7-1 run but had to fend off a spirited rally by the Colonels to finish off the sweep.
• Coleman, Daron, Anyia Williams and Xariah Williams each pounded down kills during the run.
• Terminations from Kimberly Iwunze and Heidi Carpenter cut the Ladyjacks' lead down to 11-9, but Hanna turned in a solo block during a 6-1 scoring spree that pushed the visitors' edge to 17-10.
• Nicholls' final push came in the form of a 5-0 run bookended by kills from Katie Jones. That surge trimmed SFA's lead to 18-16 but after a Ladyjack timeout the visitors ended things with a 7-1 run.
• Xariah Williams turned in a service ace and a kill through that match-clinching surge.
KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• Reigning SportsImports/AVCA NCAA Division I Player of the Week Danae Daron led the Ladyjacks' front-row defensive effort yet again for SFA, posting five block assists to go along with four terminations.
• Also joining the block party were Ann Hollas and Anyia Williams who amassed four rejections each. Makenzee Hanna and Peyton Redmond added three stuffs apiece to help SFA limit the Colonels to a .027 hitting percentage on their senior night.
• Coleman was the only player in the match to post double-digit kills as she finished with 11. The senior also scooped up six digs and added two of SFA's five service aces.
• Freshman libero Sabrina Monaco headlined the Ladyjacks' back-row defensive effort by registering 10 digs.
• For Nicholls, Emily Venable produced a match-high 12 digs while Carpenter and Jones led the Colonels on offense with six terminations each.
• The win was SFA's 11th in a row over Nicholls and upped the Ladyjacks' nation-leading road winning streak to 10 matches. SFA is now one win shy of tying the program record for consecutive victories and increased its nation-leading win total to 28 matches.
• SFA's Southland Conference title is the program's 10th and second in a row. The Ladyjacks previously won the league's regular season crown in 1994, 1995, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2014 and 2017.
• With no Southland Conference regular season trophy in the building, the Ladyjacks celebrated by enjoying a cookie cake. =
COMING UP NEXT
• Saturday afternoon in the Big Easy, the Ladyjacks will try to complete an undefeated run through the Southland Conference for the first time since 2014. SFA closes out its regular season by battling New Orleans at 1:00 p.m. inside the Human Performance Center.
-SFA-
