2018 SFA Volleyball Positional Preview | Setter
8/15/2018 8:40:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
As the defending Southland Conference champion Stephen F. Austin volleyball team goes through its fall camp in preparation for the 2018 campaign, SFAJacks.com will be putting out a position-by-position preview of the squad. This portion of the preview focuses on the Ladyjacks' setters - McKenzie Brewer, Margaret Dean and Ann Hollas.
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The fact that the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team used one of the nation's most efficient offenses to propel itself to the program's ninth Southland Conference regular season crown as well as its first postseason berth in over a decade last season is a testament to the quality of the squad's pin hitters and middle blockers.
While the Ladyjacks' array of weapons on offense is indeed vast, making sure the ball gets to those individuals is of the utmost importance. With a trio of talented setters on the Ladyjacks' roster - all of whom have been through the wringer at least once - SFA has the tools in place to get the ball where it needs to go and to do it in a variety of ways that will maximize the team's all-around game.
"I think our setting position may be one of the most competitive positions on the roster," commented 31st-year SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys. "Margaret Dean has improved a lot, you throw her in that mix along with Ann [Hollas] and Brew [McKenzie Brewer] and we've got three quality setters who all bring something totally different to our team."
As she prepares to enter her inaugural season as an upperclassman, Hollas has already piled up an impressive collection of individual and team accolades ranging from Southland Conference Freshman of the Year (2016) to CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team (2017) and Southland Conference champion (2017) while serving as the Ladyjacks' primary setter since 2016.
It's the versatility of the Longview, Texas, product, however, that has stood out the most since she began her collegiate career. Though she ranked just 10th in the Southland in terms of assists per set (7.83) a season ago, her secondary roles as a fine floor defender, a premier server and a front-row defensive presence make her a unique piece for SFA.
At the service line, her 39 aces in 2017 led SFA, ranked fourth in the Southland and put her in the top 100 among all NCAA Division I volleyball players in that statistical category. Defensively, her 289 digs (2.37 per set) represented the third-highest tally on the team and helped her rack up a team-best 13 double-doubles. Finally, Hollas also recorded 40 blocks (0.33 per set) and racked up multiple rejections in eight of the team's last nine matches of the season.
With Hollas emerging as a consistent performer in all areas last season, the Ladyjacks had no difficulties shifting to and working out of a two-setter system at times with McKenzie Brewer joining Hollas on the floor. One of the squad's four seniors in 2018, Brewer has been a steady presence for SFA since 2015 and took part in 22 of the team's 34 engagements through the 2017 campaign.
Through her 68 sets played, the Grapevine, Texas, native finished just two service aces shy of 20 for the year and would have joined a group of five Ladyajcks with 20 or more winners from the line had she reached that benchmark. Early on in the year was where Brewer received most of her opportunities and she worked in 13 of the Ladyjacks' first 15 matches and dished out 12 or more assists in 11 of them.
For the year, Brewer averaged exactly four assists per set and posted a pair of double-doubles - both of which came in SFA wins. With Hollas and Brewer handling the majority of the setting duties, opportunities for Margaret Dean to enter the fray in 2017 were sparse but the true freshman was able to enter and positively impact the game for SFA on a number of occasions.
As a matter of fact, it was Dean who stepped in to do the lion's share of the work in the Ladyajcks' 2017 finale at Ole Miss. The then-freshman played in all three sets and tied a season-high by dishing out 13 assists in SFA's NIVC setback to the Rebels. Putting her floor defense on display in the match, too, Dean finished with a season-best seven digs. The SFA/Ole Miss matchup was one of just eight matches the Bedford, Texas, product took part in through the 2017 campaign but through the early stages of the team's 2018 preseason camp Dean has been working with the regulars in an effort to magnify her role as a sophomore.
"I think we are built where we can go take advantage of what our opponents want to give us," Humphreys added. "Last year there were nights we needed to be in the 5-1 and there were nights we needed to be in the 6-2, so whatever was required we had the personnel to go do it. That doesn't change this year."
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Season Opener
In nine days, SFA will begin its 2018 season in Memphis, Tenn., as one of four teams in the Memphis Invitational. The Ladyjacks' three-match schedule at the invitational begins at 7:00 p.m., on Friday, August 24, when they tangle with the host Tigers of the University of Memphis.
Stay Social
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