‘Jacks Fall to Cardinals in a Five-Set Heartbreaker

Saturday, October 18

Nacogdoches, TX

12:00 P.M.

Stephen F. Austin

12-7,7-1Southland

Incarnate Word

10-10,6-2Southland

UIW

SFA

‘Jacks Fall to Cardinals in a Five-Set Heartbreaker

10/18/2025 3:38:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Ilana de Assis, Jordan Henderson and Camryn Hill shine against UIW.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas- The Stephen F. Austin volleyball program hosted the UIW Cardinals for Homecoming Saturday in the Pressure Cooker.

The Cardinals jumped out to an early 7-4 lead before the Ladyjacks tied it up at seven. UIW then went on a 7-0 run to double up SFA 14-7. The 'Jacks fought back and cut the deficit to three, but it was too little too late as the Cards secured a 25-20 first set victory.

SFA held a slim 6-4 lead early in the second set, but UIW went on another 6-0 spurt to take a 10-6 lead. With the Cardinals up 13-9, the 'Jacks responded with a 5-0 spurt to retake a 14-13 lead. Both teams traded blows the rest of the set, but the Cardinals secured a 26-24 second set victory.

In the third set, the 'Jacks jumped out to a 12-6 lead after a kill from Izabella Ortiz. SFA held their lead the rest of the set and won the third set on back-to-back points, 25-16.

With their backs against the wall, SFA took an early 7-4 lead after a kill from Katherine Holtman. The Cardinals responded with three straight points, but SFA then went on a mini fun to retake a 10-7 lead. Later in the set, the Ladyjacks went on a 5-1 spurt that was capped off by back-to-back kills from Ilana de Assis, 23-16. SFA won the fourth set off back-to-back kills from de Assis and Holtman, 25-18 to send us to a divisive fifth set.

UIW took an early 8-4 lead at the switch, but a mini run from the 'Jacks cut the deficit to one after an ace from Caroline Kahle, 13-12. SFA tied the set up at 14 with a kill from Holtman before both teams sided out the next six points. Sadly, the Cardinals won the next two points and won the fifth set 19-17.

POSTGAME NOTES
• UIW broke SFA's nine-game winning streak. SFA leads the all-time series 12-3 and fall to 3-2 at home.
• Ilana de Assis paced the Ladyjacks with 19 kills and recorded 19 digs for her sixth double-double of the season.
• Katherine Holtman followed with 14 kills.
• Jordan Henderson was all over the stat sheet as she also recorded 14 kills, hit .414, and recorded eight blocks.
• Camryn Hill set a new career high in digs with 34 followed by Caroline Kahle who had 26.
• Jayden Flynn ran the SFA offense with 34 assists.
• Izabella Ortiz recorded her 1,000th career point.

UP NEXT
SFA will head up to Commerce, Texas for a matchup against the East Texas A&M Lions next Thursday night before traveling over to Natchitoches for a Saturday match against the Lady Demons of Northwestern State.

TICKET INFORMATION
Join SFA Volleyball at the Debbie Humphreys Court at Shelton Gym this fall! Season tickets and single-game tickets are on sale now. Fans can visit SFAtickets.com for more information.

FOLLOW THE LADYJACKS
For all the latest information on SFA Volleyball, visit SFAjacks.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Ladyjacks on X, Instagram and Facebook.