JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball team plays host to a couple of Ohio Valley Conference front-runners this weekend at Pete Mathews Coliseum, welcoming Murray State and Austin Peay.
MSU (12-6, 4-2 OVC) is the three-time reigning conference champion, while Austin Peay (17-4, 5-1 OVC) has gotten off to a hot start in 2017 to current lead the league standings. Meanwhile, JSU (17-8, 3-3 OVC) pulled off back-to-back five-set victories a week ago to pull itself back to .500 in league play.
Friday night's contest against the Racers will begin at 7 p.m. JSU will have a rare free Saturday, and will return to The Pete on Sunday to face the Governors at 2 p.m. Admission is free to all JSU home volleyball matches. For those unable to attend, live stats will be available at JSUGamecockSports.com.
Friday's match is JSU's annual pink match to raise awareness and help support the fight against breast cancer. Fans are encouraged to wear pink, or may purchase a pink Gamecock Volleyball shirt at the match that evening with proceeds going to help those affected by the disease.
Senior
Allyson Zuhlke's team-best 329 kills lead a squad of five Gamecocks with triple-digit kills on the season including:
Charis Ludtke (268),
Mackenzie Rombach (229),
Madison Cooler (148), and
Kaylee Frear with 103. Directing the offense for the most part has been senior setter
Jennifer Hart, whose 812 assists this season moves her to fourth all-time on the school's career assist list.
Hart has also collected 295 digs this year, second only to senior libero
Hannah Kirk's 369. Kirk's led a defensive back row that's seen plenty of pieces shift around this season from freshmen Cooler and Milton to returners
Ashley Clingan,
Rachel Perucki and
Maddie Cloutier.
JSU leads the all-time series against both MSU and APSU, but hasn't defeated the Racers since 2013 prior to the team's current three-year reign on the conference. The last time APSU played at Pete Mathews Coliseum was in 2015, when the Gamecocks stormed back for a five-set win on Halloween night.
