Stephen F. Austin
10-2
Rice
6-4
Ladyjacks Lock Up Seventh-Straight Win, Defeat Rice in Four
9/11/2018 7:37:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Redmond slams down 16 kills, Daron adds 11 as Ladyjacks defeat Owls for first time in 10 years
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - In its last two matchups with Rice, the SFA volleyball team took the Owls to five sets on their home floor of Tudor Fieldhouse only to come up short both times.
Tuesday evening, the Ladyjacks gave their Conference USA and in-state adversaries a taste of their own medicine courtesy of Shelton Gym, an overpowering service game and another strong helping of senior outside hitter Peyton Redmond.
Amassing a team-high 16 terminations as well as three of the Ladyjacks' nine service aces, Redmond helped the Ladyjacks get a rowdy Shelton Gym congregation going to help SFA post a wild 3-1 victory over the Owls. The win, SFA's first over Rice since 2007, came despite the fact the Ladyjacks finished the match at a disadvantage in almost every major statistical category.
In addition to Redmond, junior middle blocker and reigning Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week Danae Daron added 11 kills and four more blocks while junior outside hitter Xariah Williams came off the bench and delivered a sensational performance with five big kills and a pair of block assists.
SET ONE | Rice 25, SFA 22
• Early on, the Owls' offense was operating at a near-perfect pace and the visitors used that strong attack to jump out to their only lead of the night.
• Rice pounded down 19 terminations in the opening frame and used 11 of them to score its first 13 points and open up a five-point edge on the Ladyjacks.
• Later on, the Owls' attack finally started to misfire and that helped the Ladyjacks blaze a comeback trail. A trio of unforced errors - including two on the attack - by Rice pulled SFA within one, 17-16.
• Out of a timeout by the Owls, the visitors reeled off the next three points to go back up by four. Through that surge, Grace Morgan pounded down the fourth of her five first set kills and even though the Ladyjacks pulled within two points five times down the stretch they never could string together consecutive points to pull closer.
SET TWO | SFA 25, Rice 21
• A lineup change for SFA to begin the second frame paid off almost immediately after junior Xariah Williams smacked down her first kill of the night for the Ladyjacks' first point of the frame.
• Xariah Williams' termination started a 10-4 SFA run in the beginning of the set that gave the hosts a substantial amount of breathing room. During that run, three Ladyjacks posted kills while Haley Coleman and Sabrina Monaco dropped in service aces.
• Consecutive terminations from Redmond ended a 3-0 SFA run and put the Ladyjacks ahead 19-11 but that's when the Owls busted out of their offensive funk.
• Kassidy Muse floored two kills through a 9-3 Rice run that cut the Ladyjacks' lead to 23-20. Out of SFA's second and final timeout of the set, it turned to Makenzee Hanna to finish the job.
• The senior pulled SFA even with Rice by slamming home two of her three kills in the frame and set the stage for a drama-filled third frame.
SET THREE | SFA 30, Rice 28
• Perhaps the biggest factor in a penultimate frame that featured 16 ties was the Shelton Gym crowd that seemed to will the Ladyjacks to the set's finish line.
• Following one of the Owls' nine blocks that produced an 8-8 deadlock, SFA used a 5-1 run featuring two aces from Redmond and an additional termination from Xariah Williams to
finally gain some separation and take a 13-9 lead.
• Hanna and junior setter Ann Hollas skied for a big-time rejection that pushed the Ladyjacks' lead to 15-10 but again the Owls flew right back into it.
• Led by Tori Woogk and Lennon, Rice embarked on a 12-4 run to go on top 22-19. Woogk Woogk registered four kills through that span, Lennon contributed two more and Lee Ann Cunningham finished the run by firing in back-to-back service aces.
• SFA never backed down, though, as the Ladyjacks answered with a 3-0 run to pull even at 22. From there, the teams traded points until the crowd came to life in earnest.
• Right after Lennon floored her sixth and final kill of the frame to tie things at 28, Daron brought the congregation to life with a mighty termination before Coleman sent it into full blown hysterics by slamming down one final termination that handed SFA the win and put it up 2-1.
SET FOUR | SFA 26, Rice 24
• With the crowd on their side, SFA raced out to an 8-3 lead in the deciding frame and used a 5-0 run culminating with another kill from Hanna to go up 13-6 before Rice tried to push things to a fifth set.
• Lennon drove down two more kills during the Owls' 6-0 run that cut SFA's lead to 13-12. Another 4-0 run in which Lennon added two additional terminations pushed the Owls ahead 22-21 before Rice's attack betrayed it once again.
• During the Ladyjacks' 5-2 run to close the match, Rice committed three unforced attack errors before a kill by Daron and one final service ace from Redmond sealed the deal for SFA.
KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• Performing extremely well all the way around the rotation, SFA's setting tandem of Brewer and Hollas each posted double-doubles in the Ladyjacks' victory. Hollas dished out a team-high 26 assists to go along with 14 digs while Brewer totaled 17 helpers as well as 12 digs.
• In addition to Brewer and Hollas, two other Ladyjacks racked up 11 or more digs including freshman libero Sabrina Monaco who finished with 11. It was Coleman, however, who totaled the highest number on the team as she posted a season-high 18 to go along with seven kills, three block assists and a pair of service aces.
• SFA brought a considerable amount of heat from the service line all match long and it was Redmond who led the charge in that area. The senior posted a match-high three winners from the service line while Coleman, Daron and Monaco added two apiece.
• Nicole Lennon led a robust Rice attack with a match-best 17 terminations while Tori Woogk added a 16-kill, 13-dig, double-double to compliment Lennon. Grace Morgan posted another 10 kills for Rice who hit .202 and held advantages over SFA in points (78-69), kills (66-52), blocks (9-8), assists (62-46) and digs (98-76).
• Carly Graham passed out a match-best 33 assists for assists while the Owls' other setter, Adria Martinez, finished with a 23-assist, 11-dig double-double. Lee Ann Cunningham conjured up a match-high 24 digs in the back row in an attempt to keep SFA's attack at bay.
• SFA improved to 7-2 against the Owls in Nacogdoches and trail the all-time series with Rice 10-12.
HEAR IT FROM HUMPHREYS
On the play of Redmond and Xariah Williams | "Peyton was really hot early on. I thought later in the match she looked a little tired. She has taken a lot of swings over the past week and she gives everything she has on every single ball so I think that was wearing on her a little bit. She hung in there and she played a great match and we did a phenomenal job from the service line to keep a lot of pressure on them and thank goodness for Xariah Williams. I told Xariah, "welcome to the party, we needed you." We know that's the kind of performance she's capable of and for her to come off the bench and say to herself, 'what do I have to lose?'"
On the effect of the home crowd | "I think the crowd was huge. The first two sets we were a little slow to get going and I thought we played point for point with them. In the second set we were able to dominate a little bit before hanging on. In the third set you just saw momentum shifts back and forth through the whole set. It was one of those where you feel whoever wins this is going to have a little edge and the crowd, certainly when you're talking about a 30-28 set, does play a huge factor. It was the same thing in the fourth when it got tight so that home crowd came in handy."
COMING UP NEXT
• Tuesday's tilt with the Owls was just the start of an exceptionally difficult non-conference week for the Ladyjacks. Friday morning at 11:00 a.m., SFA opens its three-match slate in the North Texas Challenge by taking on American Athletic Conference power Wichita State at the North Texas Volleyball Complex. The Shockers are receiving votes in the latest version of the AVCA Coaches Poll.
-SFA-
