JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball team continues its late season homestand this weekend facing Belmont on Friday night, before a Saturday afternoon match against Tennessee State.
 
Saturday's match will also mark Senior Day. The Gamecocks will honor their three outgoing seniors: Samantha Bohne, Emily Rutherford and Laney Torkelson, with a special pregame ceremony.
 
JSU (13-18, 3-9 Ohio Valley Conference) plays at home for a second straight week for the first time all season. Last weekend, the Gamecocks dropped a tough match, 3-1, to OVC-leading Murray State on Friday night, but bounced back for a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Austin Peay on Saturday.
 
This weekend's task is another tough one for Jax State hosting a pair of teams that are both near the top of the league standings. Belmont (13-11, 10-2 OVC) has a strong offensive attack and enters Friday's match on a four-game win streak. The Tigers of Tennessee State (12-12, 7-5 OVC) rely more on their defensive strengths. Still, TSU ranks in the top five of the conference in kills and assists.
 
Head coach Terry Gamble knows his team has a difficult challenge ahead of them this weekend facing two different styles from two very good opponents.  
 
"Belmont comes at you with good ball-control, and they have an outside hitter that does very, very well," said Gamble. "And Tennessee State is just athletic as all get out. But I guarantee you, we're going to play hard and we're going to go out having fun doing what we do and hopefully come away with a couple wins."
 
"In the OVC there's no easy match, they're all hard. It's a fun conference, but also a conference you don't get any days off when you go to play."
 
Sophomores Charis Ludtke and Allyson Zuhlke lead the Gamecock offensive attack separated by just a single kill, with 279 and 278, respectively. Senior Emily Rutherford sits just behind with 264 kills and a team-best 2.97 kill per set average. Sophomore Jennifer Hart continues to direct the offense averaging 9.51 assists per set as she nears 1,000 assists for the second-consecutive year.
 
On the defense, the freshmen front of Mackenzie Rombach and Kim Krutsinger has proven to be a strength at the net. Rombach has a team-high 69 blocks, while Krutsinger isn't far off with 61 of her own. The duo have also had success transitioning defense to offense as they have combined for 270 kills.
 
Sophomore Hannah Kirk anchors the back line. Last weekend she recorded her 400^th dig of the season during a career-high 27-dig performance in the win over Austin Peay.
 
The Gamecocks expect to have a little extra depth this weekend as freshman Ashley Clingan should be back from injury and join fellow freshmen Mandee Eberle and Kira Hahn-Ventrell on the bench.
 
Friday's match begins at 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on the OVC Digital Network. Saturday's contest is scheduled for 2 p.m., with a special Senior Day ceremony planned prior to the start of the match. As always, live stats will be available at JSUGamecockSports.com and fans can also keep up with the Gamecocks on facebook and twitter.