Thursday, November 15
Clarksville, Tenn.
4:30 p.m.
Jacksonville State University
vs
No. 5 SIU-Edwardsville
Jax State To Meet SIUE in OVC First Round on Thursday
11/13/2018 7:57:00 PM | Volleyball
JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State will carry the No. 4 seed into the 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Championship after finishing the season with a 9-7 record in league play and 17-13 mark overall.
It's the third-straight trip to the OVC's postseason tournament for JSU, who enters with its best seed since 2014 in head coach Todd Garvey's debut season with the Red and White.
JSU will open play against the fifth-seeded Cougars of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Thursday at 4:30 at the Dunn Center on the campus of Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tenn. APSU will host the event for the second consecutive year courtesy of their regular-season title with a 14-2 OVC mark. Thursday's opening match will be streamed on ESPN3 with links for video and live stats available at JSUGamecockSports.com.
For fans attending the championship, parking is available in lots 2, 6 and 71 near the Dunn Center. Admission is free to all tournament matches.
Riding a three-match win-streak, and having won six of their last seven overall, the Gamecocks look to shake a recent tournament drought that hasn't seen a JSU victory since 2009. To end the spell, Jax State will need to beat an SIUE squad that it swept earlier in year at home on October 13.
Leading the charge will be JSU's efficient offensive unit with outside hitters Lena Kindermann, Kaylee Frear and Addie Halverson. Kindermann, a true freshman from Germany, became the first Gamecock to eclipse 300 kills on the season In the last contest against Southeast Missouri. Meanwhile Frear, a junior from Colorado Springs, Colo., has 280 putaways on a team-best .313 hitting percentage to go along with 104 blocks on the other side of the net.
Senior Mackenzie Rombach and sophomore Kaylie Milton also have more than 200 kills, while Sadie Anderson owns 159 after missing time for injuries. Rombach's 221 are just eight away from placing the Ottawa, Ill., native among JSU's 1,000-Career Kills Club. Directing Jax State's balanced attack is sophomore setter Lexie Libs, who's 1,208 assists rank in the top 10 in NCAA Division I volleyball.
A threat on the offensive side, JSU's versatile core quickly transitions to key defensive roles. Behind Frear, Rombach has turned away 79 opposing attacks, while Libs and Kindermann have been a part of 47 and 46 blocks, respectively. Libs also leads with 298 digs, just ahead of Milton's 285 and sophomore libero Dani Steele's 251. The back row is strengthen with depth from senior Ashley Clingan and rotations with Halverson and Anderson.
For updates throughout the tournament and all year long, follow JSU volleyball on social media by searching "JaxStateVB".
Players Mentioned
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/ VolleyballFriday, November 07
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Saturday, October 25
