Stephen F. Austin
19-1,7-0Southland
Nicholls
10-8,6-1Southland
Mitchell's Strong Offensive Outing Helps rv SFA Take Care of Nicholls in Three
10/17/2019 9:31:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Junior hits match-best .412 as SFA wins 11th straight
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Known for her intimidating brand of front-row defense, it was the offense of junior middle blocker Taya Mitchell that took center stage Thursday evening in Shelton Gym and helped rv SFA remain undefeated in Southland Conference play.
Mitchell hammered home eight kills and hit .412, Corin Evans added 10 more and SFA took care of a scrappy Nicholls squad in three sets.
SET ONE - rv SFA 25, Nicholls 22
• Going up against the best team in the Southland - and one of the best teams in the nation - was not a daunting task for the Colonels who played back-and-forth volleyball through the entire opening frame.
• Nicholls grabbed a pair of early leads - 2-1 and 3-2 - with kills from Kate Hoerdemann before SFA got the separation it wound up needing with a pair of well-timed runs.
• Down 3-2, Ann Hollas led a 4-1 Ladyjacks surge with a kill as well as a service ace to make matters 6-4 in favor of the hosts.
• Xariah Williams powered the other SFA run - one of the 6-2 variety - with a trio of terminations that hiked the Ladyjacks' edge to 12-8.
• SFA's lead, however, never grew to more than five points through the set thanks to some inspired defense and crafty offense by Nicholls. Following a combo block by Hollas and Mitchell that pushed SFA's advantage to 23-19, Nicholls struck back with terminations off the hands of Aaliyah Burras and Emily Gauthreaux while cut SFA's lead to 23-21.
• Danae Daron served as the trump card late in the set, though. The senior pounded down two of her three first-set kills to end the set.
• Nineteen of the Colonels' 42 kills came in the opening set as Nicholls out-hit SFA .236 to .208. It was SFA's defense and the Colonels' service errors, however, that helped SFA eke out the win. Nicholls committed four service errors and the Ladyjacks piled up three rejections through the set.
SET TWO - rv SFA 25, Nicholls 12
• As close as the first set was, the second was anything but thanks to an early surge by the Ladyjacks. Riding the serving prowess of Dean, SFA opened the frame on a 7-0 run and never looked back.
• Mitchell pounded down a pair of kills while Evans and Hollas came up with one each through SFA's early scoring spree.
• A great mixture of offense and defense helped SFA go on another run - this one of the 8-1 variety - to open up a massive 18-5 edge. Through that surge, Evans added another pair of kills while Mitchell let her defense do the talking by coming up with two of her four block assists. \
• Though two service errors coupled with a pair of kills from the Colonels' Hoerdemann powered a 6-3 run closed the gap to 21-11, SFA had the final say. Led by Evans who struck for yet another termination and a service ace, the Ladyjacks ended the set on a 4-1 run to open up a 2-0 lead.
• Nicholls' offense was ineffective, generating a -.086 clip in the frame. SFA, meanwhile, hit .333 and hammered home 13 kills.
SET THREE - rv SFA 25, Nicholls 21
• Hoping to force a fourth set, Nicholls netted the first three points of the final frame to take an early lead.
• SFA wouldn't take the lead until Daron's solo block made matters 7-6 and capped a 3-1 run. Though the Ladyjacks never fell behind again, the Colonels match things extremely competitive.
• A 6-1 run featuring terminations from Evans, Hollas, Mitchell and Ariana Pagan helped SFA push its lead to 14-9.
• Three unforced attack errors by the Colonels coupled with another kill from Evans helped the Ladyjacks up their lead to 19-13 before Nicholls' charged back.
• Trailing 22-17, the Colonels received two terminations apiece from Hoerdemann and Katie Jones to narrow SFA's lead to 24-21. Out of the Ladyjacks' final timeout of the set, however, the 11th and final service error of the night for Nicholls ended the match.
• The Ladyjacks' offense peaked in the final frame as SFA committed no attack errors and hit .382.
KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• Evans came up with a team-high 10 kills to lead the way for the Ladyjacks while Mitchell's eight and Hollas' six were second and third on the team respectively.
• Dean and Maddie Miller put up some great back-row defensive numbers in the bout with the latter generating a match-high 19 digs. Dean's 12 digs were part of a double-double effort which was completed with 16 assists.
• Going along with her eight kills, Mitchell also came up with four blocks. Pagan and Williams added two rejections each and that pair also combined for nine of SFA's 39 kills.
• Hoerdemann put down a match-high 13 kills and was one of two Colonels to hit .300 or better. The other was Burras who finished with a hitting percentage of .308 and piled up five kills. Megan Wozniak amassed a match-best 25 assists to go along with eight digs.
• The win pushed SFA's nation-leading win total to 19 matches and also ran its winning streak to 12 matches.
• Additionally, the Ladyjacks' nation-leading consecutive sets won streak now stands at 31 after the team's 10th-consecutive sweep. With the win, SFA is also the lone Southland Conference team without a league loss, too, as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi defeated Sam Houston State 3-1.
HEAR IT FROM HUMPHREYS
About Taya Mitchell's offensive execution | "Taya's capable of doing that and she had just been - the timing had been a little off recently. This week we had a day that was strictly individual and we didn't have everyone come. We worked on some very specific things and in that time with her something clicked and then she carried it over to the match today. I really feel like moving forward she's going to be much more of an offensive option for us."
About individual work and its importance | "We have a block of time at the beginning of both practices where we spend some time at the beginning of both things. There were only certain people we brought in on Tuesday and Taya was the only one of the kids who were playing a lot of rotations that came in. She came in because she knows how important is for her to be an offensive weapon for us. I'm glad she did because we're finding something with her now."
On Nicholls' play and SFA's offense | "They were very scrappy. I do feel like our offense has another level. It wasn't that we weren't sharp, but our connection just wasn't quite where we would like it. At the same time, it was the way we defended us. They caused us some problems but fortunately we were able to get our middle going. Nicholls did a good job with their game plan."
On SFA's floor defense | "There were a lot of crazy rallies and a lot of different things. Teams you're not familiar with you can watch all sorts of film on but until you actually play them to learn certain players it's difficult to get a bead on things.
We made some blocking adjustments as things went on to get us through the rest of the match, too."
COMING UP NEXT
• The final leg of the Ladyjacks' season-long home stand comes Saturday afternoon when rv SFA plays host to Southeastern Louisiana. The match - which will signal the halfway point of the Ladyjacks' 16-match Southland slate - is set to begin at 1:00 p.m. with Greg Miller and Brittany Castledine on the call on ESPN3 and the ESPN app.
-SFA-
