Ladyjacks Surge Past Rival Lady Demons in Four Sets on Saturday

Saturday, October 26

Natchitoches, La.

1:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

22-1,10-0Southland

Northwestern State

16-8,8-2Southland

SFA

Northwestern St.

Photo by: Chris Reich | Northwestern State Photographic Services

Ladyjacks Surge Past Rival Lady Demons in Four Sets on Saturday

10/26/2019 4:16:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: SFA Athletics

NATCHITOCHES, La. -- The SFA women's volleyball team saw one impressive streak end and another continue rolling on in Natchitoches on Saturday, defeating rival Northwestern State three sets to one in another strong Southland Conference effort. The win was the 15th in a row for the Ladyjacks (22-1 overall, 10-0 SLC), who remain undefeated in league play despite dropping just their first set in league play this season. The Ladyjacks remain atop the league standings and create more space between them and second place, which features a tie between Sam Houston State and Northwestern State after Saturday's results.

SET ONE | Northwestern State 25, rv SFA 23

Except for a Taya Mitchell termination that pushed them ahead 10-9 early in the opening frame, the Ladyjacks never held the lead in a set that saw the Lady Demons' offense set the tone.
Hoping to become the first Southland Conference squad since 2017 to hand SFA a regular season league loss, Northwestern State pushed its lead to as many as six in the frame before SFA fought back.
A 4-1 SFA run featuring a kill from Evans as well as a joint rejection by Daron and Hollas helped the visitors cut Northwestern State's lead to 23-22 and forced the Lady Demons to call time.
Out of that stoppage, another pair of Northwestern State kills sealed the deal and put an end to the Ladyjacks' nation-leading streak of 37 consecutive sets won.
Northwestern State pounded down 18 terminations in the opening set and hit .250 as opposed to the Ladyjacks' .194.

SET TWO | rv SFA 25, Northwestern State 22

Terminations from Daron, Evans, Hollas and Mitchell powered the visitors' 5-2 run to begin the second frame as SFA got its offense straightened out.
The rest of the set featured back and forth play between the two teams, with neither stringing together more than three points in a row.
After falling behind the Lady Demons 14-12 later in the set, the Ladyjacks got kills from Mitchell and Daron and benefited from a Northwestern State error to pull back ahead, 15-14.
The Lady Demons briefly retook the lead thanks to a pair of quick points, but were playing from behind the rest of the way in the set, as the Ladyjacks kept up a steady stream of go-ahead points.
SFA used a stretch in which they won four of five points to take a 23-20 lead, and would close out the set by a 25-22 score thanks to a service error and a kill by Corin Evans.

SET THREE | rv SFA, 25, Northwestern State 13

SFA's offense came up big in the third set, as the Ladyjacks racked up 18 kills off of a .357 hitting percentage and made just three errors.
The Ladyjacks jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead in the third set thanks to a block by Hollas and Mitchell, a pair of Lady Demon attack errors and a kill by Evans.
A 5-0 run featuring kills by Daron, Evans and Hollas ballooned the lead to 9-2, and they 'Jacks stretched it further still with another 5-0 run to push the lead to 16-4. Daron, Xariah Williams and Shelby Sheets contributed kills in the run, along with a service ace by Evans.
Responding to a stretch in which Northwestern State won four of five points to close the gap to 18-9, the 'Jacks got kills from Mitchell and Sheets and an error from NSU to get right back on track with a 21-9 lead.
SFA closed out the set with kills from Daron, Hollas and Sheets, along with another NSU error, taking the set by a 25-13 score.

SET FOUR | rv SFA 25, Northwestern State 14

Another strong showing by the Ladyjacks saw them put down the home squad with authority in the final set of the day, as the Ladyjacks tallied 16 kills and a .367 hitting percentage in the frame.
After the home squad scored a pair of point to open the set, the Ladyjacks strung together a 7-1 run to jump back into the lead, buoyed by kills from Hollas and Evans and a block by Mitchell.
Daron and Evans each hammered home a pair of kills in SFA's 4-0 run to open up an 11-4 lead, only to see the Lady Demons close the gap to 12-7 in response.
The Ladyjacks would win six of the next nine points to take an 18-10 lead in the set, with kills by Evans, Daron and Sheets providing some of the firepower.
After another kill each by Sheets and Evans, as well as a pair of NSU errors, the 'Jacks would lead by double digits at 22-12, and responded to two straight points by the home team by rattling off three straight points to close out the set. Evans, Williams and Daron notched the final three kills of the day for SFA.

KEY PERFORMANCES OF NOTE

Corin Evans notched a season-high 18 kills in the contest as part of a double-double effort, also finishing with 12 digs.
Margaret Dean also recorded a double-double, dishing out 26 assists to go along with 12 digs.
Madelynn Miller tallied 32 digs and also had four assists in the contest.
SFA totaled seven blocks in the contest, with Taya Mitchell (4), Danae Daron (3) and Ann Hollas (3) each notching multiple blocks. Hollas also dished out 23 assists and tallied seven kills.
With the victory over NSU, SFA's senior class of Danae Daron, Corin Evans, Ann Hollas and Xariah Williams now has 100 career wins at SFA.

COMING UP NEXT

• The Ladyjacks return to Shelton Gymnasium for a rivalry matchup with the Bearkats of Sam Houston State on Thursday, Oct. 31, witht he match set to start at 6:30 p.m. Saturday's matchup will see them back on the road to face Houston Baptist in Houston at 1:00 p.m.