Jax State Rallies in Five Sets to Top OVC-Leading Eagles - Jacksonville State University Athletics

Sunday, October 6

JACKSONVILLE

12 p.m.

Jax State

8-7

Morehead State

12-3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Morehead St.	25	25	22	20	17	2
Jacksonville St.	23	17	25	25	19	3

10/6/2019 4:41:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE – In its first five-set match of the season, the Jacksonville State volleyball team rallied from an 0-2 match deficit to stun Ohio Valley Conference leader Morehead State on Sunday.

JSU (9-7, 3-1 OVC) took sets three and four to force a decisive fifth where the Gamecocks trailed 7-2, before putting together one last surge to come back in a thrilling 19-17 victory. Entering the day as the only unbeaten team in league play, the Eagles (12-4, 3-1) drop back to a five-way tie for first with the Gamecocks and three others.

With the top two offenses in the OVC squaring off, the Gamecocks needed big performances and received just that. Sophomore Lena Kindermann continued her explosive season setting a new career-high with 25 kills and hit .333, while junior Kaylie Milton also topped her career mark with 20 successful swings. The Fullerton, Calif., native broke her previous best set a year ago almost to the day when she had 19 kills at UT Martin on Oct. 5, 2018.

Kindermann and Milton were joined in double figures by Sadie Anderson (13 kills) and Kaylee Frear with 10. Frear also contributed a match-high six blocks, which lifts her to 398 for her career and now one block shy of Nicole Merget (2011-14) for second on the school's Division I list.

Junior setter Lexie Libs set the tone for JSU with a season-best 55 assists, just six off her career high, to lead JSU's offense to 75 kills. Libs' 12 digs was also a team-high as the Gamecocks evenly upped attacks with Erin Carmichael having 11 digs, followed by Dani Steele with nine, Milton with eight and Anderson with seven.

Overall the match featured 35 ties and 15 lead changes. The first set saw 12 ties alone as the two battle back-and-forth before the Eagles held on for a 25-23 set win. The momentum carried over into the second where MSU hit .577 as a team and pulled away for the 25-17 win to grab a commanding 2-0 match lead heading into intermission.

Out of the locker room, the Gamecocks brought a new approach to the second half of the match and led 20-17 late in the third set. The Eagles used a timeout and would rattle off four-straight points to regain the lead. One of Kindermann's kills evened the score back up, and the Gamecocks finished with a 3-0 run to take the frame.

The fourth set became the only one not to see a lead change after JSU opened with a 2-0 lead. All even at 8-8, back-to-back Eagle errors followed by an ace from Libs gave JSU a little cushion. The Gamecocks extended the margin out to 19-12, before MSU fought back to make it a five-point set by the end at 25-20.

All of JSU's momentum from eliminating an 0-2 deficit vanished early in the fifth as MSU opened with a 7-3 advantage. After trailing 8-3 at the changeover, Jax State had three-straight kills from Frear, Libs and Anderson to begin the comeback. Another big kill by JSU's senior from Colorado Springs, Colo., evened the score at 11-all. The Gamecocks would take their first lead at 13-12 on a kill from Milton.

Despite match-point opportunities at 14-13 and 15-14, JSU was unable to shut the door and soon found itself down 17-16. Anderson had a hot shot from the left side to keep the match alive and the Gamecocks would force consecutive errors to secure the improbable comeback at 19-17.

It marked the fifth-straight match to go five sets between JSU and MSU. The Gamecocks now sit tied atop the league standings at the quarter-mark of the season with MSU, Austin Peay, Southeast Missouri and Murray State.

JSU hits the road for two-straight weekends now, beginning with a visit to Nashville, Tenn., next weekend to face Tennessee State and Belmont.