JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball team will look to continue its hot start to the 2018 season as it enters the Valley of the Sun in Pheonix, Ariz., for the Grand Canyon Invitational.
 
JSU is off to a 3-1 start for the second-straight year after winning three matches in the first weekend of play for the first time since 2012 when the Gamecocks swept through four matches at the Alabama State Invitational. JSU will make its first western trek since opening the 2016 season at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
 
That same 2016 opening tournament featured the only other time Jax State has faced any of the three opponents it will see this weekend, falling in its first-ever matchup with Grand Canyon. JSU will open the weekend against Boston College on Friday, before taking on GCU and Southern Utah on Saturday. The BC contest will mark JSU's first action against a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since facing Georgia Tech in 2013.  
 
First-year head coach Todd Garvey saw his squad win three of four matches in the opening weekend during JSU's own Jax State Invitational. Redshirt sophomore Sadie Anderson returned to the rotation after missing 2017 with an injury to lead JSU with 37 kills. Newcomers Addie Halverson and Lena Kindermann also had strong offensive showings with 29 and 28 kills, respectively. The offense was directed by first-year Gamecock Lexie Libs who dished 128 assists for a 9.85 assist per set clip.
 
Across the net, junior Kaylee Frear and senior Mackenzie Rombach took control up front combining for 22 blocks, to go along with 52 kills. Opponents hit just over .200 in 13 sets against Jax State as Kaylie Milton, Jade Humphrey, Ashley Clingan and Dani Steele fortified the back row. All 14 healthy Gamecocks saw action in the opening matches as JSU flexed its newly acquired depth.
 
All matches this weekend will feature live stats which can be found at JSUGamecockSports.com. The Saturday match against host GCU will also feature a video stream which will also be linked on the Gamecocks' schedule page. Since Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time (DST), GCU is two hours behind JSU's Central Time Zone. All times on JSUGamecockSports.com are CENTRAL listings.