No. 6 Houston Baptist Upsets No. 3 Stephen F. Austin in Four Sets
Southland Conference
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CONWAY, Ark. – No. 6 seed Houston Baptist upset No. 3 Stephen F. Austin 3-1 (27-25, 19-25, 27-25, 25-18) Friday in the third match of the 2015 Southland Conference Tournament on the campus of Central Arkansas in Conway, Ark.
Houston Baptist set the tone early in the first set by going up 6-2. The Ladyjacks were able to rally multiple times, but could not hold a lead. Tied at 24, the Huskies called a timeout to regroup and finish the set 27-25. Sophomore outside hitter Bailey Banks led the Huskies with four kills and one assist in the first set.
With the second set tied at 6-6, the Ladyjacks managed to take control with a 12-6 run to go up 18-12. The Ladyjack defense, led by senior defensive specialist OJ Olson with eight digs, held the Huskies to a .239 hitting percentage to win the set 25-19. Senior outside hitter Tori Bates led the offense with four kills and a .571 hitting percentage.
Both defenses stepped up in the third set with neither team hitting more than a .200 hitting percentage. Junior setter Kayla Armer gave the Huskies a slight advantage with nine assists. With a narrow 25-24 Husky lead, junior outside hitter Jessica Wooten came in clutch with a service ace to put it away as the Huskies claimed the third set to go up 2-1.
The Huskies kept the Ladyjacks on their heels with an early run. An aggressive attack from the Huskies allowed them to hold the lead for the entirety of the set. A 10-3 Husky run put the Ladyjacks in a 21-13 hole they were unable to recover from, despite an impressive run at the end. Houston Baptist won the final set 25-18.
Wooten, Banks, and sophomore middle blocker Blair Gillard led the Huskies offenses with a combined 43 kills while Armer totaled 48 assists. Bates alongside freshman outside hitters Haley Coleman and Makenzee Hanna led the Ladyjacks with a combined 37 kills.
The Huskies will advance to the Southland Volleyball Tournament semifinals Saturday, Nov. 21 at 2:30 and will take on either No. 2 seed Central Arkansas or No. 7 seed Sam Houston State.
The first two rounds of the tournament will be streamed live on the Southland Conference Digital Network, including
Southland.org/watch and the league’s mobile and tablet apps. The championship round will be an exclusive presentation of ESPN3, available via
WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.
Houston Baptist Head Coach Trent Herman
On being the lower seed
“We had an up and down season. We would play really well at times, then we would play not as well. The good thing about this team is they stayed even keel the entire season knowing that they’re a good team. They just hadn’t put it all together on a consistence basis. They did a really nice job preparing this week. Having a full week to prepare really made it nice. They did an excellent job executing the game plan.
On preparing for the semifinals
“It’s a short turn around. We’ve done our scouting on both teams so we’ll just have to watch the match tonight and take it in. We’ll get a good night sleep and get ready for tomorrow.
Houston Baptist Sophomore Middle Blocker Blair Gillard
On offensive game
“Offensively, our passing was there. We can’t do anything without the back row and the setters. We were working in practice all week, running middles and transitions. Our goal was to get up every time the ball was there and we did. We did our job and it paid off.
Stephen F. Austin Head Coach Debbie Humphreys
On the tone of the match
"I thought we had our opportunities. We knew they’re a good blocking team and we had a plan to counter that. When we executed that, we did very, very well. You have to be winning to rally for a while against a team like that and I thought at times when we were willing to do that things worked out pretty well for us. When we were not, we just felt pressured to get a kill right away and were taken out of our game.
On the inability to get over the hump:
We had our opportunities in the first set. We were serving for the set, miss a serve and let them score two quick ones. Same thing in the third, had our opportunities. We scored 25 three times – usually that’s enough but tonight it wasn’t"
On the play of OJ Olson and the freshman
"OJ had a great match, but beyond that it was our freshmen who played fearless volleyball and just got out there and played hard. Haley Coleman had a tremendous match. Over the past few weeks she has been coming on in practice and doing some very nice things and we certainly felt like she deserved that opportunity and she took advantage of it. Makenzee Hanna has been doing some good things for us, but unfortunately for the last week or so she has been getting higher air on her swings. Even though that carried over to today, she still finds a way to be productive but we have to get those errors down a little bit for her. She stayed aggressive throughout the match. And Kara Beckmeyer – coming off the bench for the second time all season long – did some good things at the service line."
On trying to shut down HBU
"They’ve got great pieces. I’m surprised they didn’t finish higher than they did and of all the matchups, this was the one I was hoping to avoid because they’re a great volleyball team. Their ball control is where they struggle, but to take advantage of that you have to serve tough and you have to execute your offensive game plan. In the second set we did that to perfection so they didn’ty have those opportunities to run their middles and pins who are all very good. They’ve got the hitters that can get the job done, so you have to make them rally and keep some pressure on them. Unfortunately we could not do that and it cost us."