Senior Scripts 2023

The following is a transcript of the 2023 Senior Day Read (November 4, 2023) done to honor our current senior and graduate student class completing their time at SFA.  The original paragraphs were written by Peter Trainor, Student Assistant for Strategic Communications.  He then sent them to Amanda Paver, our Volleyball Sports Information Director whose official title is Assistant Director for Strategic Communications.  Amanda forwarded them to me and I edited the paragraphs fairly heavily inserting various statistics and rearranging the material.  I took a fair amount of liberties with the text I was sent but Peter deserves a ton of credit for doing the original research and getting this project started.  This was my 18th straight year of delivering the Senior Read on Senior Day.  Anyone who has has to put up with me barking these out knows that I really love it and invest a lot of passion in the delivery.

The yellow highlighted numbers were updated quickly after the match by hand, so all of the statistics here are accurate as of BEFORE the match played on Saturday, November 4, 2023.

In some cases (on the fly) these were cut down by a sentence or two live, but this is the original transcript I had in front of me.

Here is this years' transcript:

This years’ Senior Day honorees are at the core of what has now been a multiple year run of sustained success as the ‘Jacks exited the Southland Conference and have taken the WAC by storm these last three seasons.  Two of those we will recognize transferred to SFA and four have spent their entire collegiate careers in Nacogdoches.  All of these ladies have aided the current club to a 25-3 record and a perfect 14-0 here in the Pressure Cooker during 2023.  We want to present each of these six to you and tell you a little bit about their overall accomplishments while wearing Ladyjack Purple.

 

First up is #1, graduate transfer middle blocker, ALLEAH DALLAS.

Alleah came to SFA this year after her time at Bethune-Cookman University where she was once named preseason blocker of the year, twice won defensive player of the week awards and also won rookie of the week at one point and was a pre-season all SWAC honoree.  She finished her time as a Wildcat fourth in program history in total blocks. This year at SFA she has amassed 111 kills, hit .336 – good for 7^th best in the WAC, blocked 78 balls with a 1.04 block per set rate which is 6^th highest in the conference.  A force at the net, Alleah Dallas

Next, another transfer to Stephen F. Austin... she came to SFA last year by way of Northwestern State, libero #7 HALEY HOANG.

While suiting up for SFA, Hoang has won defensive player of the week or libero of the week multiple times including twice this season.  Last year, she was All-Tournament at both SMU and here at an SFA Tournament at the end of her junior season was named WAC Libero of the Year while tallying a ridiculous 5.01 digs per set and 546 total scoops – both of which saw her stay among national leaderboards all season long.  At the WAC Tournament last season, she was named to the all-tournament team.  She was named 2023 pre-season libero of the year, and currently leads the WAC in digs per set. Haley has totaled 1809 digs and 140 aces in her career to this point.  Haley Hoang has not lost in this building, a perfect 28-0.  Overall, she is 51-8 as a Ladyjack.

The QUEEN of the back row… #7 Haley Hoang.

 

Next, From Isabella, Puerto Rico, numero dos, Ariana Pagan!!

Ari is a five-year starter for the Ladyjacks and has played in an amazing 504 sets during her SFA career. In 2019, she was the only freshman on the team to make a start and was third on the team in digs. In her sophomore season she started 27 of 29 matches and was Top 50 in the nation in service aces,  Three times Ari has had seasons with over 30 aces and currently has 129 for her career.  As a junior, Pagan had 353 digs occasionally stepping into the libero jersey when the team needed her steady passing in that role.  In her first ever WAC tournament match, Ari served up 8 aces against Chicago State, which is tied for second most in a match all time at SFA.  As a senior, Ari started all 31 matches, was SFA-All Tournament twice, named WAC offensive player of the week twice and had a nine-match streak of double-digit kills.  At the end of the season she was named Second Team All-WAC and prior to this year named to the preseason ALL WAC list.  She’s added another all-tournament nod to her resume this season, had a career high 17 kills in Coach Humphreys 800^th career win against Boise State and earlier in the year here against UTA Pagan tallied her 1000^th career point.  And fans... TODAY, Ari was able to pass the 1500 dig mark for her career!  In five years, Ari has only lost in Shelton Gym THREE times and a career record of 124-26.  

 

Now, let’s go back to the middle and welcome senior middle blocker #10 Ashley Procious.

Ash made an immediate impact when she arrived on campus in 2020 by earning court time early in her freshman season that saw her tally 17 solo blocks.  She blocked seven balls in her first ever collegiate match.  Procious went on to lead the 2020 club in total blocks with 80 and also led the team at a rate of .99 blocks/set.  That season she had a career high 9 blocks against Louisiana-Monroe and hit over .400 eight times.  Procious has 105 career blocks and a career attack percentage of .297.  In 2022, Ash missed the entire year due to a knee injury but you can almost always find her with a big smile, singing and dancing and she has been a huge inspiration as she’s worked her way all the way back to the floor for the 2023 season.  

 

Time for the pride of Yorkville, Illinois…. Senior setter #12 Maddy Bourque!

Maddy is a four-year starter for the Ladyjacks having played in over 400 sets so far in her career. Earlier this season, Maddy became just the eighth Ladyjack in SFA history to record 2,000 assists during her SFA career. Her grand total now stands at 8^th all time at SFA and 3^rd all time at SFA among setters helping run a 6-2 offense.  Maddy has hit her career high of 31 assists three times, most recently in a wild four-set win at Utah Tech.  Bourque has 92 career aces and 627 career digs, her career best in that category being 16 at ACU last season.  Maddy has led her team in assists each of the last three seasons. Maddy’s leadership during her four years at SFA have resulted in a first place Southland Conference finish in 2020, advancing to 2^nd round of the NIVC in 2021 and an NCAA Tournament appearance last year.  Bourque’s teams are 51-3 at home. Multiple times in gyms I have heard opponent coaches and fans remark about Maddy’s near perfect “setter-hands”.they’ve dished out 2111 assists.

 

How about senior right side, #16 Ielan Bradley!!

Ielan is a four year starter for the Ladyjacks having played in 369 sets and amassing a ton of weekly and season awards along the way.  As a sophomore, Ielan was named the Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week. As a junior, the AVCA named Bradley as an honorable mention to the Southwest All-Region Team. The recognition did not stop there as Ielan was named to the SMU All-Tournament Team and the SFA All-Tournament Team twice this current season for the Ladyjacks. September of this year was a busy month for Bradley as she was named WAC Player of the Week twice, named the SFA Tournament MVP, and later was the second Ladyjack this season to pass 1,000 career points in a match at Seattle. Just one month later in October, Bradley claimed her third WAC Player of the Week award. Ielan was a vital piece to the 2022 WAC championship team as she recorded 46 kills and hit .426 over the tournament and had nine blocks which led to her being named the WAC Tournament MVP. The previous week she had been named First Team All-Conference. Coming into this year, Ielan was the pre-season WAC Player of the Year.  Ielan has 250 career blocks, has hit over .300 and tallied over 300 kills in each of the last two years and fans... TODAY… TODAY... on SENIOR DAY… got her 1000^th career KILL !! 

 

Fans, you know I’m usually across the way on a headset, but our regular PA announcer for the past two seasons Tyler Tawney has been a vital piece to the Ladyjacks and their fans over the course of the last 2+ seasons. Tyler has helped fill the Pressure Cooker with a booming voice to raise the intensity and energy levels. His skill on this mic has helped bring passion and energy every game day for Ladyjacks Volleyball.  And catch this... Tyler is undefeated on the mic!!  He currently holds a perfect 28-0 home record as PA Announcer.  The iconic voice of Shelton Gym these last two seasons, Tyler Tawney!!

1-800-LEGACY

 Back when Debbie Humphreys began her coaching career at Stephen F. Austin all of us had to actually pay attention to which area code we were calling each time we picked up the phone. Today’s players have no concept of this, but we had “in area” calls, “long distance” calls and all those phone numbers with area code 800 that were considered “toll free”.  No matter where you were located, you could call a business or some form of organization that was out of your area with no additional long distance rates if they had an “800” area code.

 Debbie Humphreys has coached from the portable phone era to the call waiting period of home phone usage to the flip phone and now smart phone era. One number keeps getting dialed: 1-800-LEGACY.  Humphreys really didn’t need her 800^th win to cement her place in NCAA Volleyball coaching history.  That cement has long dried and championship upon championship built over the top of it.  Coming into 2023, SFA has appeared in the NCAA Tournament in three of the last five calendar years.  In one of those other two years, the ‘Jacks hosted an NIVC round and the other year was the nastiness known as the “COVID Year”.

 A very long time ago – actually the first year of the blogs existence in 2009– I wrote this as Humphreys approached 500 wins:

 “So, quick and dirty math... 23 wins per year for 10 more years puts her at just over 700 career wins. Projecting 23 wins across fifteen more seasons elevates the projected total to around 830. And, if health and desire permit...what if Humphreys coached 20 more seasons at SFA? I know...that's getting way out there...but if the past indicates the future the projected total would rise to over 940 wins. Amazing to just think about, huh?”

 You can read the entire post here.  It’s quite long and contains my reflections about being around the club for the better part of a decade.  So, if “reflections” was what I called it in 2009, then what is it now? So much time has elapsed.  So much additional time.  So many more wins, players, years, joys.

 That quote from 2009 predicted 830 wins by the end of 2024.  I can hardly believe I wrote that and yet – here we are.  The “830” number may turn out to be quite accurate.  We’ll know when we get to the end of next season, but where I missed was the implication that possibly that would be the end.  Sitting here now, I can’t fathom that Humphreys is truly near the end.  Even my wild card thought in that post had her coaching through 2029, a concept that now seems entirely within reach, if not highly probable.  Of course, as with everything, there is still that caveat of health and desire permitting, but both of those areas seem positive with Humphreys going into her 36^th season at the helm of our club. 

 I wrote a shorter article when both Humphreys and long time rival Brenda Gray of Sam Houston State were both approaching 700 career wins.  That one is posted here and dates back to August 28, 2019.  Life must have been particularly busy in 2015 as I didn’t formally write about career win 600.

 The list of accomplishments is so long that really just reminding myself of how much I’ve been blessed to see and letting you know of where Humphreys ranks on all-time lists seems like the best use of both my personal and professional thoughts. 

 When Humphreys gets win 812, I will have worked for the team for HALF of her career wins.  That sounds absurd to me given that I feel like I’ve been around this team for so long.  Well, 18 seasons is a long time, but, of course, easy math tells us that’s just half of the Humphreys’ era.

 When I graduated from Baylor as an undergraduate, Humphreys had 55 career wins.  When I finished grad school at SMU, she was on the verge of 200.  The season I began coming to games as a faculty member she began that year with 270.  When I got the job as public address announcer while we were playing in Johnson Coliseum, she was sitting at 406.  When the blog first appeared in this space, her tally was 484.  When we began doing radio for select road matches in 2015, Humphreys had amassed 596 wins.  When SFA got their ESPN contract and I began working the televised matches from Nacogdoches, she was at 616.

 When I got to travel to my first NCAA Volleyball Tournament as a member of the media, Humphreys total at the end of that year was 694.  When I was blessed to call an NCAA Tournament match on the radio in the very building in which I graduated from Baylor she had 725 wins.  Last year, when I made the circle back to do it again, she ended 2022 with 793.  Now, today, against Boise State in Flagstaff, Arizona she coached in her 800^th career victory.

 Debbie Humphreys is 20^th on the all-time victories list for NCAA Division 1 Volleyball coaches.  She is fourth among all active Division 1 coaches.  The only active coaches with more wins than Humphreys are Mary Wise (Florida), Chris Poole (Florida State) and John Cook (Nebraska).  If  you’ve spent even a meager time around the college volleyball ranks you will recognize all of those names as pillars in the sport. 

Of the 20 coaches that have amassed 800 career wins, eight of them have made it to 900 and Cook would seemingly join them.  Only five coaches have 1000+ wins at the Division 1 level.  My quote from 2009 made it sound like 940 would be a real long shot.  It doesn’t seem quite like that now.  My original prediction of 2029 being about the time where that could happen is still a reasonable pace.  The only difference is that in 2009 that was 20 years out.  Now, it’s only five and I certainly could see Humphreys doing this for five or more years.  Only she really knows how long she wants and/or will be able to coach.  But for now, there seems to be little slowing down and the mind and energy is still certainly there.

I get to witness on a season by season basis her level of desire to teach, to coach and to win.  From where I sit, her competency, desire, competitiveness, and passion are still running really high.  The chase for 900 – even 1000 – will be amazing to witness.

For now, congratulations Coach Humphreys on 800 career wins.  A mighty accomplishment indeed!

Finally, as if the quote from October 25, 2009, above wasn’t enough, look at how I ended that article fourteen years ago (the “eight” is now “twenty”, by the way):

“Some perspective...only eight coaches in the HISTORY of college volleyball have won over 800 matches. I hope I am there....on the mic... to see it happen.”

Yep, I was on the mic and there to see it happen. 

Thanks, Coach.  Sometimes wishes do come true.