Stephen F. Austin
10-0
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi
7-5
Evans Leads the Way as rv SFA Returns Home and Pounds Islanders in Three
9/26/2019 9:12:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Senior turns in team-high 12 kills, completes double-double effort with 10 digs
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Nearly one month after it started its 2019 campaign, the SFA volleyball team finally entered Shelton Gym Thursday night. Armed with a 12-1 record and receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Poll for the first time in program history, the Ladyjacks made sure to put on quite the show for a capacity crowd that packed out one of the most intimidating venues in college volleyball.
Everything senior Corin Evans touched turned to gold as the outside hitter finished with a team-high 12 kills while completing another double-double effort by scooping up 10 digs as the Ladyjacks started Southland Conference play by slamming Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in three sets Thursday night.
The only time the Ladyjacks trailed in their first Southland showdown of the year was when the visiting Islanders claimed the opening point of the first set as a capacity crowd - coupled with the Ladyjacks' excellent game plan - made things exceptionally difficult on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi all night long.
SET ONE | rv SFA 25, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 19
• Evans started her sublime offensive performance by pounding down a trio of terminations during SFA's 10-3 run to open up the match. Ann Hollas also generated two kills through that spurt which put the Ladyjacks in control for the entire frame.
• Forced to fight back, the Islanders did so through the middle portion of the set and pulled within four points thanks to Julia Carter. Down 15-9, the Islanders received three terminations from Carter and two more from Rachel Young to narrow the Ladyjacks' lead to 18-14.
• From there, however, SFA righted the ship. Once of the Islanders' 13 service errors on the night started a 5-1 run by the Ladyjacks and kills from Evans represented two of SFA's final six points of the set as it opened up a 1-0 lead.
• SFA hit .265 in the frame and limited the Islanders to a clip of .167. Six of the Ladyjacks' 25 points in the frame came on service errors by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
SET TWO | rv SFA 25, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 17
• Hitting the Islanders with another sizable run in the middle frame, SFA jumped out to a 7-2 lead. Evans posted another pair of kills while freshman Ariana Pagan added one of her own before Madelynn Miller served up an ace to keep the scoring spree going.
• The Islanders managed to string together back-to-back points just two times in the middle frame. The first of those instances came when consecutive kills by Sam Dumity and Carter trimmed the Ladyjacks' lead to 14-8.
• Able to trade points with SFA down the stretch the Islanders remained within five points, 20-15, when Kylie Filipiak pounded down a kill that was the response to yet another service error by the visitors. After that, however, SFA closed the book on Texas A&M-Corpus Christ and went up 2-0.
• Evans, Hollas and Danae Daron generated kills through the Ladyjacks' 5-2 run to conclude the set.
SET THREE | rv SFA 25, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 18
• For the first two frames, the Islanders did a fine job of hitting around the Ladyjacks' front row defense. That was not the case in the third as SFA posted five of its seven rejections to complete its fourth consecutive sweep.
• Carter floored a kill for the Islanders to start the set, but a 3-0 SFA run featuring a combo block from Hollas and Southland rejection leader Taya Mitchell put the home team ahead the rest of the way.
• SFA's defense loomed large during a 5-1 run that gave the home team the separation they needed in the final frame. Mitchell started the surge with a kill and added three more blocks -one solo and two assisted - through the surge that lifted SFA's lead to 14-8.
• The Islanders closed to within three points, 20-17, with a 3-0 run before SFA finished them off. Pagan began a 5-1 run by the Ladyjacks with a kill while Margaret Dean turned in her lone service ace of the match through the surge as well.
• With its defense operating at peak efficiency, SFA held the Islanders to an attack percentage of only .077 through the last frame.
KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• Dean finished up a double-double effort with 13 assists and 11 digs while Hollas added 18 digs to go along with five digs and an equal number of blocks.
• Mitchell submitted five blocks of her own to go along with four kills and a dig.
• Both Daron and Pagan wrapped up their first Southland match of the year with six kills while Miller captained SFA's back line with a match-high 21 digs.
• For the Islanders, Carter hammered home a match-high 14 kills while Madison Green dished out a match-best 31 assists.
• The win was SFA's third in a row over the Islanders and its second sweep in the last three meetings between the two clubs.
• SFA generated seven blocks and did not let the Islanders post a rejection in the three-set battle. With the win, the Ladyjacks stretched their winning streak in Southland Conference regular season matches to 18 which dates back to the 2017 season.
HEAR IT FROM HUMPHREYS
Head coach Debbie Humphreys on the return to Shelton Gym | "It was awesome. I expected us to have a good crowd and they got here really early tonight. Right from the start they were loud and they were ready to go. They were just so excited that we were finally playing at home. I felt like they were just as excited as we were.
On taking advantage of the Islanders' service errors | "The service errors certainly make our job easier. We have to take advantage of any gifts they want to give us. Especially in the first set both teams had their fair share of service errors - we were a little higher than normal. Everybody for us just had one, though. They got their one, got it out of the way then settled in. You could feel the tension at the start of the match. It's the opening of conference play, it's a crazy loud atmosphere in here and both teams just needed some time to settle into the flow of the match. We just did a little better of a job of that tonight.
On getting SFA's front row defense up to speed with the Islanders' offense | "Corpus plays a unique style of volleyball. They do everything as fast as they possible can. Whether it's passing, setting, or attacking, they're doing to do it all at warp speed. We have spent a lot of time this week preparing for that and a lot of times it's so fast that you won't get two blockers on it. If we were able to end the rally fairly early that was ceratainly benefiting us because going longer through a rally where things are happening that fast, that's what caused us the most problems. As the match went on, we were able to adjust to their tempo.
On the play of Corin Evans | "Corin had a great match. It's kind of funny - her and Xariah, either one or the other, has a phenomenal match every time we step out on the court and tonight it was Corin. She was really aggressive all around tonight. I have been challenging her to be willing to bring a little bit more firepower because she's capable of it. She's a player who doesn't like to make a lot of errors and tonight she brought it. I was really pleased with that.
COMING UP NEXT
• With their winning streak inside Shelton Gym now at 16 matches dating back to the 2017 season, the Ladyjacks will try to keep it going Saturday afternoon when they host Incarnate Word for another Southland Conference clash. Greg Miller and Brittany Castledine have the call of the showdown between the Ladyjacks and Cardinals on ESPN3 and the ESPN app once it begins at 1:00 p.m.
-SFA-
