Box Score
HAMMOND, La. – With the regular season winding down, the Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team completed a season sweep of Stephen F. Austin Thursday with a five-set Southland Conference victory at the University Center.
Southeastern (10-14, 5-9 Southland) defeated the Ladyjacks (17-9, 8-5 Southland), 25-15, 22-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-9.
Courtney Donald led all players with 16 kills (.263 attack percentage) and the Lady Lions recorded 16 team blocks, marking the sixth-straight match with double-digit blocks. Freshman
Shelby Devlin set a career-high with 11 block assists.
Six of Southeastern's blocks came in the first set as SFA hit negative (-.176). Four kills by Grayson as well as three each by Donald, Devlin and
Veronica Turk sparked the Lady Lions' early domination.
Both teams struggled to hit in the second set, but the Ladyjacks took advantage of some late miscues to score the final five points.
Down four to SFA in the third, head coach Geno Frugoli subbed in
Jessica Rauch. The junior from Metairie served off six-straight points, including a pair of aces sandwiched around a Ladyjack timeout. Rauch then picked up two of the final three Lady Lions kills to finish off the set.
SFA enjoyed its best offensive effort (.195 attack percentage) of the evening in the fourth set. Southeastern fought hard, through 12 ties and four lead changes, but came up just short.
With the match on the line,
Cherish Krohn served up a quick lead for the Lady Lions to open the fifth and deciding set. Southeastern jumped out in front, 4-0 and then 10-4, before play evened out toward the finish line.
Jill Ivy (12 kills), Tori Bates (10 kills) and Paige Holland (38 assists) powered an SFA offense that hit .034 for the match. Madison Hanlan (25 digs), Katzy Randall (18 digs) and Janet Hill (11 digs) anchored the defense for the Lady Jacks.
Turk added 10 kills to Donald's total and
Becky Bekelja dished out 46 assists.
Taylor Buckner led the Lady Lions with 25 digs while
Megan McMillin (19) and
Morgan Todd (13) turned double-digit efforts.
Southeastern is tied with Nicholls State for seventh in the Southland after the Lady Colonels dropped a five-set decision Thursday to Northwestern State, the Lady Lions' next opponent. The top eight teams in the regular season make the conference tournament scheduled for Nov. 16-18 in Conway Ark.
With four conference matches left, Southeastern holds a 3.5 game lead over Lamar and McNeese State while holding the tiebreaker over both schools.
First serve for Saturday's match against Northwestern State is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Southeastern La. def. Stephen F. Austin 25-15,22-25,25-21,21-25,15-9
Stephen F. Austin (17-9, 8-5) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Ivy, Jill 12-0-1; Bates, Tori 10-1-4; Randall, Katzy 9-0-2; Burns, Sabrina 6-3-5; Allen, Jacque 5-0-5; Holland, Paige 2-0-3; Hanlan, Madison 0-1-0; Kainer, Keeley 0-0-1;
Totals 44-5-12.0. (Assists) - Holland, Paige 38.
(Dig leaders) - Hanlan, Madison 25; Randall, Katzy 18; Hill, Janet 11; Olson, OJ 8
Southeastern La. (10-14, 5-9) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Donald, Courtney 16-0-4; Turk, Veronica 10-0-2; Devlin, Shelby 9-0-11; Grayson, Tamra 8-0-3; Rauch, Jessica 4-2-0; Bekelja, Becky 3-1-4; Shippy, Mikayla 2-0-5; Krohn, Cherish 1-2-0; Buckner, Taylor 1-3-0; McMillin, Megan 0-1-0;
Totals 54-9-16.0. (Assists) - Bekelja, Becky 46.
(Dig leaders) - Buckner, Taylor 23; McMillin, Megan 19; Todd, Morgan 13
