SFA Stays Perfect, Scores First Win Over Big 12 Program Since 2015 with 3-0 Victory over Texas Tech

Friday, September 6

Evanston, Ill.

1:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

4-0

Texas Tech

3-1

Texas Tech

Stephen F. Austin

SFA Stays Perfect, Scores First Win Over Big 12 Program Since 2015 with 3-0 Victory over Texas Tech

9/6/2019 9:33:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Ladyjacks limit Red Raiders to .112 attack percentage in fifth-straight win

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Strategic Communications

EVANSTON, Ill. – Facing her alma mater – a program which she was named the MVP of in 1985 – SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys not only secured her team's first victory over a Big 12 institution in nearly a half-decade, she inched closer to her latest impressive coaching milestone.

Putting on an impressive offensive display, SFA hit .250 as a club, limited Texas Tech to an attacking clip of .112 and overcame a slow start to secure a 3-0 victory over the Red Raiders Friday afternoon at the Northwestern Under Armour Invitational inside Welsh-Ryan Arena.

SET ONE | SFA 25, Texas Tech 22
• Though the final score was not indicative of it, the Red Raiders appeared to be in control through the opening stages of SFA's first match ever in Welsh-Ryan Arena.
• Six unforced Ladyjack errors coupled with a pair of service aces by the Red Raiders put SFA in an early 13-6 hole, but after freshman Ariana Pagan stopped a 5-0 Texas Tech run with a termination the Ladyjacks regrouped in a big way.
• Pagan's kill represented the starting point of a 9-1 run by SFA which was aided by two Texas Tech ball handling errors as well as two of the Ladyjacks' seven blocks.
• Up 15-14, SFA swapped points and leads with Texas Tech and fell behind for the final time when a kill by Emily Hill put the Red Raiders ahead 21-20 and forced an SFA timeout. Out of that stoppage, the Ladyjacks executed when it counted.
• Hollas and Mitchell carried the Ladyjacks home during their 5-1 run to come back and win the frame. A Texas Tech service error started the run which was finished with a combination block from the two aforementioned SFA players. That duo came up with a pair of big-time rejections during SFA's set-clinching surge.
• Neither side put up eye-popping offensive numbers, but at the end SFA's defense allowed them to gut out the win. The Ladyjacks hit only .029 in the frame, but Texas Tech didn't fare much better and mustered an attack percentage of just .108.

SET TWO | SFA 25, Texas Tech 13
• Forced to scrap together the offensive numbers necessary to win the opening frame, the Ladyjacks busted out of their hitting funk in a big way by attacking at a clip of .406 in the middle set. That rejuvenated offense helped SFA put the Red Raiders in the rearview mirror for good.
• Corin Evans and Ann Hollas combined for five terminations during SFA's 10-3 run to begin the frame and Texas Tech never could muster an appropriate response of its own.
• Putting the Red Raiders away in the middle part of the set, SFA upped its edge from 13-7 to 19-9 courtesy of a 6-2 spurt that saw Evans and Taya Mitchell come up with solo stuffs. Each of those Ladyjacks had a kill during that surge, too.
• A heavy dose of Danae Daron and Evans helped SFA finish their Big 12 adversaries with a 6-2 set-clinching run. Daron pounded down a trio of terminations while Evans added one of her own to go along with a service ace.
• Thanks to some splendid defense, SFA held Texas Tech to an attack percentage of .111 in the frame.

SET THREE | SFA 25, Texas Tech 15
• Much like what happened in the middle frame, SFA came out as the aggressors and never backed down.
• Four different SFA players conjured up kills while Hollas served up an ace during the Ladyjacks' 13-5 run to begin the frame.
• Texas Tech stayed within striking distance by swapping points with SFA, but after a termination from Emily Hill pushed the Red Raiders within six, 16-10, SFA hit the afterburners.
• Through the team's 9-5 run to close out the match, Evans chipped in two more terminations and an ace while Xariah Wiliams added a pair of kills as well.
• SFA hit .324 in the final frame and held the Red Raiders to a mark of .118 .

KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• Some excellent floor defense – and a strong front-row defensive effort – helped SFA put the clamps on the Red Raiders' offense. Margaret Dean finished with a 12-assist, 10-dig double-double and was on of three SFA players who notched double-digit digs.
• Evans scooped up a match-best 19 digs and found herself just one termination shy of a double-double by finishing with nine on a .240 attack percentage.
• Though she hit only .143, Mitchell racked up eight terminations and continued to serve as a solid front-row defender. The junior amassed six rejections while Hollas added three of them to compliment a four-kill, 17-assist, eight-dig outing.
• Daron hit .571 – a team-best – and tied Evans for team-high kill honors with nine.
• Hill finished with 10 kills for Texas Tech who suffered its first loss of 2019.
• SFA's victory over Texas Tech represented the program's first victory over a Big 12 program since the Ladyjacks defeated those same Red Raiders by an identical score on Sept. 4, 2015, in Shelton Gym.
• Interestingly enough, that win over Texas Tech in 2015 gave SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys her 599^th career victory which the victory over her alma mater Friday put her at 699 triumphs.

COMING UP NEXT
• Just one win away from 700 for her coaching career, head coach Debbie Humphreys goes for it at 5:00 p.m. Friday afternoon when SFA meets Ohio Valley Conference foe Austin Peay in its second game of the Northwestern Under Armour Invitational from Welsh-Ryan Arena.

-SFA-