JACKSONVILLE – After an exciting match from start to finish it was the Jacksonville State volleyball team that came up just short against last season's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament champions, Belmont, 3-2, on Friday night..
 
The loss puts JSU (17-16, 5-8 OVC) on the bubble for a spot in this season's OVC Tournament. The Bruins (13-11, 7-6) rallied to win the match 15-7 in the fifth after JSU forced the final frame with a 25-17 fourth-set win.
 
The highlight of the night came in the second set when sophomore Mackenzie Rombach tied and later broke the school's Division I record for blocks in a single-season. No. 154 matched Melanie (Linder) Brooks' mark to give JSU a 7-3 advantage early on. A few rallies later, Rombach reached record-setting 155 in a block assist with Allyson Zuhlke. The Ottawa, Ill., native concluded the night with six to run her national-leading total to 157 with three regular-season matches remaining.
 
Zuhlke pitched in five blocks total for the match to follow Rombach, and added 11 kills on the offensive side to lead the Gamecocks. Junior Charis Ludtke and freshman Sadie Anderson each ended the night with nine kills on 32 and 28 swings apiece. Anderson also contributed eight digs to trail only Hannah Kirk's team-high 12. Freshman Maddie Cloutier came off the bench in the second to play the remainder of the match providing solid defense and efficient serving.
 
The two teams entered intermission having split 25-23 games through the opening two sets. Belmont held on in the first after a late 21-16 lead was trimmed to one at 24-23. JSU responded by winning the second in similar fashion needed to pull away from a late 23-22 score.
 
In the third, the Bruins opened a quick 8-2 advantage and didn't look back hitting a match-best .458 for the set as a team. Jax State worked to get back in the game and made it within one, 20-19, following a BU attack error. But a 5-0 run to follow gave the Bruins a 2-1 match lead.
 
JSU turned the tables in the fourth opening up their own large lead, 12-3, from the start. The advantage grew to as many as 12 at 17-5, before Belmont began to chip away in the closing points.
 
The Gamecocks were unable to keep their fourth-set momentum rolling into the final frame falling 15-7 in the tiebreaker fifth. It's JSU's seventh fifth-set loss of the season, and fourth in league play in what has been a wild OVC schedule.
 
JSU returns to Pete Mathews Coliseum for an all-important rematch with Tennessee State on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. The Tigers rallied to hand the Gamecocks one their five-set losses earlier this season in Nashville. At 6-7 in the league, TSU sits one spot ahead of JSU's 5-8 mark.