JACKSONVILLE – On a night where little went right, the Jacksonville State volleyball team suffered its first defeat at home on Friday as Eastern Kentucky came away with a 3-0 victory.
JSU (11-14, 2-5 Ohio Valley Conference) combined to hit just .151 as a team on the night, while EKU (4-18, 3-4) hit over .300 for a decisive outcome. The Colonels jump ahead of JSU in the OVC standings after the schools entered the day with even records.
Sophomore
Allyson Zuhlke's 10 kills led the way for JSU, but with 26 swings, she hit under .100 overall. Freshman
Mackenzie Rombach hit a team-high .294 with nine kills. The Ottawa, Ill., native was one of the most consistent Gamecocks also getting five digs and three blocks.
Sophomore
Jennifer Hart recorded a team best 11 digs to go along with 30 assists in a double-double performance.
After a 5-5 tie in the first set, the Gamecocks never recovered from a 5-0 EKU run. The Colonels reached their largest lead, 23-11, before taking the opening 25-15.
The second set was the tightest of the night. JSU had a slim 10-7 advantage early, but EKU quickly knotted things up at 12. From that point, the two squads exchanged serves back-and-forth tying at every point until the score was 20-20. A couple of JSU errors opened the door for a critical 4-0 spurt for EKU which was just enough to take game two, 25-22.
JSU aimed for a comeback to start the third, but it was not to be. Once EKU took a two-point lead at 8-6, JSU was unable to threaten for the lead the rest of the way. The Colonels closed out the set, and match, with a 25-14 win.
The Gamecocks are back at Pete Mathews Coliseum Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. for another OVC matchup, this time hosting Morehead State. Jax State will look to put the brakes on a couple of unfortunate streaks as the Gamecocks have now dropped three in a row this season and will be facing a team Saturday that it hasn't beaten at home since 2009.
Admission is free to all home volleyball matches. And for those unable to attend, live stats for game will be available at JSUGamecockSports.com.
