JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball team is set to take part in the UAB "Fight Like Hal" Memorial Tournament this weekend in Birmingham. The tournament serves to honor longtime UAB volleyball assistant, Hal Messersmith, who lost his battle with cancer in 2013.

JSU (5-7) enters their final tournament of the season coming off a thrilling five-set victory, Wednesday night at Jackson State. The Gamecocks hope to keep things moving in a positive direction while in Birmingham during the final tune-up before conference play begins next weekend.

The Gamecocks are led offensively by senior Emily Rutherford, hitting .224 with 113 kills, and sophomore Charis Ludtke, who has 116 kills and a .202 attack percentage. Sophomore Allyson Zuhlke and freshman Mackenzie Rombach are next in line with 88 and 71 kills, respectively. Almost all attacks are coming courtesy of sophomore setter Jennifer Hart, who's averaging 9.38 assists-per-set.

In addition to having the second-most kills on the team, Rutherford also boasts the second highest number of digs with 105. She trails only sophomore libero, Hannah Kirk, who has 170 for a 4.36 dig-per-set average. Up front defensively, Jax State leans on a couple of freshmen as Rombach (25) and Kim Krutsinger (20) lead the team in blocks through the first 12 contests.

Jax State opens play Friday at noon with a match against SEC foe, Ole Miss. The Gamecocks took the opening set from the Rebels in a match last season in Oxford, before Mississippi came back to win the match. The all-time series is tied at two games apiece. Friday afternoon, JSU plays Mississippi Valley State at 4:00. It will the first time the two schools meet.

On Saturday, the Gamecocks have the same game times facing Massachusetts-Lowell at noon, before turning around to play tournament-host, UAB, at 4:00. All games will feature live stats available at JSUGamecockSports.com.