JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball team reopened renovated Pete Mathews Coliseum in grand style Friday night with a 3-0 sweep over Jackson State for their 11^th home-opening victory in the last 13 seasons.

Jax State (9-11) took straight sets (25-15, 25-15, 25-20) from visiting Jackson State (0-18) posting a combined .333 hitting percentage for the night. The Gamecocks are now 9-2 at home in a season-plus under head coach Terry Gamble.

Three Gamecocks finished with double-digit kills, led by sophomore Allyson Zuhlke's 15. The Tomball, Texas, native was one put away shy of tying her season best mark. Sophomore Charis Ludtke wrapped up the evening with 13 kills, while senior Emily Rutherford recorded 10. Rutherford also finished tied for the team-high in digs, with 10.

Sophomore Jennifer Hart matched Rutherford's 10 digs on defense, while dishing a team-best 38 assists on the offensive side during the victory.

"First off I want to thank everyone involved in putting this together, this is a beautiful facility," said Gamble following the match. "What a fun place to play. And on top of that I want to thank Hardcorps tonight, it was great having them here and the cheerleaders. The crowd was amazing. So before I talk about the game I just wanted to take a second and make sure I thank those people."

JSU blasted a .423 attack percentage in the opening set en route to a 25-15 win. Zuhlke's .750 mark led the way for JSU as she completed the first frame with six kills. JSU doubled the score at 20-10, carrying that margin throughout the remainder of the set.

JSU took control early again in the second. The Lady Tigers only hit .029 against the Gamecock defense. JSU's advantage reached double digits for the second consecutive set as the Gamecocks went on the win, 25-15.

The third frame was not as decisive as the previous two. JSU trailed 7-3 and again 13-10. A 4-0 streak from that point put the Gamecocks ahead, but only briefly. Jax State eventually pulled away from an 18-18 deadlock, to complete the sweep with a 25-20 set win.

"I thought we played really well in games one and two," added Gamble. "I thought we executed our game plans. I'm not sure what happened in game three. We did the same thing at Tennessee Tech, we came out flat."

"I thought Emily Rutherford did a really nice job when we were down 13-10. She made some big digs to get us back in it. And Allyson (Zuhlke) did a really nice job tonight. We weren't sure if we'd have her since she bumped her head earlier this week. We found out she cleared at about 12:30 today, so that was a good things us."

JSU returns to Pete Mathews Coliseum Sunday afternoon for a 2 p.m. match versus UT Martin. The OVC matchup features a pair of teams only separated by one game in the early season standings. Admission is free to all JSU home volleyball games.