COMMERCE, Texas — Stephen F. Austin entered the 2025 Southland Conference Tournament as the top seed, and they forced their way in a semifinal battle with No. 4 UIW by sweeping host and No. 8 seed East Texas A&M on Friday night. The ‘Jacks got double-double performances from both outside hitters Illana DeAssis and Camryn Hill. Hill, a First Team-All Southland Conference selection terminated on 15 kills and scooped 11 digs. DeAssis added 15 kills of her own and paired it with 20 digs in the match.
 
Isabella Ortiz got the action started for SFA in the first set with an early kill and then she teamed up with Jordan Henderson on a tandem block that gave the ‘Jacks a 4-2 lead. That was short lived as ETAMU setter Haley Mullaney served up the matches’ first ace to tie the score at four. The first set was tight early on as the match was tied 5-5, 6-6, 8-8 and 9-9. Neither team created a three-point separation until Henderson got a kill to give SFA a 13-10 lead halfway through the set. Soon thereafter, Gracie Campbell got her fourth kill of the set for ETAMU to close the Lions to within one at 17-16. The pressure kept coming from host ETAMU as Navaeh Smith and Campbell put down additional kills and forced SFA into a timeout with the score tied at 18-18. At that point SFA got error prone with Hill, ‘Jacks setter Jayden Flynn and Henderson all committing attack errors to give the Lions a 22-19 lead. Hill then took over at the end of the set by finding the floor three times during a 5-0 SFA run that was punctuated by Hill and teammate Kyanna Creecy teaming up for a stuff block to get SFA to within one point at 24-23. East Texas A&M took a time out trying to settle and find the final point to end the long first set, but it never came. Instead, Hill continued her first set onslaught by adding her sixth kill in the set to flip the one-point advantage to the ‘Jacks at 25-24. The teams would trade points before an attack error by the Lions’ Zoe Ruskofsky gave SFA the narrow first set win, 27-25.
 
Hill came out firing again in the second set for SFA adding three more early kills to her tally. Eventually the ‘Jacks offense was thrown into high gear during a massive 11-1 run in the middle of the set. During that time, DeAssis contributed three more kills as the ‘Jacks outsides each began approaching their eventual double-doubles. A Flynn ace, one of two for her in the set, ran the ‘Jacks lead all the way out to 19-8. SFA never looked back from that point and closed out Set 2 by a score of 25-15. DeAssis had seven kills in the set that saw East Texas A&M held to an even .000 attack percentage.
 
Set 3 began with the Lions getting the first two points behind a Campbell kill and an ace by Rendi Fetty. But Hill’s 14^th kill followed by DeAssis’ 11^th termination created a little separation for SFA by giving them a 9-5 lead. Soon after in the third set a long rally ensued that highlighted three straight massive digs from ‘Jacks libero Caroline Kahle – and SFA winning the rally to extend their set lead to 14-8. Ladyjack right side and 1^st Team All-Conference selection Katherine Holtman heated up, posting her fifth kill in the set which when followed by a Lion attack error by Peyton Roper allowed SFA to get their biggest lead of the set at 17-9. East Texas A&M did not go quietly though as the Lions fought back with Smith chiming in on two blocks and adding a kill of her own along with another by Campbell and yet another by newly inserted Courtney Green. The Green kill got East Texas A&M to within three. Later, the Lions closed the ‘Jacks previous eight-point lead down to just a single point at 21-20 after Roper won a joust at the net and DeAssis committed an attack error. But after that, Holtman got her 6^th kill of the set to answer and give SFA a 22-20 lead. Campbell got a kill to give her a double-double effort and keep the Lions with two with the score 23-21. A Lion service error and then Hill’s 15^th kill of the night ended the set with a score of 25-22 completing the three-set sweep for the ‘Jacks.
 
Overall, SFA got 15 kills apiece from Hill and DeAssis and 10 kills from Holtman. DeAssis’ 20 digs led the ‘Jacks floor defense as Kahle and Hill contributed 11 each. Creecy had four blocks and Henderson had three for the ‘Jacks. East Texas A&M was led by Gracie Campbell who had 13 kills and 12 digs. First Team All-Southland Conference libero Jade Washington picked up 16 digs for the Lions. Smith led East Texas A&M at the net with 5 blocks.
 
The semifinal round is now set for Saturday with No. 6 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi taking on No. 2 seed UTRGV at 2:00 PM. That match will be followed by #4 seed UIW battling No. 1 seed Stephen F. Austin at 5:00 PM.