Box Score JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball was pushed to the brink of defeat Friday night before reeling off three-straight set victories to rally for the 3-2 (23-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-18, 15-13) win over Tennessee State.
For JSU (15-8, 2-3 Ohio Valley Conference), the win secures the fifth-straight year where the Gamecocks have won their conference home opener, including all four season under head coach
Terry Gamble. Overall, JSU has won seven-straight home matches dating back to last season, but will face a big test on Saturday when preseason favorite Belmont visits The Pete.
On the heels of a tough four-game road stretch, the Gamecocks came out sluggish to start the night, dropping the first two sets to fall into an 0-2 match deficit heading to intermission. Midway through the second set, freshman
Brooklynne Villano entered the match for her first appearance since JSU's last home game in mid-September. The Davie, Florida, product provided a much-needed spark and remained in the contest throughout the final four frames after seeing action in just six total sets prior to Friday. She would pad her stat line with six kills, eight digs, four blocks and a service ace – all career highs – en route to helping the Gamecocks rally for the comeback.
Senior
Allyson Zuhlke carried a heavy workload in the five-setter finishing with 21 kills on a season-high 56 attacks. Senior
Charis Ludtke came off the bench for the first time this season to finish with nine kills, while Villano,
Kaylee Frear and
Mackenzie Rombach each had six. Setter
Jennifer Hart had her 15th match of the year with over 30 assists as she dished 34 of JSU's 54 kills. Sophomore
Rachel Perucki recorded 17 assists.
On defense, all ten Gamecocks who entered the match not at the middle blocker position recorded a dig, leading to 60 total for the team led by Senior
Hannah Kirk's 13. JSU out-blocked the Lady Tigers, 13-6.5, fueled by Zuhlke and Frear's six rejections apiece.
"I'm really proud of how the team responded when we were down," said Gamble following the match. "I thought Brooklynne (Villano) did a really nice job when she got a chance, and we kept playing which I'm proud of. I was happy to see Ally (Zuhlke) finish it off with a big swing."
JSU began its comeback in the third set edging in front from a 17-17 tie. Later up by one, 22-21, JSU took the final three points to seal its first set of the night. In the fourth, it was a 16-all score that Jax State pulled away from finishing on a 9-2 run to even the match at two sets apiece. Villano and Rombach had back-to-back kills to end the fourth.
As it had all night, JSU fought back from deficits of 4-7 and 10-11 and in the fifth, before Zuhlke evened the score at 12-12 with a kill. With Ludtke at serve, TSU made consecutive errors to open the door for JSU, and Zuhlke sent a ball off the block to cap JSU's first five-set OVC win since 2015.
Katora Roberts led TSU with 19 kills, followed by Rachel Henderson with 18. Samantha Beltran dished 61 of the Lady Tigers' 64 assists.
JSU returns to Pete Mathews Coliseum on Saturday for a 2 p.m. match against Belmont. The Briuns topped Tennessee Tech on Friday and enter the match in second place in the standings with a 4-1 mark. Live stats will be available at JSUGamecockSports.com.
