JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball team took straight sets (25-10, 25-21, 25-12) from visiting Southeast Missouri Sunday afternoon at Pete Mathews Coliseum to move into a three-way tie for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference.
 
The Gamecocks (15-9, 5-1 OVC) notched their third-straight conference victory, and 10th home win of the season with the sweep. The win matches JSU's conference start from 2014 in head coach Terry Gamble's first season, and brings JSU even with Murray State and Austin Peay at the top of the league standings.
 
Junior Allyson Zuhlke was the lone Gamecock to finish with double-digit kills as she recorded 11 in JSU's annual Pink-Out match. Behind Zuhlke, sophomore Mackenzie Rombach and freshman Kaylee Frear each had eight kills while hitting .667 and .312, respectively. The offense was evenly distributed by freshmen setters Rachel Perucki (18 assists) and Shayla Schmidt (15), who paced JSU to a combined .329 attack percentage for the day.
 
On the opposite side of the net, Rombach added eight blocks to set the tone for a Gamecock team that would tally 15 blocks total on the day. Schmidt, Frear and Zuhlke each assisted with five blocks themselves. Junior Hannah Kirk posted a match-high 12 digs, ahead of Perucki and freshman Sadie Anderson's eight.
 
Jax State opened the match with a hot .522 hitting mark en route to a 25-10 set win. Zuhlke and Rombach combined for seven of JSU's 12 early kills, while the defense forced SEMO into an even .000 hitting percentage.
 
The Redhawks came to life in the second, taking an 8-4 lead to begin the frame. Rombach's put-away from Schmidt's pass evened the score at 10-10. Later, the same combination led to JSU breaking a 19-19 tie and take the lead for good. A pair of kills from Colorado Springs, Colo., native Frear denied any chance for Southeast to make a final comeback.
 
With a 2-0 match lead, the Gamecocks seemed determined to complete the sweep. Junior Charis Ludtke's kill midway through the set gave JSU a 10-point advantage at 17-7. Ludtke hit .750 in the final frame with three kills on four swings. Rombach's eighth kill of the afternoon ended the match a 25-12.
 
"I thought we played really well in games one and three," said Gamble after the match. " Our blocking was really strong at times, I thought Mackenzie (Rombach), Allyson (Zuhlke) and Kaylee (Frear) all played really well."

"Right now, I'm happy with where our team is at in the season, but there's a lot of games to play. We have to keep improving."

JSU takes a quick break from OVC action with a Tuesday night contest at Jackson State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Gamecocks will then hit the road for a pivotal weekend slate taking on Austin Peay and Murray State, the same two teams tied with the Gamecocks for first in the league.