JACKSONVILLE – With more than a month gone since playing on its home floor inside Kennamer Hall, the Jacksonville State volleyball team is set to return home to open Ohio Valley Conference play this weekend.
 
The Gamecocks (7-8, 0-2 OVC) look to end a recent four-match skid that's seen JSU go five sets in every contest. JSU was bested on the road by Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky during the opening weekend of league play last week, and now turns its attention to home matchups with Tennessee State and Belmont. Jax State will host TSU Friday night at 7 p.m., and return Saturday night at 8 p.m. to face the Bruins of Belmont.
 
TSU (4-8, 2-0 OVC) enters Friday's contest as one of four OVC teams to escape the opening weekend of league play unbeaten. The Lady Tigers beat Belmont, 3-1, before sweeping Eastern Illinois 3-0 in Nashville. TSU brings one of the best defenses in the conference to Kennamer Hall with a team ranked fifth in team blocks and second in digs across the OVC. Freshman Gina Rivera Ortiz currently has the third-highest digs per set average among OVC athletes at 4.37. She leads a new-look contingence for TSU that features an overhauled roster from a season ago with the addition of five junior college transfers and three true freshmen.
 
JSU leads the all-time series between the two schools, 22-11, with the first meeting coming prior to their OVC days in 2001. Over that span, the Gamecocks are 12-5 at home, and won both meetings in 2017 in decisive fifth sets.
 
On Saturday, JSU battles the struggling Bruins from Belmont. BU's record of 0-14, and 0-2 to start OVC play, doesn't tell the entire story of a program that's made it a habit of competing for the league title since joining the conference in 2012. The Bruins stand as one of three current conference foes who own a series advantage over JSU, 12-10. The two squads split its two meetings the previous two years. Jax State will attempt to win its third match in the last five meetings, after losing the first eight meetings once the Bruins joined the league.   
 
The Gamecocks head into the weekend with one of the most balanced offenses across the league with six individuals above or near 100 kills. Freshman Lena Kindermann leads the Gamecocks with 169 kills, while junior Kaylee Frear's .316 attack percentage ranks second-best among the conference. Senior Mackenzie Rombach enters just two kills shy of 900 for her career with 127 so far this season to go along with a team-high 51 blocks. The Ottawa, Ill., native sits 48 blocks away from matching the school's Division I program record.
 
JSU's offense ranks in the top four in the league in hitting percentage, kills and assists, led by sophomore setter Lexie Libs who's 608 assists this season is 14th most in the NCAA. The defense has also been consistent limiting opponents to just a .192 average. TSU  (.174) and BU (.114) both enter the weekend averaging less than JSU typically allows.
 
Similar to the offense, JSU's defense rotates through a series of contributors led by sophomore Kaylie Milton's 178 digs. Newcomers Jade Humphrey (159) and Libs (138) have also reached triple digits, while Ashley Clingan, Addie Halverson, Dani Steele and Sadie Anderson aren't far behind.
 
Both weekend matches will have live stats available at JSUGamecockSports.com.