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2016 Southland Volleyball Tournament Central
CONWAY, Ark. - In the first match of the 2016 Southland Volleyball Tournament, No. 2 Stephen F. Austin showed why it is the best defense in the conference, stifling No. 7 Southeastern Louisiana in a 3-0 opening round sweep.
The Lady Lions gave Stephen F. Austin all they could handle in the first set, matching the Ladyjacks' 32 attack attempts but only managing a .094 hitting percentage and committing eight errors while SFA hit .219. The Ladyjacks stifled the Lady Lion offense at the net, notching 5.0 total blocks. Freshman KK Payne and sophomore Haley Coleman both registered four kills for Stephen F. Austin, leading the way to a 25-20 victory in set one.
The Ladyjacks started hot in the second set, jumping out to a 6-1 lead and forcing an early Southeastern Louisiana timeout. The Lady Lions prevented another one-sided scoring run but still had no answer for the conference-best defense. When SLU head coach Jim Smoot called his second timeout with the score at 20-8, Stephen F. Austin had brought their block total to 8.0 while holding the Lady Lions to a .066 hitting percentage. The Ladyjacks confidently closed out set two with a 25-11 score and took a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
At the break, Stephen F. Austin was hitting .310 while holding the Lady Lions to a dismal .076. Coleman, Payne and First Team All-Conference middle blocker Justice Walker all had five kills while Freshman of the Year Ann Hollas dished out 16 assists. Walker also paced the defense with eight block assists.
Southeastern Louisiana went on its longest scoring run of the match with four straight points to give the Lady Lions a 7-6 lead - their first since the opening points of the first set. The Lady Lions did not go quietly, pulling the score as close as 22-20 in the third set. Stephen F. Austin held on for a 25-22 win to seal their opening round sweep.
Stephen F. Austin notched a .293 hitting percentage while holding the Lady Lions to .119. The SFA defense was led by 16 digs from Second Team All-Conference selection Lexus Cain and eight block assists from Walker. Hollas finished with 25 assists to orchestrate an equally powerful SFA attack.
The No. 2 Ladyjacks will face the winner of match two between No. 3 Sam Houston State and No. 6 Northwestern State tomorrow at 12 p.m. on the
Southland Digital Network.
Debbie Humphreys, Stephen F. Austin head coach
"We came out and played pretty well. We weren’t as sharp as I would like in some areas, but we are getting used to the big coliseum. They ball moves a little bit differently in here that it does over in the Prince Center. I thought we did a realyl good job of moving beyond mistakes. If we made one, we didn’t let it weigh on us."
"We did a really nice job of executing the game plan. As they made adjustments we did a good job making adjustments as well."
Justice Walker, Stephen F. Austin senior middle blocker
"I just want to lead my team to success. Of course going out in my senior year I want it all. That’s my motivation is just to go hard and to be that player my team can go to and depend on for anything."