SFA held UL-Lafayette to .084 hitting for the night and Sophomore Melissa Miksch had a career high 18 digs in a 3-0 sweep in the first match of the season at Johnson Coliseum.
After the match I talked with Coach Debbie Humphreys and she was quick to point out the solid play of Arielle Daron - a player the 'Jacks will be counting on more in 2009. Daron knocked down 6 balls with no attack errors. Just like in the NIU tourney, Daron was a valuable contributor to the offense. MC Bottles led the 'Jacks with 12 kills and Freshman Maddie Hanlan matched Miksch with 18 scoops of her own. SFA had seven total team blocks with Senior Ashley Bailey assisting on five blocks and Daron assisting on three.
Before the match I talked directly with the injured Kelsey Owens. The news on her appears positive. More than likely she'll be out for the upcoming road tourneys, but her timetable is in weeks, rather than months. That bodes well for having her back before conference play.
Miksch and Freshmen Sabrina Burns may be in-line to pick up the slack in KO's brief absence. Of course, Miksch's defense keeps her on the court for many rotations anyway. Burns killed four balls in nine attacks with only one error (.333). Miksch had five kills on the night to go along with her solid defensive effort.
The team was shaky in the opening set, but the hitting percentage improved after each switch, so that was positive. It was nice to see the team get a win when Williams-Roberts wasn't at her strongest (-.0
29). Amber was our offensive leader at various times last weekend, so getting her back on track in Missouri along with solid outputs from those mentioned above should put us in a good position to be competitive all weekend long.The main thing is we got the "W". Hanlan did a great job passing and the serve-receive error tally was only one...the lowest of the year so far.
The team was certainly not firing on all cylinders, so its exciting to think what might happen when KO is back and we get a handful of players that really catch fire.
We'll post the Freshmen interviews here tomorrow. If you were in Johnson Coliseum tonight - thanks for your support. If you were in Nac and weren't there then shame on you. Make sure you get to the tournament we host on Sept. 18 and 19.