JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball team opened up Ohio Valley Conference play with a 3-2 victory over Austin Peay on Friday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum.

Junior Nicole Merget led three players in double-digits with 17 kills and added seven blocks to help the Gamecocks improve to 8-8 on the season and get off to a perfect 1-0 start in OVC play with the 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 25-8, 24-26, 15-13) victory. Jada Stotts recorded a double-double with 21 kills and 18 digs for the Lady Govs, who fall to 3-13 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

Freshman Kacy Clinkenbeard finished with 13 kills while sophomore Emily Rutherford posted a double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs. Senior Abbey Heredia also added a double-double with 42 assists and 13 digs to help the Gamecocks pull off the victory.

Defensively, sophomore Samantha Bohne led the way with 16 digs while junior Alina Agamy and senior Kelly Cole each finished with 11 digs.

Liz Landon added 14 kills while Sammie Ebright and Lauren Henderson each finished with 10 kills apiece to round out the Lady Govs offensive attack. Setter Cami Field added a double-double with 54 assists and 15 digs while April Adams led the defensive effort with 23 digs.

APSU opened the first set with a 25-19 victory after limiting the Gamecocks to just a .044 attack percentage. Clinkenbeard, Merget and Rutherford each finished with three kills in the set but it was not enough to help JSU fight back from the early deficit.

The Gamecocks fell behind 14-10 in the second set before rallying to tie the match at 17-17 behind three kills from Merget. With the set tied 23-23, the Gamecocks used a service error by the Lady Govs and Merget followed with her seventh kill of the game to pull off the 25-23 victory to tie the match at one game apiece.

The Gamecocks came out rolling in the third set, posting a .375 attack percentage while holding the Lady Govs to a -.188 attack percentage to race out to a 13-3 lead. JSU forced 11 errors by the Lady Govs in the set to pull of the 25-8 victory.

With the fourth set tied 17-17, APSU used a 4-1 run to take a 21-18 lead and spark a JSU timeout. Coming out of the timeout, two errors by APSU and two kills from Clinkenbeard allowed JSU to tie the set at 22-22. JSU would take a 24-23 lead after an error by the Lady Govs before APSU responded with kills by Landon and Henderson to take a 25-24 lead. The Lady Govs would then tie the match at two games apiece after a JSU attack error gave APSU the 26-24 fourth-set victory.

The two teams kept the fifth and final game close throughout but JSU managed to post a .280 attack percentage while holding the Lady Govs offense to a .148 attack percentage to pull of the 15-13 match-clinching victory. Leading 13-12, Rutherford gave the Gamecocks a 14-12 lead and JSU then used an error from the Lady Govs to wrap up its first win in conference play.

The Gamecocks will be back in action Saturday at Pete Mathews Colisuem with Murray State coming to town. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m. and admission is free.