MURRAY, Ky. – The Jacksonville State volleyball team pushed the preseason favorite to win the Ohio Valley Conference, Murray State, to the brink Saturday afternoon in a hard-fought five-set loss.
 
JSU (11-12, 4-6) saw numerous season and career best performances as it took Murray State (13-9, 7-3) to five sets following an incredible fourth-set comeback. With the win, the Racers move into position to possibly tie for second in the standings following all of Saturday's action. The Gamecocks meanwhile, held an identical 4-6 record through 10 conference games a season ago, before winning five of six to finish 9-7.
 
Junior Kaylee Frear posted a season-high 19 kills to lead the Gamecock offense. She was a perfect seven-for-seven for a 1.000 clip in the opening set as JSU pinned the Racers early. Sophomore Kaylie Milton finished with 16 putaways, while redshirt-sophomore Sadie Anderson matched her career-high with 14 kills, which she previously set in her collegiate debut at Air Force on August 26, 2016.
 
The high-powered offense was directed by sophomore Lexie Libs, whose career-high 61 assists marked the most by a Gamecock since Jennifer Hart also dished 61 against Eastern Kentucky on Oct. 25, 2014.
 
JSU's offense was given multiple opportunities from a stellar defensive effort that dug out 68 total attacks, led by sophomore Dani Steele's 17 for the second day in a row. Libs followed with 12 digs in a double-double performance, while Addie Halverson recorded 11 and Ashley Clingan added nine. At the net, Frear delivered a team-high six blocks.
 
Back-to-back service aces for Libs gave the Gamecocks an early 10-6 lead in the first. The Gamecocks slowly extended the lead to 18-11, and led by as many as eight on its way to a 25-18 victory.
 
The Racers responded in the second with a tough 25-22 win, and carried that momentum into the third set where MSU ran away late in a 25-13 decision to grab a 2-1 match lead.
 
JSU fell behind in the fourth frame and was forced to take a timeout down 19-13. The margin was still six at 22-16, when JSU began a 9-1 run to that stretched through two MSU timeouts to rally for the fourth set win. All nine points in the run came courtesy of kills from Frear (3), Anderson (3), Milton (2) and Shayla Schmidt with the final one in the 25-23 result.
 
The fifth began back-and-forth until MSU pulled away from a 6-6 tie with a 4-0 run. JSU managed to cut the deficit to three at 12-9, but was unable to mount another late rally to steal the match, falling 15-10.
 
JSU will take a short break from league action on Wednesday night at home against Jackson State, and will then remain at home throughout the weekend taking on Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State.