The following is a transcript of the 2023 Senior Day Read (November 4, 2023) done to honor our current senior and graduate student class completing their time at SFA. The original paragraphs were written by Peter Trainor, Student Assistant for Strategic Communications. He then sent them to Amanda Paver, our Volleyball Sports Information Director whose official title is Assistant Director for Strategic Communications. Amanda forwarded them to me and I edited the paragraphs fairly heavily inserting various statistics and rearranging the material. I took a fair amount of liberties with the text I was sent but Peter deserves a ton of credit for doing the original research and getting this project started. This was my 18th straight year of delivering the Senior Read on Senior Day. Anyone who has has to put up with me barking these out knows that I really love it and invest a lot of passion in the delivery.
The yellow highlighted numbers were updated quickly after the match by hand, so all of the statistics here are accurate as of BEFORE the match played on Saturday, November 4, 2023.
In some cases (on the fly) these were cut down by a sentence or two live, but this is the original transcript I had in front of me.
Here is this years' transcript:
This years’ Senior Day honorees are at the core of what has now been a multiple year run of sustained success as the ‘Jacks exited the Southland Conference and have taken the WAC by storm these last three seasons. Two of those we will recognize transferred to SFA and four have spent their entire collegiate careers in Nacogdoches. All of these ladies have aided the current club to a 25-3 record and a perfect 14-0 here in the Pressure Cooker during 2023. We want to present each of these six to you and tell you a little bit about their overall accomplishments while wearing Ladyjack Purple.
First up is #1, graduate transfer middle blocker, ALLEAH
DALLAS.
Alleah came to SFA this year after her time at
Bethune-Cookman University where she was once named preseason blocker of the
year, twice won defensive player of the week awards and also won rookie of the
week at one point and was a pre-season all SWAC honoree. She finished her time as a Wildcat fourth in
program history in total blocks. This year at SFA she has amassed 111 kills,
hit .336 – good for 7th best in the WAC, blocked 78 balls with a
1.04 block per set rate which is 6th highest in the conference. A force at the net, Alleah Dallas
Next, another transfer to Stephen F. Austin... she came to
SFA last year by way of Northwestern State, libero #7 HALEY HOANG.
While suiting up for SFA, Hoang has won defensive player of
the week or libero of the week multiple times including twice this season. Last year, she was All-Tournament at both SMU
and here at an SFA Tournament at the end of her junior season was named WAC
Libero of the Year while tallying a ridiculous 5.01 digs per set and 546 total
scoops – both of which saw her stay among national leaderboards all season
long. At the WAC Tournament last season,
she was named to the all-tournament team.
She was named 2023 pre-season libero of the year, and currently leads
the WAC in digs per set. Haley has totaled 1809 digs and 140 aces in her career to this point. Haley Hoang has not lost in this building, a
perfect 28-0. Overall, she is 51-8 as a
Ladyjack.
The QUEEN of the back row… #7 Haley Hoang.
Next, From Isabella, Puerto Rico, numero dos, Ariana Pagan!!
Ari is a five-year starter for the Ladyjacks and has played
in an amazing 504 sets during her SFA career. In 2019, she was the only
freshman on the team to make a start and was third on the team in digs. In her
sophomore season she started 27 of 29 matches and was Top 50 in the nation in
service aces, Three times Ari has had
seasons with over 30 aces and currently has 129 for her career. As a junior, Pagan had 353 digs occasionally
stepping into the libero jersey when the team needed her steady passing in that
role. In her first ever WAC tournament
match, Ari served up 8 aces against Chicago State, which is tied for second
most in a match all time at SFA. As a
senior, Ari started all 31 matches, was SFA-All Tournament twice, named WAC
offensive player of the week twice and had a nine-match streak of double-digit
kills. At the end of the season she was
named Second Team All-WAC and prior to this year named to the preseason ALL WAC
list. She’s added another all-tournament
nod to her resume this season, had a career high 17 kills in Coach Humphreys
800th career win against Boise State and earlier in the year here
against UTA Pagan tallied her 1000th career point. And fans... TODAY, Ari was able to pass the
1500 dig mark for her career! In five
years, Ari has only lost in Shelton Gym THREE times and a career record of
124-26.
Now, let’s go back to the middle and welcome senior middle
blocker #10 Ashley Procious.
Ash made an immediate impact when she arrived on campus in
2020 by earning court time early in her freshman season that saw her tally 17
solo blocks. She blocked seven balls in
her first ever collegiate match. Procious
went on to lead the 2020 club in total blocks with 80 and also led the team at a
rate of .99 blocks/set. That season she
had a career high 9 blocks against Louisiana-Monroe and hit over .400 eight
times. Procious has 105 career blocks
and a career attack percentage of .297.
In 2022, Ash missed the entire year due to a knee injury but you can
almost always find her with a big smile, singing and dancing and she has been a
huge inspiration as she’s worked her way all the way back to the floor for the
2023 season.
Time for the pride of Yorkville, Illinois…. Senior setter
#12 Maddy Bourque!
Maddy is a four-year starter for the Ladyjacks having played
in over 400 sets so far in her career. Earlier this season, Maddy became just
the eighth Ladyjack in SFA history to record 2,000 assists during her SFA
career. Her grand total now stands at 8th all time at SFA and 3rd
all time at SFA among setters helping run a 6-2 offense. Maddy has hit her career high of 31 assists
three times, most recently in a wild four-set win at Utah Tech. Bourque has 92 career aces and 627 career digs, her career best in that category
being 16 at ACU last season. Maddy has
led her team in assists each of the last three seasons. Maddy’s leadership
during her four years at SFA have resulted in a first place Southland
Conference finish in 2020, advancing to 2nd round of the NIVC in
2021 and an NCAA Tournament appearance last year. Bourque’s teams are 51-3 at home. Multiple
times in gyms I have heard opponent coaches and fans remark about Maddy’s near
perfect “setter-hands”.they’ve dished out 2111 assists.
How about senior right side, #16 Ielan Bradley!!
Ielan is a four year starter for the Ladyjacks having played
in 369 sets and amassing a ton of weekly and season awards along the way. As a sophomore, Ielan was named the Southland
Conference Offensive Player of the Week. As a junior, the AVCA named Bradley as
an honorable mention to the Southwest All-Region Team. The recognition did not
stop there as Ielan was named to the SMU All-Tournament Team and the SFA
All-Tournament Team twice this current season for the Ladyjacks. September of
this year was a busy month for Bradley as she was named WAC Player of the Week
twice, named the SFA Tournament MVP, and later was the second Ladyjack this
season to pass 1,000 career points in a match at Seattle. Just one month later
in October, Bradley claimed her third WAC Player of the Week award. Ielan was a
vital piece to the 2022 WAC championship team as she recorded 46 kills and hit
.426 over the tournament and had nine blocks which led to her being named the
WAC Tournament MVP. The previous week she had been named First Team
All-Conference. Coming into this year, Ielan was the pre-season WAC Player of
the Year. Ielan has 250 career blocks, has
hit over .300 and tallied over 300 kills in each of the last two years and fans...
TODAY… TODAY... on SENIOR DAY… got her 1000th career KILL !!
Fans, you know I’m usually across the way on a headset, but
our regular PA announcer for the past two seasons Tyler Tawney has been a vital
piece to the Ladyjacks and their fans over the course of the last 2+ seasons.
Tyler has helped fill the Pressure Cooker with a booming voice to raise the
intensity and energy levels. His skill on this mic has helped bring passion and
energy every game day for Ladyjacks Volleyball.
And catch this... Tyler is undefeated on the mic!! He currently holds a perfect 28-0 home record
as PA Announcer. The iconic voice of
Shelton Gym these last two seasons, Tyler Tawney!!