Stephen F. Austin
21-1,9-0Southland
Central Arkansas
9-13,3-6Southland
Massive Set Three Comeback Lifts Ladyjacks to Sweep of Central Arkansas
10/24/2019 8:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
rv SFA battles back from 16-9 deficit in third set, extends winning streak to 14
CONWAY, Ark. - The Prince Center has long been a difficult place to play for the SFA volleyball team and that trend continued - well, for one set anyway - before the Ladyjacks were finally able to put Central Arkansas away.
Down 16-9 in the third set, SFA roared all the way back to win set three 26-24, cementing their second-straight 3-0 win over the Sugar Bears Thursday evening. The rematch of the 2018 Southland Conference Tournament championship match saw the Ladyjacks limit Central Arkansas to an attack percentage of .120 while racking up 12 rejections.
SET ONE | rv SFA 25, Central Arkansas 18
• Serving and defense allowed SFA to get the jump on their longtime foes from Arkansas early in the opening frame. Margaret Dean came up with both of the Ladyjacks' service aces in the set while Mitchell set the tone defensively with three blocks during SFA's 6-1 run to begin things.
• Four consecutive Ladyjack points came as a result of unforced Central Arkansas errors as the visitors pushed their lead to 12-6.
• The hosts made a push for the lead with a 4-0 run that cut the Ladyjacks' lead to 17-13, but SFA answered with a 4-1 run featuring a kill by Xariah Williams as well as a combo rejection by Daron and Ariana Pagan to push its edge back to seven, 21-14.
• Showing off their depth, the Ladyjacks had seven of the eight players who took part in the opening set generate at least one kill. The Sugar Bears, on the other hand, were led by Harry and Miller who pounded down five apiece.
• A trio of rejections from Mitchell helped SFA finish with four in the frame which limited Central Arkansas to an attack percentage of just .129. SFA, meanwhile, committed only a pair of errors and hit at a clip of .360.
SET TWO | rv SFA 25, Central Arkansas 14
• Greeting the Ladyjacks with three consecutive points, Central Arkansas grabbed the upper hand before SFA snatched it right back.
• Down 3-0, SFA collected eight of the next nine points and took the lead for good when Harry committed an unforced attack error. Hollas put up a pair of solo stuffs through that stretch that helped the visitors push ahead 8-4.
• Once they hit the Sugar Bears with that run, the hosts didn't post much of a threat the rest of the way. A termination from Mitchell, another service ace from Dean as well as another termination off the hands of Hollas hiked SFA's lead to 18-9.
• Central Arkansas managed to pull within seven, 19-12, after stringing together back-to-back points, but Daron powered a set-clinching 6-2 run with a pair of kills to make matters 2-0.
• SFA hit .368 and held the Sugar Bears to negative hitting (-.071) after the hosts amassed only nine kills compared to 11 errors.
SET THREE | rv SFA 26, Central Arkansas 24
• Back-and-forth play dominated the early stages of the final set before the hosts broke an 8-8 deadlock by taking off on a 7-0 run. Leading that surge was Harry who generated four terminations through it while Emily Doss served up an ace that helped extend the Sugar Bears' lead to 16-9.
• Facing their largest deficit in a set since early September, SFA never backed down. A kill by Hollas started the Ladyjacks' comeback and sparked an 8-2 run by the visitors to pull within one. Though a terminations from Amari Mitchell broke up the Ladyjacks' surge, Evans made sure to get it going once again be producing a pair of service aces that helped SFA get within one, 18-17.
• Still, the Sugar Bears managed to keep SFA at arms length thanks to the large lead they had jumped out to earlier. Another heavy dose of Harry late in the frame pushed the hosts' edge to 23-21 before SFA completed its comeback.
• Hollas hammered home her last kills of the match before teaming up with Daron for a block that knotted matters at 23-23. After the teams traded points to tie things up at 24, a bad set by Central Arkansas put SFA one point from victory. Seeing their opportunity, the Ladyjacks didn't squander it and Daron ended the match with an emphatic termination.
• Central Arkansas hit .244 in the match, edging out SFA who hit .222, but committed seven of its 26 errors in the set to help SFA completed its 12th-consecutive sweep.
KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• SFA hit an even .300 and was led by Daron's team-high nine terminations. Evans, Hollas and Mitchell generated six apiece. Hollas had a splendid defensive outing, too, posting seven blocks to go along with 11 assists.
• Elsewhere on defense, Mitchell turned in five blocks while Daron finished with four. Three of the team's five aces came from Dean who added a team-high 16 assists.
• Harry hit down a match-high 15 kills while Madi Bowles and Miller added eight apiece to power the Sugar Bears' 38-kill attack.
• The win pushed SFA's win total to 21 - the most among all NCAA Division I volleyball teams - and with the sweep the Ladyjacks extended the nation's longest active streak of sets won to 37.
COMING UP NEXT
• Saturday afternoon inside Prather Coliseum the Southland's top two teams are set to clash when the Ladyjacks duke it out with Northwestern State at 1:00 p.m. The Lady Demons trail SFA by just one match in the battle for first place in the Southland Conference standings and counter SFA's 14-match winning streak with their own eight-match unbeaten streak.
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