Ladyjacks' Offense Shines as rv SFA Slams Abilene Christian in Three

Saturday, October 12

Nacogdoches, Texas

1:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

17-2,6-0Southland

Abilene Christian

3-13,0-6Southland

Abilene Christian

SFA

Ladyjacks' Offense Shines as rv SFA Slams Abilene Christian in Three

10/12/2019 3:49:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Three players generate 10 kills, SFA hits season-high .452

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Strategic Communications

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – All season long, the SFA volleyball team has been putting up numbers which make it one of the nation's best defensive squads.

Saturday afternoon in Shelton Gym the Ladyjacks' defense was again superb, but it was their offense that helped them keep one of the land's most dominant winning streaks intact.

Three players generated 10 terminations and rv SFA finished with a season-high .452 attack percentage in a one-sided 3-0 Southland Conference triumph over Abilene Christian. With the victory, the Ladyjacks ran their winning streak to 11 matches and pushed their number of consecutive sets won to 28 – the longest active run in all of NCAA Division I volleyball.

SET ONE | rv SFA 25, Abilene Christian 13
• At no point through the opening set were the Wildcats able to put up a sufficient game plan together on defense to cool off the red-hot Ladyjacks.
• Ann Hollas put down a pair of kills while Margaret Dean and Xariah Williams added on each through SFA's 6-2 run to begin the frame.
• After Abilene Christian fought back to pull within three points, 7-4, SFA pressed down hard on the gas pedal. A 12-2 run by the home team put the Ladyjacks ahead 19-6 and effectively ended the set.
• Offense was plentiful for SFA through that surge as Hollas and Corin Evans hammered home two terminations apiece. Danae Daron, Taya Mitchell, Ariana Pagan and Williams all generated one kill each during the run as well.
• The Wildcats pulled within 10 points with a 4-1 run, but Evans and Daron finished them off by combining for all five kills during the Ladyjacks' 5-3 spurt to conclude the frame.
• SFA hit an impressive .567 through the frame while holding the Wildcats to a clip of .161.

SET TWO | rv SFA 25, Abilene Christian 16
• Two out of the first three points went to the Wildcats and gave them their only lead of the match before SFA's offense came to life again.
• Trailing 2-1, SFA won seven of the next eight points thanks to kills from Daron, Dean, Hollas and Pagan. That run helped the Ladyjacks put the Wildcats back on their heels for the rest of the match.
• Twice Abilene Christian pulled within three points, the last time when the score read 12-9 after a rare Ladyjack attack error. Following that miscue, however, SFA started a 5-1 run with a termination by Evans. Pagan added one of the Ladyjacks' three service aces during the surge, too, which pushed SFA's lead to 17-10.
• Daron, Hollas and Williams each chipped in kills through a 4-1 SFA run that upped the hosts' lead to 21-12.
• Another 4-1 run by the Ladyjacks ended the set. During that one, Dean served up an ace while Mitchell and Shelby Sheets combined for one of SFA's seven rejections.
• SFA's offensive efficiency fell slightly as the Ladyjacks hit .444 in the frame.

SET THREE | rv SFA 25, Abilene Christian 14
• Making sure the Wildcats wouldn't pose a threat in the third, Evans and Pagan slammed down two kills each through the Ladyjacks' 8-2 run to begin the frame.
• Abilene Christian never chipped SFA's lead down to fewer than four points for the remainder of the set and Daron finished with a set-high four terminations to help SFA finish off their in-state foes.

KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• Hollas put on a fine offensive show, finishing as one of four Ladyajcks who hit .500 or better. The senior tied for match-high honors with 10 terminations and completed a double-double effort by passing out a team-high 20 assists.
• Hollas, who hit .625, was joined in double-digit termination territory by Daron and Evans who each finished with 10 kills as well. Daron put up a match-best .643 attack percentage in the rout while Evans added 13 digs to complete her ninth double-double of the year. Evans has also generated 10 or more kills in her last four matches.
• Williams narrowly missed out on joining Daron, Evans and Hollas in double-digit kill territory and finished with nine on the strength of a .563 attack percentage. The senior did put up a trio of block assists, too.
• Mitchell continued to increase her blocking numbers by recording a match-best five rejections. In the back row, Maddie Miller came up with a number of high-level defensive plays and wrapped up a great afternoon with a match-high 20 digs.
• Sandercox put up a team-high seven kills for Abilene Christian who has lost four in a row and has yet to win a match in the month of October.
• The Wildcats hit just .150 in the match and had just two leads in the match – at 1-0 and 2-1 in the second set.
• SFA extended their winning streak to 11 matches and remains one of just two Southland Conference teams without a loss in league play. Additionally, the Ladyjacks' last nine wins have been sweeps which has extended their program record for consecutive 3-0 wins and consecutive sets won.

HEAR IT FROM HUMPHREYS
On the game plan as a whole | "Abilene is a very good blocking team, but they're a little shake with their floor defense. We know we're a good blocking team, too, so we go against a good blocking team in practice every day. We know that if we're able to score on ourselves we're going to score on our opponents, so we kind of went into it with that mindset. It's what we see and what we face every day in our own gym so we wanted to continue to be aggressive against their strong block and apparently we were."
On the offensive numbers | "It was good. It was balanced. We had three players with double-digit kills, another with nine, everybody hit a high percentage. I just thought we were very, very efficient with what we were doing. I thought we served well – we knew that was going to be a key – and we took care of the first ball. Our first contact to give us lots of good opportunities."
On third-set improvements | "We've been letting down a little bit in the third set and going into this match we talked about how important it is for us to continue improving as a team and what that means. Certainly it means everybody bringing their A-game on the same day and doing that more frequently. If we do that, we feel that this will be the result. As we look at postseason play and beyond, we have to play at that level."
On the play of Ann Hollas | "She's a lot more confident this year as an attacker. We're utilizing her a lot more. Last year I was begging her, 'Please, Ann. I need two kills per set from you.' Now we're to the point where we can start talking about three kills per set from her because her confidence is so high. Margaret [Dean] is delivering a good and consistent ball to her so they have a really good connection and our right sides really played well this afternoon."

COMING UP NEXT
• The Ladyjacks' longest home stand of the 2019 season continues next week when SFA plays host to Louisiana adversary Nicholls Thursday night. That Southland showdown in Shelton Gym is set to begin at 6:30 p.m.

-SFA-