JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball team was overpowered (23-25, 18-25, 25-21, 21-25) by Tennessee State on Saturday afternoon.
 
The recent conference skid continued this weekend as the Gamecocks (17-17, 5-9 Ohio Valley Conference) dropped a pair of matches to Belmont and Tennessee State. JSU falls to .500 overall for the first time since mid-September when it owned a 7-7 record. The Tigers (16-14, 7-7 OVC) secured their spot in the postseason OVC tournament courtesy of a clutch 2-0 weekend.
 
Junior Allyson Zuhlke and sophomore Mackenzie Rombach were the lone Gamecocks to register double-digit kills at 11 and 10 apiece, respectively. Rombach's 10 if 21 swings for a .333 hitting mark was the strongest effort from the offensive side. She matched freshman Kaylee Frear with a team-best four blocks. 39 of JSU's 44 assists came from freshmen Rachel Perucki and Shayla Schmidt. Peruck led with 23, while Schmidt had 16.
 
Junior libero Hannah Kirk, the veteran leader on a roster with 13 underclassmen, led the way once more with 10 digs. It marked the 27th time in 34 matches this season, and 69th time over her career she's recorded double-digit digs. The Katy, Texas, product has produced 10 or more digs 79.7-percent of the time as the team's libero. Perucki and freshman Sadie Anderson each had eight digs.
 
Consecutive games of plus-.300 hitting by TSU put the Gamecocks in a 2-0 match deficit entering intermission. The visitors from Nashville broke away from a 10-10 deadlock in set two to win 25-18.
 
Out of the break, JSU opened an 11-3 lead to start the third. Tennessee State chipped away at the margin until they cut it to two at 21-19, but Anderson's kill stopped the late charge. The Gamecocks were hoping to take the fourth and force their fifth five-set match in league play in this season. However, TSU's 7-2 lead to start proved too much to overcome. JSU came within a point at three different times, the latest at 18-17, but was never able to even the score falling 25-21.
 
The Gamecocks slide in the conference standings to the final spot of making the OVC Tournament set for Nov. 17-19. Jax State at 5-9 sits one game ahead of UT Martin (4-10) and two ahead of Tennessee Tech (3-11) which happen to be the final two opponents of the season. TTU visits Pete Mathews Coliseum Tuesday night for the final JSU home match of the season, before the Gamecocks wrap up the regular season on the road at UT Martin next Friday night.