RECAP: Ladyjacks Defeat Cowgirls in Four

Thursday, October 1

Lake Charles, LA

6:00 PM

Stephen F. Austin

9-7,3-0Southland

McNeese

4-10,0-3Southland

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
SFA	25	23	25	25	3
McNeese	23	25	23	23	1

Game Notes (PDF)

Kat Holtman Attacking at McNeese (10.1.26)

RECAP: Ladyjacks Defeat Cowgirls in Four

10/1/2026 9:24:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Amanda Paver, Assistant Director of Communications

LAKE CHARLES, La.- Stephen F. Austin defeated McNeese 3-1 on Thursday, winning 25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23. The Ladyjacks hit .310 with 63 kills and served 14 aces. SFA finished with a hitting percentage of .310, higher than its season average of .220. The team also recorded 14 service aces in the game, exceeding its season average of 4.67.

The first set stayed tight through the early exchanges, with SFA pulling even at 9-9 on a Caroline Kahle service ace after kills from Molly Cravens, Katherine Holtman and Avery Koonsen helped answer McNeese points. After a 13-13 tie, SFA scored three straight on a Cravens kill, a Cowgirls attack error and a Kahle kill, then moved ahead 18-14 on an Aniston Collins ace. The Cowgirls came back to tie the set at 19-19, but a Holtman kill, a Cowgirls bad set and a Kyanna Creecy ace put SFA back in front 22-19. SFA reached set point at 24-21 on a Madi Zorn ace, and after the Cowgirls closed within one, Jordan Henderson and Koonsen combined on the final block to finish the set 25-23.

SFA matched the Cowgirls through a 7-7 start, with Holtman, Cravens and Kahle among the early kills, but the Cowgirls began to separate after SFA trailed 10-9. Mary-Alice Dohmann's serve helped the Cowgirls score six straight points for a 16-9 lead, a stretch that included two aces and a Kayla Wilson kill, before SFA cut into the gap with a Collins kill, a Creecy ace and a Cowgirls attack error to get within 20-16. The Cowgirls reached set point at 24-20 on an Ava Henry kill, but SFA extended the set with kills from Henderson and Zorn and a block by Zorn and Creecy before a service error ended the set for the Cowgirls, 25-23.

After the Cowgirls scored first, SFA answered with six straight points to move ahead 6-1, with Koonsen tying the set on a kill before Henderson added two kills, Koonsen served an ace, and Cravens capped the run with a kill. SFA pushed the lead to 13-4 behind kills from Holtman and Creecy and still led 19-12 after Kahle's kill, but the Cowgirls rallied and scored five straight points from 21-17 to take a 22-21 lead. A Cowgirls service error tied the set, Creecy followed with back-to-back aces for a 24-22 SFA edge, and Holtman finished the set with a kill from Collins for a 25-23 win.

SFA built early separation in the fourth set, using Collins' back-to-back service aces to go ahead 5-2 before a Creecy ace and a Henderson block helped stretch the lead to 10-4. After the Cowgirls got within 10-5, SFA won seven of the next eight rallies, including consecutive Kennedy Jones service aces and a Kahle kill, to move in front 17-6. The Cowgirls cut into the margin with a three-point run to 21-16 and later scored five straight to close to 23-21 before Cravens answered with a kill for set point. The Cowgirls held off two set points, but Kahle finished the set with a kill from Zorn to give SFA a 25-23 win.

PLAYERS OF THE MATCH
• Caroline Kahle- 13 kills (tied team lead), 9 digs
• Molly Cravens- 13 kills (tied team lead), .345 hitting percentage
• Katherine Holtman- 12 kills with 1 error on 24 attempts, .458 hitting percentage
• Kyanna Creecy- 6 service aces (led team and new career high), 3 blocks
• Avery Koonsen- 16 digs (led team), 6 kills, 2 blocks

SFA is 9-7 overall and 3-0 in Southland play. The Cowgirls are 4-10 overall and 0-3 in Southland play.

NEXT UP
The Ladyjacks will travel to Thibodaux, Louisiana, to face Nicholls on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 1 p.m.

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