BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Jacksonville State junior Jen Meyer has been named to the Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Team and the Gamecocks were picked to finish third in the 2011 OVC race, the league office announced on Wednesday.

Heading into the first season under new head coach Joseph Goodson, the Gamecocks received 141 total points and three first-place votes and are picked to finish in the same place they finished in 2010. They are behind defending Champion Morehead State (192 points and 13 first-place votes) in first and Austin Peay (172 points and five first-place votes) in second. Tennessee Tech (one first-place vote) is fourth, while Eastern Kentucky rounds out the top five in the 11-team poll.

Meyer, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Maineville, Ohio, was second on the team with 2.41 kills per set in 2010, while also recording 22 service aces, 96 digs and 46 blocks. Her .239 attack percentage was second on the squad after she knocked down 265 kills on over 700 swings. She also posted a .958 service percentage after committing just 16 errors in 377 service attempts. It marks the second-straight season that Meyer has been named to the league's preseason all-conference squad.

Meyer leads a group of seven returning letterwinners on this year's squad and will power the JSU offense while senior libero Lauren Harkins guides the defense. The Louisville, Ky., native enters her final season on the Gamecocks back row with 1,714 career digs and needs just 35 to break Kisha West's career record. She notched 570 digs a year ago, the second-most in a season in school history behind her school record of 662 in 2009.

JSU finished third in 2010 after posting a 16-14 record and an 11-7 mark in league play, giving the Gamecocks their seventh finish of third-place or better in their eight seasons since joining the OVC in 2003.

The fifth head coach in the program's history, Goodson takes the reigns of the Gamecock program after serving the past four seasons as an assistant at Wisconsin-Green Bay. He takes over for Rick Nold, who left after nine seasons at JSU after being named the head coach at Auburn.

Goodson will make his JSU coaching debut on August 26, when his Gamecocks take on Louisiana-Lafayette and Miami in the LSU Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge, La. JSU's home opener will be Sept. 13, when it hosts Tennessee Tech to open OVC play at 6 p.m. Admission is free for all JSU home volleyball matches.

2011 OVC Volleyball Predicted Team Order of Finish
(as Selected by OVC Head Volleyball Coaches and Sports Information Directors)
1. Morehead State (13 first-place votes) - 192
2. Austin Peay (Five first-place votes) - 172
3. Jacksonville State (Three first-place votes) - 141
4. Tennessee Tech (One first-place vote) - 130
5. Eastern Kentucky - 129
6. Murray State - 102
7. Eastern Illinois - 98
8. Tennessee State - 85
9. Southeast Missouri - 71
10. UT Martin - 45
11. SIUE - 44


2011 Preseason All-OVC Volleyball Team
( as Selected by OVC Head Volleyball Coaches and Sports Information Directors)
Nikki Doyle, Austin Peay*#
Shaquita Williams, Tennessee State*
Ellie Roberson, Morehead State
Emma Keough, Morehead State
Kelsey Gray, Tennessee Tech
Chrissie Albers, Eastern Illinois
Kasey Elswick, UT Martin*
Jen Meyer, Jacksonville State
Ashley Edmond, Eastern Kentucky#
Reynae Hutchinson, Eastern Illinois#
Emily Coon, Southeast Missouri#
Kayleah Sauer, Murray State
Annie Gruenschlaeger, Morehead State
Ashley Doherty, UT Martin
* - All-OVC in 2010
# - All-Newcomer in 2010