JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State volleyball team hits the road for its first Ohio Valley Conference action away from home this season, traveling to Nashville, Tenn., to face Tennessee State and Belmont.
 
The Gamecocks (3-1) are off to their best conference start since 2016, and currently sit among a five-way tie for first place in the league standings.
 
JSU is hitting a league-high .285 in OVC matches, while sophomore Lena Kindermann and junior Sadie Anderson each rank in the top 10 individually in conference play. Running the Gamecock offense has been junior setter Lexie Libs, whose averaging 11.93 assists per set to begin league play.
 
Libs ranks in the top 20 nationally with 646 assists this season, setting the pacefor Jax State's top four kill leaders in Kindermann, Kaylee Frear, Kaylie Milton and Anderson. On the defensive side, freshman Erin Carmichael enters the Music City matchups with a team-best 209 digs, followed by Milton with 137, Danie Steele with 135 and Lib's 119.
 
The Gamecocks will face Tennessee State on Friday night at 6 p.m. inside Kean Hall to begin the weekend. The Lady Tigers are 2-2 in OVC play, after falling last Saturday in a five-set match to SIUE. JSU leads the all-time series, 23-12, and are 10-6 in road contests. On Saturday, JSU heads across town to meet the Belmont Bruins who are off to a 1-3 league start and coming off a 3-0 win in their last match against Eastern Illinois.
 
Live stats will be available for both games at JSUGamecockSports.com.