Women's Volleyball Greg Miller

Jordan Henderson Provides Spark as No. 1 SFA Defeats No. 4 UIW 3-0 To Earn Date in Finals

COMMERCE, Texas — No. 1 Stephen F. Austin was able to outlast No. 4 UIW in a long first set by a score of 31-29 and then carried that momentum through the remaining two sets to sweep the Cardinals in Saturday’s semifinal match. SFA will take on No. 2 UTRGV on Sunday at 2:00 PM for the conference tournament championship. The winner of that match earns the Southland Conference automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Every match in both the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds has resulted in a sweep.
 
The furious first set began with UIW’s Kyla Malone picking up where she left off in the quarterfinal round. The senior outside hitters’ two early kills gave the Cardinals a 3-1lead. An ace by the ‘Jacks Illana De Assis after kills by Jordan Henderson and Katherine Holtman got SFA their first lead of the set at 4-3. The teams traded side outs early and there was no more than a two-point separation until the middle of set when the Cardinals got a 13-10 advantage on Malone’s fourth kill.

Halfway through the first frame UIW was hitting over .300 and SFA was struggling to get block touches at the net. That would change as the set drifted into its back half. A tandem block by Henderson and Hill, a kill by Hill and another by Henderson were followed by an ace by Holtman. That gave SFA the lead 14-13. Hill tacked on two more before the Cardinals committed their fourth service error in the set to give SFA a lead of 19-17. But after a UIW block by Kade Thomas and Kitana Tuufuli and the sixth kill by Malone, UIW had tied the set at 19-19.

The teams traded points to continue the tied score trend at each of 20-20 and 21-21 before Holtman’s second ace gave SFA a one-point lead. Malone answered with a seventh kill. Henderson got a kill for the ‘Jacks and then Finley Evans committed an attack error to give SFA their first set point with the score 24-22.
 
But the set was far from being over. Malone continued her dominant start with two straight kills to knot the score at 24-24. A Calissa Allison dump on second contact gave the Cardinals a set point but that was erased on a DeAssis kill after another SFA point to give the ‘Jacks a 26-25 advantage. UIW’s Vanessa Eregie terminated a kill for another tie, but then a UIW net violation gave SFA another chance to close out the set at 27-26. Kade Thomas tied the match once again and DeAssis answered to make it 28-27 in favor of SFA. The ‘Jacks couldn’t stop Malone as she scored twice to give UIW their second set point at 29-28. But a kill from Camryn Hill followed by another from Jordan Henderson flipped the script yet again and SFA led 30-29. On the ‘Jacks 6th set point, Katherine Holtman dropped in her third ace to end the thrilling first set 31-29 in favor of SFA.
 
Overall, the first set saw and incredible 19 tied scores and Klya Malone score 11 times on 18 swings. The ‘Jacks served up four aces with no service errors, but UIW did not drop in an ace, yet errored on four serves in Set 1. UIW setter Callisa Allison had 17 assists and six digs in the first frame. Hill had seven kills for SFA.
 
SFA started hot in the second set putting up the first five points behind kills from Henderson and Hill. The lead got extended to 8-1 after Hill killed an overpass on a Holtman serve. SFA middle blocker Kyanna Creecy and DeAssis extended the lead even further with kills to stretch the score to 13-6 halfway through the set. At that point, UIW took a timeout with the ‘Jacks hitting .450 in the set compared with the Cardinals only able to post a .053 mark at that time. Out of the timeout, SFA libero Caroline Kahle aced the Cardinals and Holtman got active with a kill and part of a tandem block that made it 19-9 in favor of the Ladyjacks. SFA finished out the lopsided second set by a score of 25-14 on a solo block by Creecy. SFA did not commit a service error in the first two sets of the match and at the second set break, DeAssis had already posted her second double-double in as many days.
 
Kitana Tuufuli got three early kills in Set 3 to give UIW a 10-6 lead forcing SFA into a timeout. Calissa Allison achieved her double-double early in the set, also her second in as many days. But SFA would come storming back with Holtman and Izabella Ortiz each knocking down kills, and Henderson teaming up for two consecutive blocks to tie the set at 11-11. No further separation was created until the Cardinals took a timeout with SFA leading 17-15 after successive kills by Holtman and DeAssis. Out of the timeout, Henderson continued her strong play at the net with a solo block, her seventh block of the match. That gave SFA a 19-17 lead which got extended to 23-19 after Hill’s 14th kill and DeAssis’ 17th termination of the match. Ortiz and Creecy paired up for the ‘Jacks ninth block of the day and Creecy ended the match with a kill from the middle of the floor to give SFA a 25-19 set win and a 3-0 sweep in the match.
 
DeAssis’ 17 kills and .378 hitting percentage paced SFA. Hill chipped in 14 kills, Henderson got eight and Holtman six. ‘Jacks setter Jayden Flynn dished 27 assists and finished with nine digs - just one shy of a double-double. Henderson led the way for SFA at the net with her seven blocks. UIW was led by Malone’s 15 kills. Both Tuufuli and Thomas got in double figures with 10 kills. Allison had 33 assists and 14 digs. Eregie led UIW with three blocks.