JACKSONVILLE – With a spot in next week's Ohio Valley Conference tournament already locked up, the Jacksonville State volleyball team heads to the Music City for its final two matches of the regular season this weekend.
 
JSU (22-11, 8-6 OVC) is coming off four straight wins in back-to-back home weekends. The Gamecocks posted a 12-1 mark at Pete Mathews Coliseum in 2017, with their only home blemish coming against regular season conference champion, Austin Peay. JSU will wrap up its regular season on the road this weekend in Nashville, Tenn., at Belmont on Friday night and then at Tennessee State Saturday afternoon.
 
Friday's match is set for 6 p.m. and will be streamed on the OVC Digital Network. The TSU will have a 1 p.m. first serve. JSU defeated both Nashville squads earlier this season at The Pete in thrilling five-set contests and will look for the season sweeps to secure a spot in the top half of the OVC tournament field.
 
Senior Allyson Zuhlke, second on JSU's all-time kills list, has a career best 439 successful swings this season, eclipsing the 400 mark for the second-straight year. Fellow senior Charis Ludtke follows with 356 kills, while junior Mackenzie Rombach has 286 kills on a team-high .290 attack percentage. Rombach continues her dominance on the defensive side with 119 total blocks this season a year after setting the school record with 175.
 
Senior setter Jennifer Hart enters the weekend just five assists shy of her third 1,000-assist season after accomplishing the feat in 2014 and 2015. Meanwhile, senior libero Hannah Kirk topped the 500-dig mark in a season for the first time in her last match.
 
With a strong finish in Nashville, the Gamecocks could position themselves well to snap a five-match losing skid in the conference tournament. Three of those losses came in five-set affairs in 2010, 2011 and 2014. This JSU team has plenty of experience in the fifth and final set with seven of its 14 OVC matches going five.