JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball team wrapped up an impressive opening weekend of Ohio Valley Conference action with a sweep (25-22, 25-22, 25-20) of Eastern Kentucky Saturday afternoon at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The Gamecocks (12-8, 2-0 OVC) secured their ninth home win of the season, marking the most in a single season since JSU went a perfect 12-0 on their home floor in 2009. It was the first sweep of a conference foe for JSU since JSU beat UT-Martin at home last October. For Eastern Kentucky (5-9, 0-2 OVC), the Colonels exit the opening weekend of conference without a win following a loss to Tennessee Tech on Friday.
For the second-straight game in league play, JSU took the victory despite failing to have a hitter reach double-digit kills. Junior
Allyson Zuhlke topped the team with nine on 19 swings to hit .316 overall. Freshman
Kaylee Frear hit an even .500 with six kills and only one error, while fellow freshman
Sadie Anderson ended the day with eight put-aways on 26 attempts.
The freshman setting duo of
Rachel Perucki and
Shayla Schmidt tallied all but four of JSU's assists for the match. Perucki finished with 15, while Schmidt was one shy of double figures at nine. Junior transfer J'nae Fraser, in what has been a difficult week, led the defensive efforts for the Gamecocks with six digs. A trio of Gamecocks including Anderson,
Hannah Kirk and
Ashley Clingan recorded four digs against an offense which hit at just a .179 clip.
The first set was sign of how the day would go as the Gamecocks built an 11-3 lead, but needed to hold off the Colonels who rallied late, 25-22. EKU called timeout in the second as the Gamecocks doubled the margin at 14-7. The Colonels would cut the deficit to two, 19-17, but could not make it any closer after that.
In the third and final frame, JSU used a 7-1 run to pull away from an 11-11 tie. The Gamecocks committed just five errors in the third, same as the second, and allowed EKU's mistakes to pad to their lead. A service ace by Ludtke, one of her three on the day, sent the Gamecocks to match point where Anderson would finish the deal with a kill from Perucki.
"We're happy to be starting conference 2-0, "said third-year head coach
Terry Gamble. "We did some things really well this, but we also know what we have to keep working on. If we can clean up some things, we can be really good. I'm proud of what these ladies accomplished in this opening weekend."
The Colonels were led Rachel Woody's 12 kills, and seven digs across the net from Cassie Knutson. Woody, Knutson and Maria Ferragonio all split time as EKU's primary setter, dishing 34 of EKU's 42 assists.
Jax State puts its unbeaten league mark to the test quickly as the Gamecocks travel to Nashville, Tenn., next weekend to continue OVC play at Tennessee State and Belmont. It will be the first time in four weekends that JSU will have to play away from the friendly confines of The Pete.
