October 12, 2019
Waxahachie, TX – Homecoming Day, 2019 on the Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) dawned early. Baseball and softball alumni gathered for alumni games at the campus. Student Congress went to Lumpkins Stadium to decorate the stadium and locker room for the football game at 2:00 pm in the afternoon. Meanwhile Coach Hank Moore showed up at Sheaffer Gym on the campus of SAGU for another volleyball match.
Coach Moore has done this consistently for the past nineteen years. Everyone here. Check. Net setup. Check. Postgame meal ordered. Check. Training room open. Check. But this day was a little different. In typical Coach Moore fashion he fussed over the details of making sure his senior setter, Sophia Ivy, would be recognized for a career accomplishment.
No mention would be made from him of his own accomplishment that was looming on this day. For the past nineteen years Coach Moore has slowly piled up seasons of consistency. Season after season. Nineteen years, averaging twenty-one wins per year. Add that up and you have 400 wins in 19 seasons as SAGU Head Volleyball Coach. Four hundred, a mark of excellence, a mark of consistency.
On the way to the 400 th win Coach Moore’s senior player accomplished her career achievement. Sophia Ivy (SR/Round Rock, TX) who has been her own model of consistency in her four-year career as a setter for the Lady Lions became the SAGU All-Time Leader in Assists breaking Taylor Morgan’s record. Ivy achieved her milestone in the second set of the Lions victory when she got her 21 st assist of the day on a kill by teammate Alexis Mealer (SO/Arlington, TX) . Fittingly, on the bench coaching was Jessica Sodich and in the stands was Kali (Shaw) Umphenour who created a couple of thousands of those assists with their kills during their SAGU careers with Ivy.
As for the match SAGU (16-6, 9-3) won handily beating the Central Christian College Tigers 25-8, 25-15, 25-10. It was the eighth victory in a row for the Lions who continue to improve as they get ready to take on the top three teams in the conference in the next two weeks of play.
As a leading Christian university, SAGU educates and prepares individuals who want to serve Christ and others. SAGU helps students discover and develop their God-given callings in a Spirit-empowered, learning community.
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