Stephen F. Austin
Northwestern State
Strong All-Around Play Pushes Ladyjacks Past Northwestern State in Three Sets
11/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Stephen F. Austin 3, Northwestern State 0 | 25-16, 25-21, 25-19 | Box Score
Records: Stephen F. Austin • 19-9, 12-3 Southland | Northwestern State • 12-18, 7-8 Southland
Up next: at Central Arkansas (14-13, 8-7 Southland) | Saturday, Nov. 12 | Noon
NATCHITOCHES, La. - Relaxed by the knowledge that it was not fighting for Southland Conference Tournament seeding let alone for a spot in the tournament, the Stephen F. Austin volleyball team played without any kind of pressure.
That spelled trouble for Northwestern State.
Putting together a sharp all-around performance, the Ladyjacks received nine kills apiece from Abby McIntyre and Peyton Redmond while Lexus Cain anchored the back-row defensive unit with a 20-dig performance that helped lift SFA to a 3-0 triumph at Northwestern State on Thursday night.
The only things that kept the Ladyjacks from posting a true wire-to-wire victory were 1-0 starts by the Lady Demons in the second and third sets. Other than those, however, SFA never fell behind and received five blocks from Justice Walker and another four from McIntyre as part of an 8-3 advantage in that department for the match.
“This week was about making sure we are in a place where we can get focused and play with intensity without having a lot of pressure riding on us,” said SFA head coach Debbie Humphreys, whose squad is already a lock for the number-two seed in the Southland Conference Tournament. “We started off strong, our left sides played really well and Lexus had a great match in the back row. Now we have to play with that same focus and toughness when there is something at stake.”
Outside of a match-high 14 kills from Reagan Rogers, Northwestern State has no response to the Ladyjacks’ superior all-around effort that held the Lady Demons to an attack percentage of only .113.
Forgetting all about the slow starts in their last few road matches, Walker and Redmond pounded down three terminations apiece through the Ladyjacks’ 7-2 surge to open the match. Sufficiently stunning the Lady Demons with that start, SFA kept firing at a high rate of accuracy and eventually finished the frame with a .324 hitting percentage.
Corin Evans swung on one of her two service aces to give SFA a 15-9 lead, and consecutive blocks by SFA down the stretch pushed the Ladyjacks’ edge to 21-12. In the first set alone, Walker racked up four of her five blocks while SFA as a whole collected five of its eight team rejections in the three-set tilt.
Two unforced errors by the Lady Demons and a service ace off the hand of Danae Daron allowed SFA to build a 5-1 cushion at the start of the middle frame. This time, however, Northwestern State bounced back and knotted matters at 11 each with a 4-1 surge.
SFA made sure that was the only time their Louisiana foes would threaten in the frame, however, as the Ladyjacks got three free points from unforced NSU miscues and another three off of kills from Daron and McIntyre as part of a 6-2 run that reestablished a 17-13 edge for the visitors.
Up 24-18, the Ladyjacks held off a minor run by the home squad by finishing the set with another kill off the mitts of Daron.
Northwestern State provided some drama late in the match when it shrank a 20-16 SFA lead to just 20-19, but the Ladyjacks final blow came in the form of a 5-0 scoring spree that closed out the match. Daron, McIntyre and Redmond each put down one kill through that span.
Haley Coleman finished two kills shy of a double-double as she racked up 15 digs to go along with two block assists. Daron totaled seven terminations and Walker finished with five. As a team, SFA hit .231 in the sweep.
One of the two trips the Ladyjacks’ will take to Conway, Ark., over the next week will be for their final regular season match of 2016. At noon on Saturday, SFA is set to tangle with the Sugar Bears at the Prince Center with the 20-win mark in sight for the Ladyjacks.
-SFA-
