Nov. 7, 2007

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - With the 2007 regular season winding down, the Ladyjack volleyball team is primed for a final two-match push towards its fourth consecutive Southland Conference title and it starts tonight at Johnson Coliseum against UT-Arlington.

SFA currently sits alone atop the SLC West, two games ahead of the Mavs, but nothing is clinched quite yet. With a win tonight, SFA would clinch the SLC West Division and no lower than the No. 2 seed in next week's SLC Tournament in San Antonio.

Last weekend head coach Debbie Humphreys watched on as her Ladyjacks bounced back from their first SLC loss since 2004 to post a pair of sweeps on the road at UT-San Antonio and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; however, now all the focus has to be on this week for her squad. Even with a win tonight, it will in all likelihood, also take a win on Saturday over Texas State to clinch at least a share of the SLC title with Lamar.

This is the second time that SFA and UTA have squared off this season with SFA taking a 3-0 win at Texas Hall in early October. At the time both squads were 4-0 in the SLC before SFA took sole possession of first place in the SLC West.

The Mavs have won four straight and if the SLC Tournament started today they would hold the No. 3 seed with their 11-3 record. UTA has been outstanding at the net, leading the conference with a 3.23 bpg average in conference play. Arlington native Ellen Murray leads the charge at the net with a 1.65 bpg average against conference foes. Setter Emily Nedderman quarterbacks the UTA offense and will look primarily for outside hitters Torie Dacus and Bianca Sauls, as each is averaging nearly three kills per game on the season.

What to watch for:

• SFA has cut its magic number to one for clinching the SLC West.

• JJ Jones needs one more assist to go over the 5,000-assist mark for her career.

• The Ladyjacks have swept UTA the last six times they have faced each other.

• Sophomore Ashley Bailey has been impressive at the net, putting up a 1.57 bpg average since being inserted into the starting lineup on Oct. 19. The reigning SLC Defensive Player of the Week has earned the honor twice in the last three weeks.

-SFA-