COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Jacksonville State volleyball team dropped the opening set on the road to Tennessee Tech, before fighting back for three-straight set wins to remain atop the Ohio Valley Conference standings.
 
Jax State (15-8, 9-2) improves upon its best league start in a decade, and sets up a premier matchup with Southeast Missouri, also tied for first with a 9-2 conference mark, on Saturday. TTU (10-14, 6-4 OVC) dropped its second match of the year to Jax State, and eighth-straight overall in the series after JSU swept the last four years. The Gamecock senior class never lost to the Golden Eagles in the regular season.  
 
Junior Kaylie Milton tied her career high set earlier this season against Morehead State with 20 kills on the night to lead the Gamecock offense. The Fullerton, Calif., native, hit .232 with eight digs and two blocks in a big outing to help propel JSU on the road. Sophomore Lena Kindermann provided 16 kills, followed by senior Kaylee Frear with 11. Frear also got a part of five blocks to top the charts, just ahead of Lexie Libs with four.
 
Libs had a big night on her own account with a season-best 19 digs to go along with 51 assists, her fourth 50-assists match of the year. Along with Milton, Kindermann and Frear, she connected with Shayla Schmidt for seven kills and Sadie Anderson for another five.
 
Down only 10-8 in the opening set, JSU saw Tech use a 7-2 run to pull away in the middle part of the frame. A kill from Anderson while trailing 20-12 began a late rally with a series of putaways by Milton. But it was too little, too late as the Golden Eagles took a 1-0 match lead on a 25-21 set win.
 
The second set featured 14 ties and eight lead changes as the two battle back-and-forth in a set that could've put JSU's backs against the wall on the road. Down by one, 22-21, a kill by Frear evened things up and led to a couple of huge blocks by Libs, Frear and Milton that led to JSU taking the second, 25-23.
 
The all-important third set saw JSU grab an early 7-3 advantage and hold the narrow lead throughout much of the stanza. Tech trimmed the lead to one at 20-19, but a series of late errors plagued the home Eagles in a 25-21 setback to JSU.
 
Another tight frame in the fourth which saw double-digit ties was even at 20 before a Tech kill put the Golden Eagle ahead late. A service error by TTU was the final momentum swing as JSU took three of the final four points to win 25-23 on Schmidt's final kill.
 
The Gamecocks have won eight of their last nine matches and now set their sights of Southeast Missouri for a pivotal match on Saturday that is sure to have tournament implications as the only regular-season meeting between the two schools.