Gamecocks Stay in First with Key Win over Murray State - Jacksonville State University Athletics

Friday, October 25

JACKSONVILLE

6 p.m.

Jax State

12-9,6-3OVC

Murray State

12-9,6-3OVC

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Murray St.	19	25	21	19	1
Jacksonville St.	25	23	25	25	3

10/25/2019 10:07:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE – Senior Shayla Schmidt had a career night and the Jacksonville State volleyball team grabbed a crucial home match over defending Ohio Valley Conference tournament champion Murray State in four sets.

The Gamecocks (13-8, 7-2 OVC) are off to their best conference start since the historic 2009 season that saw Jax State sweep the league titles and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Racers (12-9, 6-3 OVC) drop from the four-way tie for first with the loss, which marks MSU's second-straight setback at The Pete in as many visits.

Schmidt put away a career-high 12 kills as one of four Gamecocks in double figures. Sophomore Lena Kindermann led with 15 kills, accompanied by senior Kaylee Frear with 12 and Kaylie Milton with 11. Junior setter Lexie Libs fed her hitters with 48 assists in a four-set match for a strong 12.0 assist-per-set average. Libs and Milton both posted double-doubles with 10 digs, while freshman Erin Carmichael had a team-high 14. At the net, Schmidt had five blocks followed by Kindermann with three.

The Racers moved out to a 7-3 lead early in the first and maintained that advantage to 15-11. Down 17-14, redshirt-junior Sadie Anderson put away a big kill to spark an 11-2 run for the Gamecocks to storm back late and win the opening stanza, 25-19.

JSU carried the momentum into the second set to double-up MSU, 16-8, out of the gate but the Racers showed their poise with a steady climb back. A service error by the Gamecocks brought MSU back even at 20-20 and the visitors would claim their first lead at 22-21 on their way to tying the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 victory.

Following the intermission, JSU found itself down 14-9 in the third before a kill by Kindermann turned things around. Schmidt pulled JSU even at 16-16 with a kill, and gave the Red and White the lead with one of her two aces on the night. Tied again at 20-all, a series of MSU errors led to a 5-1 finishing run for JSU capped by Libs set-winning ace.

The Gamecocks slowly pulled away in the fourth from an 11-8 lead to 18-13 en route to securing the 25-19 win and keeping pace with the conference frontrunners.

Jax State is now tied with Southeast Missouri and Morehead State for the OVC lead at 7-2. The Racers slip back to a three-way jam for fourth with SIUE and Tennessee Tech at 6-3.

JSU returns to action early Saturday with an 11 a.m. match against Austin Peay at The Pete. Admission is free and the first 50 fans will receive a free chicken biscuit from Chick-fil-a courtesy of JSU's athletic marketing.