RICHMOND, Ky. – In one of the closest matches all season, the Jacksonville State volleyball team came away with a 3-1 road win (28-26, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22) at Eastern Kentucky to pick up its 10th Ohio Valley Conference win of the season.
 
The Gamecocks (16-9, 10-3 OVC) secure double-digit league wins for the first time since the conference moved back to its current 16-match schedule in 2012. The schools previously played 18 and 20 regular-season matches prior to that. The loss puts the Colonels (9-18, 4-9 OVC) in peril of missing postseason play, now two matches back of eighth-place Tennessee Tech.
 
After Friday's final results across the league, Jax State slides into a tie for second-place with Southeast Missouri. Both schools sit one match behind OVC-leading Morehead State at 11-2, who JSU will face tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. Central Time.
 
Redshirt-junior Sadie Anderson and sophomore Lena Kindermann led the Gamecocks with 12 kills apiece, along with junior Kaylie Milton who added 11. Senior Shayla Schmidt had eight kills, but JSU hit just .179 as a team behind junior Lexie Libs' 41 assists. The Gamecocks received big kills when they needed it the most, but the defense proved to be a big part in holding off a scrappy EKU team.
 
The Fullerton, Calif, native, Milton, turned in a double-double with 13 digs, just one behind freshman Erin Carmichael with a team-high 14. Senior Maddie Cloutier finished with seven digs, but none likely bigger than the final rally of the second set when she kept the Gamecocks alive to win the frame. At the net, Schmidt controlled the net with five blocks, followed by senior Kaylee Frear with three.
 
EKU took an early 12-7 lead in the opening set, which would stand as the largest lead for either side until late in the fourth frame. The Gamecocks worked their way back to 16-16, and led 19-17 after Schmidt put down an errant overpass, but the Colonels would respond. JSU had set-point at 24-23 and 25-24, both fought off by EKU, but the Gamecocks eventually closed the door at 28-26.
 
The second set continued the tight back-and-forth battle. JSU took a timeout down 22-20 and bounced back with two-straight to even things up. After EKU took the next point, Jax State finished with three-straight to come away with a 25-23 victory and a 2-0 match lead. Down 21-19 in the third, JSU fought back to even the frame and looked for another late comeback to complete the sweep, but it was EKU who took the final three points of the set to stay alive and force a fourth frame.
 
In the fourth, JSU led 9-8 before a kill from Libs started the biggest run of the night for either side. With Cloutier at serve, the Gamecocks ran off six-straight, and would later lead 17-10 as the Colonels took a timeout. Following the break, EKU slowly climbed back to within a point when Libs ended the momentum pushing a deep corner attack for the kill. EKU's Abbey Noll, who led EKU with 12 kills, had another one to cut the deficit to one again at 22-21, but Anderson's final putaway of the night sparked JSU's late push to claim the set and the match with a 25-22 decision.
 
JSU heads just down the road tomorrow to Morehead, Ky., to face the league-leading Eagles. The last five matches between the two schools have gone the distance at five sets each.