JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball team enters the second weekend of the season making its way to Lafayette, Louisiana for the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Tournament.
The Gamecocks (2-1) are coming off a solid opening weekend in the season-opening tournament at Western Carolina. JSU finished with wins over Charleston Southern and host WCU last Saturday, leading to a pair of seniors,
Allyson Zuhlke and
Charis Ludtke, earning spots on the All-Tournament team.
The senior outside duo of Suhlke and Ludtke paced JSU's offense with 38 and 35 kills apiece, both hitting above .200 for the overall weekend. The Gamecocks were led by senior leadership all-around last weekend as fellow senior
Jennifer Hart dished 96 of JSU's 134 opening weekend assists. Meanwhile, senior libero
Hannah Kirk's standout performance along the back row earned her Defensive Player of the Week status for the Ohio Valley Conference.
Heading into their second weekend, the Gamecocks have plenty of help from non-seniors as well. Junior
Mackenzie Rombach hit .255 and added 10 blocks in Cullowhee, N.C., while sophomore
Kaylee Frear recorded 10 kills and six blocks in just seven sets of action.
Newcomers made their mark on the Gamecock squad as freshmen
Dani Steele,
Madison Cooler and
Kaylie Milton each played in all three matches. Milton quicky found herself inserted into the starting rotation, while Cooler came of the bench for eight kills against unbeaten Towson.
Jax State will face Nicholls State and Mississippi Valley State on Friday, with the first match starting at noon. On Saturday, JSU will wrap up its time in Lafayette with matches against Houston Baptist and tournament host, Louisiana. Live stats will be available at JSUGamecockSports.com. Fans may also follow in-match updates on twitter by following (@JaxStateVB).
