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JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball team will wrap up its three-game homestand on Tuesday with a non-conference match vs. Alabama State at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
 
The Gamecocks (15-11, 7-3 Ohio Valley Conference) will play its final midweek home match before taking to the road for over two weeks of conference play starting this weekend.
 
The match will be the second meeting between JSU and the Hornets (10-15, 4-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) this season, after the Gamecocks claimed a five-set thriller in Montgomery on Sept. 16. Senior Nicole Merget hit .364 on her way to a 14-kill night in that Gamecock win.
 
JSU takes its final break from conference play against the Hornets before starting its final push towards the end of the season, a schedule that will include five of its last six matches on the road. The Gamecocks' lone home match after Tuesday will be Nov. 15 against Southeast Missouri on Senior Day.
 
Jax State is coming off a weekend split against perennial OVC frontrunners Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky. The Gamecocks fell in five sets to MSU on Friday before edging the Colonels in another five-set match on Saturday.
 
With six league matches remaining, the Gamecocks are tied with EKU for third place in the conference race, two games behind league leader Murray State and one behind second-place Belmont. The top eight teams will advance to the conference tournament at the conclusion of the regular season, with the regular season champion earning the right to host the event.
 
Merget leads the Gamecocks with 2.88 kills per set and a .290 attack percentage that ranks in the top 10 in the OVC. She also leads JSU at the net with 85 total blocks and has run her career blocks total to 364, ranking her sixth in school history. She needs nine to pass Angela Woodard (1993-96) for fifth place on that list.
 
The Canton, Mich., native also has a team-high 294 kills on the season to give her 918 in her career, 82 away from becoming just the 16th player in school history to reach the 1,000 kills mark.
 
Freshman Jennifer Hart is closing ion on a milestone, as well. The Davidson, N.C., native needs 33 assists to reach the 1,000 assists mark this season, on that only 10 previous Gamecocks have reached. She would be the first Gamecock with 1,000 assists since Brooke Schumacher in 2009.
 
Junior Emily Rutherford is second on the team with 278 digs, giving the Georgetown, Texas, native 841 in her three-year career at JSU. She is currently 16th on the school's career digs list and in reach of becoming the 12th Gamecock to dig 900 balls in her career. Fellow junior Samantha Bohne leds the Gamecock back row with 423 digs.
 
Alabama State will take the court for the first time after an 11-day layoff on Tuesday and will be looking to extend a six-match win streak that hasn't seen the Hornets lose a set. They are led by Myla Marshall's 182 kills and 71 blocks, while Rachel Smith leads the ASU defense with 172 digs.
 
The match will be streamed live on the OVC Digital Network (ovcdigitalnetwork.com) for free.