Sam Houston State senior Anna Ferguson remembers every detail of the Bearkats' match against Tulane on Aug. 31, 2007.

It was the third game and the middle blocker came down awkwardly on her leg. Ferguson crumbled to the floor and the only sound in Johnson Coliseum was her screams of pain.

The last memory Bearkat fans had of Ferguson that season was of her being carried off the court.

"I remember it like it was yesterday. We were playing Tulane and it was our first night game of the season," Ferguson said Tuesday afternoon. "It was pretty painful."

The news came quickly that Ferguson was done for the season. There was even talk that her playing career might be over. She had torn her ACL and suffered a crack in her femur. She had surgery and a long road of rehab ahead.

"I did a lot of damage, so there were times when I thought I was never going to be as good as I was before, not that I was great or anything," Ferguson said. "There were times in rehab when I couldn't fathom ever jumping again, let alone being aggressive. I tried to stay positive, but I had other people telling me I might not be the same."

Sam Houston State head coach Brenda Gray also remembers that night. Not only did she lose one of her young, promising players, but the team also lost something as well.

The Bearkats struggled to an 11-19 record and went 5-11 in Southland Conference play.

"When we lost her that year, we lost a lot of our program," Gray said. "We struggled that year in terms of winning. She was just a big presence for us. We just needed her. It was a hard year for us. I didn't think the season was lost, we just didn't have anyone as good as her to put in there.

"Then for them to tell me, not her, that it was probably a career-ending injury, made me sick because I knew what she was capable of doing."

Luckily for the Bearkats, Ferguson was far from being done. In fact, not only did she prove the doubters wrong by making her way back to the court, but now she is one of the best players in the Southland Conference and in the conversation as one of the top players in the history of the Sam Houston volleyball program.

She returned the following season and earned first-team All-SLC honors by helping the Bearkats make it to the league's postseason tournament where they pulled off a first-round upset over archrival Stephen F. Austin on the Ladyjacks' home court.

Not too shabby for someone who a year earlier supposedly played her last match. Those whispers were what drove Ferguson to prove everybody wrong.

"That was probably the hardest I ever worked and I probably became a better player because of it because you learn so much more when they take it away from you," Ferguson said. "I was determined that I was going to play again. I had people telling me I might not play again, and I wanted to prove them wrong."

Ferguson has saved her best for last. She once again earned first-team All-SLC honors this season and was close to being named the league's player of the year.

She has totaled 434 kills in 33 matches and leads the Bearkats with 120 blocks. Sam Houston also is enjoying one of its best season's in recent years.

The Bearkats are 20-13 overall (their best record since 1996) and 12-4 in SLC action, which was good enough to secure the second seed in the league tournament, which begins today in San Antonio as Sam Houston opens with Nicholls at 4 p.m.

"I'm a firm believer in that everything happens for a reason and we have had some rough seasons since I have been here," Ferguson said. "It is almost like I needed that extra year and I couldn't have asked for a better year to finish on.

"I have so much confidence in our team going into this weekend and I have never felt like that before. It's kind of like it happened and it was awful, but it was almost a blessing because I wouldn't have gotten to play this year had I not gotten injured."

Regardless of what happens at the SLC tournament, Ferguson has had quite a career at Sam Houston. She is only the 18th Bearkat in school history to total more than 1,000 kills and is seventh all time in blocks with 316.

"For her to come back and have a great year last year was something, but this year I can't begin to tell you what she has meant to this team. She took the time to learn when she redshirted. When she came back last year she was good, but this year she is great.

"She is one of the best captains I have ever had on this team. I cannot say enough about Anna Ferguson, what she has meant to this program, to me personally as a coach and a person. She just ranks so high in the cast of players I have had here. She is top five easy."

Quarterfinal and semifinals matches in the Southland Conference tournament will be streamed live on SLC Now on-line at www.southland.org. Sunday's finals match will be televised by the Southland TV Network.