JACKSONVILLE – The defending OVC champion Jacksonville State volleyball team opened its spring 2021 season with a 3-1 win over Southeast Missouri in a battle between the preseason No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the Ohio Valley Conference. 
 
The Gamecocks (1-0 OVC) hit .219 as a club and put away 46 kills to topple the Redhawks (0-1 OVC), whose last visit to Pete Mathews Coliseum was during their 2019 tournament championship run.
 
Lena Kindermann picked up instantly where she left off in 2019 with 13 kills to lead JSU offensively, while sophomore libero Erin Carmichael dug 13 attacks. Senior Kaylie Milton made big plays on both sides of the net finishing her opening day with six kills and eight digs.
 
While returning a veteran core on both offense and defense, JSU saw plenty of positive signs from newcomers in the first true action of the season. Freshman Courtney Glotzbach hit .381 with 11 kills on 21 swings, in her collegiate debut, second only for JSU to Kindermann's total. Junior newcomer Katie Montgomery led the Gamecocks with three blocks and hit over .500 with eight putaways to punctuate her Gamecock debut. Freshmen middle blocker Sadie Brown and defensive specialist Tahya Pozorski also saw their first collegiate action on Sunday.

"I loved our team's energy and focus tonight," said JSU head coach Todd Garvey. "I thought we did a really good job at executing the scouting report and thought our newcomers did great in their debuts. Courtney (Glotzbach) and Katie (Montgomery) both had great games offensively, and Erin Carmichael was all over the back row defensively for us."
 
Senior Lexie Libs had 31 assists in her return to action, notching another double-double in the process with 10 digs.
 
Tied at 12 in the opening set, JSU used a 10-4 run to break away capped by an ace from Montgomery. A handful of service errors from the Redhawks handed JSU the early 25-20 decision. JSU did its damage even earlier the second frame, out to as much as a 20-12 advantage before locking down the 25-18 game to go up 2-0 in the match.
 
The Redhawks, didn't go away following the intermission. SEMO's Laney Malloy, who finished with a  match-high 14 kills, had several in a span that turned a 13-13 tie into a 20-15 Redhawk lead as the visitors took the third, 25-20.
 
Jax State forced a quick SEMO timeout in the fourth after racing out to a 7-2 edge. The Redhawks would try to close the gap at 9-5 after a JSU service error, but the lead would only grow from their for the home team en route to a matching-clinching 25-16 win.
 
The same two team meet again Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Pete Mathews Coliseum for the weekend finale. The contest will once again stream on EXPN+, with live stats available at JSUGamecockSports.com.