Volleyball hosts SFA in showdown match Wednesday at 7 p.m. (w/VIDEO)
10/20/2009 2:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Two of the hottest teams in Southland Conference volleyball meet in a showdown for league supremacy Wednesday night when Sam Houston State plays host to Stephen F. Austin at 7 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum.
The Bearkats stand in first place in the Southland West Division with a 7-1 league record. The Sam Houston volleyball team owns a seven-match winning streak, longest for the program since the 1994 league championship season.
Stephen F. Austin, winners of the Southland regular season championship three of the last five years, stand second in the Southeast East Division with a 5-2 conference mark.
Wednesday is "99 cent everything night" at Sam Houston volleyball. Everything except admission is only 99 cents including hot dogs, popcorn, drinks, candy and t-shirts.
The contest also features a match-up of two of the league's most successful coaches. Only 35 active head coaches in NCAA Division I women's volleyball have collected 500 or more career victories and two of that elite group will be in Johnson Wednesday.
Brenda Gray of Sam Houston holds a 537-377 record in her 26 seasons leading the Bearkat program. Debbie Humphreys of Stephen F. Austin picked up her 500th career victory this weekend with a five-set win at UTSA. Humphreys stands 500-226 overall at SFA.
Four of the top offensive players in the Southland Conference will duel Wednesday.
Carli Kolbe and Anna Ferguson lead Sam Houston will season kills totals of 339 and 303, respectively, while leading the Bearkats to their 15-10 season record. Kolbe is averaging 3.77 kills per set while Ferguson has a 3.29 average.
Ashley Bailey and Mary Bottles lead the Lumberjacks with kill totals of 264 and 240, respectively. SFA brings a 16-9 overall record into Johnson.
The last time the two met, Sam Houston knocked Stephen F. Austin out of the Southland Conference post-season tournament last November on the Lumberjacks home floor. The Kats defeated SFA in five, winning 25-21 18-25 17-25 25-15 18-16.
That victory ended a 12-match winning streak for the Jacks against Sam Houston volleyball. Sam Houston's last regular season victory over SFA was in Nacogdoches in 2002.
| Southland Volleyball Standings | |||
| West Division | |||
| Sam Houston | 7-1 | 15-10 | |
| Lamar | 6-2 | 11-8 | |
| Texas St. | 4-3 | 10-12 | |
| UTSA | 3-4 | 8-13 | |
| UT-Arlington | 3-4 | 7-12 | |
| A&M-Corpus Christi | 0-7 | 7-15 | |
| East Division | |||
| Central Arkansas | 8-0 | 19-3 | |
| Stephen F. Austin | 5-2 | 16-9 | |
| McNeese | 3-4 | 15-6 | |
| Nicholls | 3-4 | 9-12 | |
| Southeastern Louisiana | 2-5 | 6-12 | |
| Northwestern St. | 0-8 | 1-15 | |
