EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Jacksonville state volleyball team dropped its Ohio Valley Conference opener Friday night on the road at SIU Edwardsville.
 
It was the second-straight season the Gamecocks (7-10, 0-1 OVC) opened the conference slate against the Cougars (3-8, 1-0 OVC). And for the second-straight year it turned into a five-set thriller. Unfortunately, unlike last year, it wasn't JSU walking away with the victory.
 
Senior Emily Rutherford finished with a team-high 15 kills in her seventh double-double performace of the season. Sophomores Charis Ludtke and Allyson Zuhlke were just behind with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Sophomore Hannah Kirk's 19 digs  led a group of four Gamecocks who finished with double-digit digs. Sophomore Jennifer Hart had 17 digs to go along with 49 assists. And freshman Ashley Clingan set a new personal-best with eight digs as her role increases having recorded five or more digs in the last three games.
 
The largest lead either side held in the opening set was the 20-17 advantage SIUE held late. A pair of kills from Ludtke bookended a quick 4-1 streak which tied the set, 21-21. The Cougars answered with the following two points forcing a JSU timeout. The two-point margin would hold as SIUE took the first set, 25-23.
 
After posting a .091 attack percentage in the first, the Gamecocks hit .250 in the second and it was SIUE who this time posted a low mark, hitting .023 in second frame. The score was knotted at 12 when Jax State began a 7-1 run to take a 20-13 lead. Freshman Kim Krutsinger's block to make it 22-14 pushed the Gamecocks out to their largest lead of the set at eight. JSU finished the frame, 25-16, to even the match at one game apiece.
 
Following the break, the Gamecocks struggled to get going in the third set. JSU committed a match-high eight errors in the third frame alone. The Cougars took advantage of JSU's mistakes resulting in a 25-15 win for SIUE.
 
JSU responded in the fourth jumping out to a 4-1 lead, but the score was soon tied at seven. SIUE led 22-20, on the verge of taking the game, when Krutsinger and Ludtke put together back-to-back kills to even the set at 22. The teams went back-and-forth leading up to a thrilling 29-27 set victory for the Gamecocks to force a fifth and final set.
 
In the final frame, JSU came up just short falling 15-12, The Cougars hit a match-best .417 in the final set to clinch the conference opener.
 
"I thought we passed and serve received as good as we have all year," said head coach Terry Gamble afterwards. "The difference in the game came at crunch times when we had chances to win and we just didn't make the plays."
 
JSU continues the opening weekend of conference action, Saturday, with a 2 p.m. match at Eastern Illinois. Video and live stats will be available at JSUGamecockSports.com.