COMMERCE, Texas — In a showdown between the top two seeds in the 2025 Southland Conference Tournament, No. 1 SFA continued the theme of sweeps as the ‘Jacks dispatched No. 2 UTRGV in straight sets. All seven matches of this year’s tournament were decided by a 3-0 set score for the first time since the 1988 tournament. Since the NCAA implemented the 25-point scoring system for the first four sets of a match, this is the first ever instance of straight sets across the board in the Southland Tournament.

‘Jacks outside hitter Illana DeAssis was named the tournament MVP after leading SFA with 15 kills and seven digs. Fellow outside hitter Camryn Hill and ‘Jacks libero Caroline Kahle were also named to the all-tournament team for Stephen F. Austin. SFA earns the Southland Conference automatic bid into the 2025 NCAA Volleyball Tournament. SFA will learn of its first-round opponent on the NCAA Volleyball Selection Show which is slated for Sunday, November 30.
 
Three early UTRGV attack errors gave SFA a 3-1 lead in the first set and the ‘Jacks added on an Izabella Ortiz kill a few rallies later to extend their margin to 7-4. MVP DeAssis was able to skillfully tool a block right before Julianna Bryant errored for the Vaqueros to give SFA a 10-5 lead and force the first UTRGV timeout of the set. The theme of Set 1 was the SFA defense which held UTRGV to only a -.081 hitting percentage in the frame. Out of the timeout, SFA got two straight blocks to add on the lead and post a 12-5 separation from the Vaqueros. ‘Jacks middle blocker Jordan Henderson contributed a solo block, the third in the set for SFA and then added a kill of her own to run the lead all the way out to 15-6. The Vaqueros tried to settle by taking their second timeout. At that point in Set 1, SFA was siding out at a full 100% and hitting .368.
 
A few rallies after the final Vaquero timeout, ‘Jacks setter Jayden Flynn posted an ace that saw her take over 6^th place on the all-time ace list at SFA for her career. Soon after, the Vaquero’s setter and First Team All-Conference talent Isabella Costantini got SFA out of rhythm on three straight serves narrowing the score to 17-9 and forcing SFA to burn a timeout of their own in the middle of a Vaquero five-point run. DeAssis ended that sequence of Vaquero points with her third kill of the set to give SFA an 18-11 advantage. UTRGV could get no closer as the ‘Jacks finished out the first set win by a score of 25-15. SFA hit .290 in taking a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Set 2 began with Ortiz knocking down two early kills to build the ‘Jacks lead of 6-4. Nadine Zech, who had been inserted on the outside for UTRGV in Set 1 contributed three kills in the first half of the frame, but a pair of Vaquero service errors among them kept UTRGV from closing the lead. In the middle of the set, Holtman served up two straight aces and the ‘Jacks had again raced out to a 12-7 lead. The middle portion of the set was a side out game as SFA would not let the Vaqueros carve into the lead. If the story of the first set was the Ladyjack defense, the theme of Set 2 was the ‘Jacks service pressure.

In all, SFA dropped in four aces in the set punctuated by one from DeAssis to give SFA an 18-13 lead. Down the stretch of Set 2, SFA began to find DeAssis from the back row scoring twice in a matter of three rallies to push the score to 22-15. UTRGV, as they did in Set 1, tried to make a comeback on a nifty sharp cross by Martina Franco followed by a tandem block by Bryant and Zech. That cut the SFA set lead down to six, but it would get no closer than that as SFA finished off set 2 with a 25-19 win. The second set saw Zech connect on five kills and each team hit well with SFA putting up a .273 mark and UTRGV clocking in at .286. SFA sided out at an 85% clip in the set.
 
Early in the third frame, Costantini scooped her 10^th dig to obtain the matches’ only double-double. Stephen F. Austin’s serve continued to cause pressure early in the set as ‘Jacks middle blocker Kyanna Creecy killed a ball sent over on third contact that almost had gone down as an ace for Kahle. But UTRGV stayed with the ‘Jacks during the first half of the set as the score was tied 9-9 early on. DeAssis’ 13^th kill of the match down the line was followed by two consecutive winners by Holtman and SFA had created the first small separation at 13-11. The Vaqueros took a timeout at that point, and it helped as the right side kills of Holtman were shortly followed by two UTRGV kills from right side Valentina Sarti Cipriani. Her second kill in that sequence cut the ‘Jacks lead down to one at 15-14.
 
The teams continued to trade points in the tight third set, but a DeAssis error on another attempt down the line eventually knotted the Set 3 score at 19-19. DeAssis came right back with her 15^th and final kill which was followed by a back row attack violation by UTRGV and an SFA kill from Henderson. That made the score 23-20 and pushed the Vaqueros into taking their final timeout. After the teams returned to action, Holtman gave SFA a match point with a kill, but Ortiz was subsequently blocked by Franco and Vaquero middle blocker Aaliyah Sneed to keep UTRGV alive at 24-22. Hill then errored and UTRGV was only within one, but Hill polished off her All-Tournament performance with the matches final kill giving SFA a 25-23 set win and completing the sweep.
 
SFA was led by DeAssis who posted 15 kills and hit .314. Holtman contributed nine and Ortiz and Henderson each had six. Kyanna Creecy led SFA with three blocks and Kahle’s 15 digs were tops for the ‘Jacks. The Vaqueros got nine kills from Franco and Sarti Cipriani and Zech finished with seven. Zech also was in on five stuff blocks for the Vaqueros and Bryant chipped in on four. Costantini’s 11 digs led the floor for UTRGV
 
2025 Southland Conference All-Tournament Team
Illana DeAssis, OH (SFA, MVP)
Camryn Hill, OH (SFA)
Caroline Kahle, L (SFA)
Isabella Costantini, S (UTRGV)
Julianna Bryant, MB (UTRGV)
Kyla Malone, OH (UIW)
Virginia Van Der Werff, S (TAMUCC)