Stephen F. Austin
12-1
UT-Arlington
8-4
Behind MVP Williams, SFA Captures Maverick Invite Title by Taking Down UTA 3-0
9/21/2019 11:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Senior pounds down match-high 13 kills
ARLINGTON, Texas - A near-perfect run through non-conference play.
That may have seemed difficult to believe upon looking at the SFA volleyball team's non-league schedule prior to the start of the season but upon its completion Saturday night that's the situation the Ladyjacks find themselves in as they head into Southland Conference action.
Punctuating a Maverick Invitational Most Valuable Player performance with a match-high 13 kills, senior outside hitter Xariah Williams helped lead SFA to a 3-0 victory over UT-Arlington Saturday night inside the College Park Center.
Fellow senior Ann Hollas submitted a 10-kill, 22-assists double-double and finished just two digs shy of her second triple double of the year to help the Ladyjacks complete the weekend without dropping a single set.
SET ONE | SFA 25, UT-Arlington 15
• In a bid to end things as quickly as possible, the Ladyjacks asserted themselves on offense throughout the opening frame to put the Mavericks in a hole they wouldn't climb out of.• A trio of kills off the mitts of Hollas as well as a rare termination courtesy of junior libero Margaret Dean helped the Ladyjacks start the set on a 7-2 run.
• The Mavericks pulled within two points, 7-5, but kills from four Ladyjacks as well as a pair of service aces courtesy of Corin Evans represented a large part of SFA's 9-0 run that hiked its lead to 16-5.
• Danae Daron thundered down a trio of powerful kills late in the set to help keep the Mavericks at bay.
• SFA hit .212 in the set, compared to a mark of only .028 by UT-Arlington.
SET TWO | SFA 26, UT-Arlington 24
• Large leads were far more difficult to come by for SFA in the second as the Mavericks held the upper hand most of the way.
• After back-to-back kills from Bre Walp put SFA in a 22-19 hole, the Ladyjacks had to dig deep to go up by two sets.
• UT-Arlington committed four unforced attack errors while Hollas, Taya Mitchell and Williams generated kills through a 7-2 SFA run that clinched the set for the Ladyjacks.
• Offense was not a at a premium for either side as SFA hit .298 in the frame while watching the Mavericks operate at a clip of .273.
SET THREE | SFA 25, UT-Arlington 19
• Outside of a 1-0 lead by the Mavericks on the opening point of the set, SFA never trailed on their way to a third-consecutive 3-0 sweep.
• Mitchell's solo block handed SFA a 2-1 lead and the Ladyjacks never fell behind again.
• Two terminations from Williams as well as one from Daron powered a 5-1 run which pushed the Ladyjacks' edge to 12-7.
• Another well-timed run - this one of the 5-0 variety - extended SFA's lead to 23-15. During that surge, Mitchell came up with a kill while Dean added a service ace.
• Hollas closed out the match with a kill, stopping a 3-0 run by the Mavericks in the process.
KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• To go along with Williams' tournament MVP performance, both Daron and junior libero Madelynn Miller earned spots on the Maverick Invitational All-Tournament Team. Miller finished Saturday night's match with a match-high 17 digs.
• Mitchell was again a force at the net for SFA, totaling eight blocks to go along with four kills and a dig.
• Brooke Townsend (11 kills) represented the Mavericks' lone double-digit kill getter of the match.
• Jessica Stancliff posted a 19-assist, 11-dig double-double for UT-Arlington.
COMING UP NEXT
• With their regular season non-conference schedule in the books, the Ladyjacks - at long last - return to Nacogdoches to start Southland Conference action. SFA welcomes Texas A&M-Corpus Christi into Shelton Gym Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. for the first league tilt of 2019 for both squads.
-SFA-
