Stephen F. Austin
Memphis
Ladyjacks Open 2018 Campaign in Tennessee at Memphis Invitational
8/23/2018 6:12:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
SFA will face Memphis, Arkansas State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff over the span of two days
Memphis Invitational | SFA Match Notes
Match One
SFA (0-0) at Memphis | Friday, August 24 | 7:00 p.m. | Elma Roane Fieldhouse (2,565)
Watch | Live Stats
Match Two
SFA vs. Arkansas State | Saturday, August 25 | 10:00 a.m. | Elma Roane Fieldhouse (2,565)
Live Stats
Match Three
SFA vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff | Saturday, August 25 | 4:30 p.m. | Elma Roane Fieldhouse (2,565)
Live Stats
THE FIRST SERVE
• Sixteen days after reporting to Shelton Gym for its opening day of preseason camp, the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team journeys northeast to Memphis, Tenn., to begin its 2018 campaign as one of four participants of the Memphis Invitational at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The action begins at 7:00 p.m. Friday night when SFA tangles with Memphis before the Ladyjacks close out their three-match stint in Tennessee by taking on Arkansas State (10:00 a.m.) and Arkansas-Pine Bluff (4:30 p.m.) Saturday.
SCOUTING REPORT
Memphis • Roster • Schedule • Statistics
• Series History | SFA leads 4-1 (.800)
• In Nacogdoches, Texas | 1-1 (.500)
• In Memphis, Tenn. | 1-0 (1.000)
• At neutral sites | 1-0 (1.000)
• In three-set matches | 4-0 (1.000)
• In four-set matches | 0-1 (.000)
• Humphreys vs. Memphis | 4-1 (.800)
• Burdette vs. SFA | 1-0 (1.000)
• Last meeting | SFA 3, Memphis 0 | 9/4/09
Under the direction of a new head coach (Sean Burdette, who spend the previous four seasons at Horizon League institution Green Bay), the Tigers are hoping to improve from a 2017 campaign which resulted in a 10-22 record. In American Athletic Conference play, Memphis went just 2-17. Two of the Tigers' 200 kill getters from a season ago return in Hannah Flowers (257 kills, 2.60 per set) and Kelsea Bivins (202 kills, 2.35 per set). Also back is senior libero Madi Ruhlman who dove for 3.26 digs per frame in 2017.
Arkansas State • Roster • Schedule • Statistics
• Series History | SFA trails 4-6 (.400)
• In Nacogdoches, Texas | 2-1 (.667)
• In Jonesboro, Ark. | 1-3 (.250)
• At neutral sites | 1-2 (.333)
• In three-set matches | 3-3 (.500)
• In four-set matches | 0-2 (.000)
• In five-set matches | 1-1 (.500)
• Humphreys vs. Arkansas State | 4-6 (.400)
• Rehr vs. SFA | 2-0 (1.000)
• Last meeting | A-State 3, SFA 0 | 9/16/17
• Poised to be a power in the Sun Belt Conference yet again, Arkansas State returns standout outside hitter Carlisa May who earned the title of Sun Belt Preseason Offensive Player of the Year earlier in the month of August. Last year, May put down an impressive 4.23 kills per set and ran her termination total up to 507 for the Red Wolves who advanced to the second round of the NIVC. Also honored by the Sun Belt was Ellie Watkins who took home the title of Sun Belt Preseason Setter of the Year after dishing out a league-leading 11.07 assists per set in 2017. Under the watch of head coach David Rehr - who is 2-0 in his career against SFA - Arkansas State has reeled off four-straight seasons of 20 or more triumphs while dropping only 10 Sun Belt matches total through that same span.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff • Roster • Schedule • Statistics
• Series History | First Meeting
• A 12-match winner in 2017, Arkansas-Pine Bluff hopes to build on the tail end of its latest campaign where they closed the year with three straight victories. The road ahead will be tough for the Golden Lions, however, as they have not earned a non-conference victory over an NCAA Division I opponent since defeating Savannah State 3-0 on September 14, 2013. Setter Britney Sahlmann is Arkansas-Pine Bluff's top returner as she passed out 8.05 assists to go along with a team-high 30 service aces last year.
LET'S GET STARTED
• Since head coach Debbie Humphreys took command of the SFA volleyball program prior to the start of the 1988 season, SFA has posted a record of 14-16 in season openers - good for a winning percentage of .467.
• Although the above record does not stand above the .500 mark, the way the Ladyjacks start has not been indicative of the end result of each of their seasons. In 13 of the 16 years SFA has lost its season opener with Humphreys in charge, the Ladyjacks have registered an overall record above .500.
• When they take the court against Memphis Friday night, the Ladyjacks will be gunning for their first season-opening victory since 2016 when they defeated Eastern Illinois in four sets at the Green Bay Invitational.
• Six of the nine Southland Conference championships captured by SFA in its program history have come when the team has been defeated in its first match out of the gates (1994, 1995, 1996, 2005, 2014 and 2017).
• Three out of the four NCAA Tournaments the Ladyjacks have taken part of have each come in a season where they experienced a setback in their first match as well (1994, 1997, 1999).
• For a four-year stretch from 2006-09, the Ladyjacks captured wins in their season-opening matches - all of which occurred in either three or four sets. That run stands as the longest streak of wins in season openers in program history.
BACK TO THE TOP
• Released earlier in the month of August, the 2018 Southland Conference Preseason Poll had the Ladyjacks picked to repeat as champions of the 13-team league. SFA racked up 14 of the 26 available first-place votes in the annual preseason listing. Voters in the poll included the league's head coaches and volleyball media relations personnel.
• SFA racked up 276 points in the preseason listing - just six more than Central Arkansas who received 11 first place votes en route to a second-place spot. Perennial league powers Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (third, 208 points), Houston Baptist (fourth, 201 points) and Abilene Christian (fifth, 197 points) rounded out the top five programs.
• For the fourth-straight season, SFA will open its Southland Conference schedule at home. This time, the squad's first match in league play is a marquee one when Central Arkansas heads to Shelton Gym on Saturday, Sept. 22.
GREATEST HITS
• With a little over 90-percent of their offense from a season ago back in uniform, the Ladyjacks have no shortage of options when it comes to racking up kills. Senior Haley Coleman (313 kills), junior Danae Daron (294 kills) and senior Makenzee Hanna (214 kills) each earned a spot on the Preseason All-Southland Conference First Team and represent three of SFA's four termination leaders from one season ago.
• Also back for more is junior Corin Evans (273 kills), senior Peyton Redmond (119 kills) and sophomore Anyia Williams (100 kills) who round out the Ladyjacks' list of triple-digit kill getters from the 2017 campaign.
• When looking strictly at attack percentage, Hanna (.335) and Daron (.327) ranked second and third respectively among all Southland Conference student-athletes in 2017. Those attack percentages placed them among the top 130 players in all of NCAA Division I volleyball one season ago, too.
SET UP FOR SUCCESS
• Last year, SFA led the Southland and ranked 37th nationally with a team attack percentage of .253, thanks in part to their highly effective weapons on offense but also due to the set up abilities of Ann Hollas.
• Now a junior, Hollas earned a spot on the Preseason All-Southland Conference Second Team and continued to prove her worth as a valuable six-rotation player for the Ladyjacks in 2017. Not only did she lead the team in assists (955, 7.83 per set), her service game was a major threat to the opposition, too. Hollas amassed a team-high 39 aces which helped SFA finished 32nd nationally in service aces per set (1.52) and 19th in the land in terms of total service winners (186).
• For the year, Hollas ranked 89th in the nation in terms of total service aces, 145th in service aces per set and 148th in total assists.
BUILDING BLOCKS
• Two of the individuals who helped the Ladyjacks construct one of the nation's top front-row defenses in 2017 were Daron and Hanna - both of whom totaled over 100 rejections through the Ladyjacks' championship campaign.
• A senior in 2018, Hanna's blocks per set average of 1.03 led SFA, ranked sixth in the Southland and 167th among all NCAA Division I volleyball players. Daron racked up 107 total stuffs (0.88 per set) to help SFA limit foes to a hitting percentage of just .168 throughout the year - the 32nd-best figure in the nation.
31 AND NOT DONE
• Once she sets up shop on the sidelines of the Elma Roane Fieldhouse Friday night, SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys will begin her 31st season as the Ladyjacks' bench boss. That makes her one of just 16 coaches across all of NCAA Division I who have 30 or more years of head coaching experience as 2018 gets going.
• Through her 30 previous seasons, Humphreys has accumulated 662 wins, making her one of 20 active NCAA Division I head coaches with 600 or more victories to their credit. Additionally, her win total is the 14th-highest in terms of all active NCAA Division I head coaches and her career winning percentage of .663 is the 43rd-best on the active coaches chart.
NICE TO MEET YOU
• Of the 17 individuals that comprise the Ladyajcks' 2018 roster, five of those players are true freshmen.
• Raeley Crosley, Emery Judkins, Sabrina Monaco, Neena Perdue and Marisabel Torres all come to SFA fresh off highly-decorated high school careers.
• Not only have the Ladyjacks welcome new players into the fold, there is a new individual in SFA's coaching ranks for 2018. Alisa Blair enters her first season as an assistant coach for SFA this season after spending the previous season as an assistant at NCAA Division II powerhouse Central Oklahoma.
• Blair played her collegiate volleyball at Angelo State University in the Angelo, Texas, and graduated from that institution in 2012.
ALL TEXAS, ALL THE TIME
• For the sixth consecutive season, SFA's roster is comprised exclusively of individuals who hail from the state of Texas.
• The last non-Texan to occupy a spot on the Ladyjacks' roster was Sabrina Burns in 2012. The four-year letterwinner called McAlester, Okla., home and wrapped up her days in purple and white with 394 career blocks - the eighth-most all-time in the SFA record books.
COMING UP NEXT
• A trip to the northeast is next up on the Ladyjacks' travel docket as SFA heads to Hamilton, N.Y., to take part in the Ellis Rowland Memorial Tournament on the campus of Colgate University. While there, the Ladyjacks are set to take on Princeton (Ivy League), Northwestern (Big Ten) and the host Raiders (Patriot League) over the two-day span of August 31-September 1.
-SFA-
