UTSA Sweeps Stephen F. Austin to Begin Southland Volleyball Tournament
CONWAY, Ark. - In the opening match of the 2011 Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament, No. 2 seed UTSA swept No. 7 seed Stephen F. Austin, 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-14), at the Farris Center in Conway, Ark. The Roadrunners improve to 21-10 on the year while the Ladyjacks finish the season at 14-18.
UTSA used two separate 5-0 runs to separate from SFA in the first set after falling behind 4-1 in the matches' first points and win the opening set, 25-21. Junior Kelsey Schwirtlich, the 2011 setter of the year, led the Roadrunners with 12 assists in the opening set while adding two kills on her only two attempts. Senior Elise Huskey added seven digs in the set for UTSA. The Ladyjacks were led offensively by freshman Jill Ivy, who recorded five kills and added a dig.
In a tightly contested second set that saw nine ties and five lead changes, UTSA capitalized on a late run to win the set, 25-20. After trailing 15-18, UTSA head coach Laura Groff called a timeout to gather the team's composure. After the timeout, the Roadrunners scored 10 of the set's final 12 points and claim a 2-0 advantage heading into the break. Schwirtlich recorded 16 digs for UTSA in the set, while freshman outside hitter Dempsey Thornton contributed with five kills. Senior Melissa Miksch notched five kills to pace the Ladyjacks in the set.
The Roadrunners controlled the third set from the opening point, jumping out to a 14-3 lead and not letting the Ladyjacks get back the momentum. UTSA ran through the third set, 25-14, behind McKenzie Adams' four kills. Ivy's four kills led SFA in the final set.
For the match, Schwirtlich had a match-high 41 assists, while adding three kills, three digs and two block assists. Huskey led all players with 14 digs and contributed on the offensive side with a team-high nine kills along with Whitney Walls. The Ladyjacks' Ivy had a match-high 12 kills, two digs and one service ace.
UTSA advances to the semifinals to face the winner of UT Arlington and Sam Houston State, which will be played today at 1:30 p.m. The semifinal matchup will take place Friday at 4:30 p.m., and will be streamed live on SLC NOW on the Southland Conference website, southland.org.
Postgame quotes:
UTSA head coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff
On her team's performance...
"As we ended, our performance was great. We started off a little hesitant but we regained our confidence throughout the match. It's something we haven't had in the last two weeks."
On the play of setter Kelsey Schwirtlich...
"Schwirtlich did a great job distributing today. Our ball handling was really good to today which gives her options to run the offense and distribute the ball evenly. That's when we have the most success."
On whether the team has regained its focus...
"Yes, they have refocused since we got here. They feel like they have something to prove after not winning the regular season."
Stephen F. Austin head coach Debbie Humphreys
On the match...
"We knew we had to change some things up to be able to hang with them, so we came out in a 6-2, which was something they weren't expecting. And I was very pleased with how our girls played in it. I was really pleased with how aggressive we were. They were executing the game plan.
I think after we were up 19-17 in the second, and then didn't score again, we were really deflated by that. We had played a great set. Even in that time there, there were three or four really long rallies, just incredible rallies. Good volleyball on both sides of the net. But unfortunately, we didn't win any of them. Once that happened, that affected us in a negative way in the third set.
Then we just didn't execute in the third like we had in the first and second sets."