JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State Gamecocks defeated Central Arkansas 3-0 on Saturday afternoon for the 12^th sweep of the season and the sixth consecutive win.

JSU (17-4) improved to 7-1 in ASUN conference play with the win over Central Arkansas (4-13, 2-6) and remains in first place in the ASUN West Division.

Senior Lena Kindermann led JSU with 13 kills in the match while hitting .522. Senior Katie Montgomery added 11 kills on a .588 percentage and led the team with three blocks. Lexie Libs totaled 42 in the match, averaging 14 assists per set.

"I thought our offense carried us tonight," said Head Coach Todd Garvey. "I know I've been talking about our defense getting better, but I didn't think defensively we played as good as we have been tonight, and I think that's why you saw a bunch of close sets. I love our defense overall and I know we are going to be there when we need to be there, and we will keep working hard at it this week."

JSU opened the set on a 5-1 run, capped with a service ace from Carmichael. Central Arkansas slowly cut into the lead, but the Gamecocks build a six-point advantage, 14-8, following a 4-1 run. After the Sugar Bears cut the lead to two, 19-17, the Gamecocks used a 4-0 run to take a 22-17 after a ace from Addie Halverson. Kindermann put UCA away with a kill as the Gamecocks took the first set, 25-20.

Central Arkansas battled with the Gamecocks early, keeping it tight before a 4-0 run put JSU ahead 17-10. Back-to-back kills from Montgomery and an ace from Kylee Quigley pushed the lead to 10, 22-12. Consecutive attack errors gave the Gamecocks the win, 25-16, and a 2-0 advantage in the match.

After trading points to begin the third set, the Gamecocks took an 8-6 lead following an ace from Libs. Central Arkansas quickly tied the set up 9-9 before a 4-0 run put JSU ahead 13-9. The Sugar Bears cut the lead to one, 17-18, and ensuing back-and-forth points gave the Gamecocks a 21-19 lead late in the set. After a quick 2-0 run from Central Arkansas evened the set 21-21, Halverson notched back-to-back kills to give JSU at 23-21 lead. A kill from the Sugar Bears trimmed the lead to one, 23-22, but a service error gave JSU match point, 24-22. On the ensuing point, Kindermann recorded her 13^th kill of the match, securing the 25-22 set-win and 3-0 match sweep.

The Gamecock offense was potent today, hitting .368 and 44 kills. Central Arkansas totaled 39 kills and hit .235 in the match. JSU held an 8-5 advantage in aces as Montgomery and Carmichael each led the team with two apiece.

"We did some good things, but we didn't quite play with the energy and effort that we did last night," added Garvey. "It's a lot easier when you have a huge crowd and the band playing and everything. I felt like tonight we needed to create our own energy a little bit more but it's still great to come in and get two sweeps at home. I thought Central Arkansas did a great job of battling tonight and played really well, so they definitely did some things that hurt us, and we will work on that this week at practice."
 
JSU will travel to Jacksonville, Florida next week for the second ASUN Crossover Tournament of the season for three matches. The Gamecocks will face Jacksonville at 5 p.m. on Friday Oct. 22.