JACKSONVILLE – The best conference start to a season for Jacksonville State volleyball in more than a decade continued on Sunday as the Gamecocks decisively swept Eastern Kentucky to move to 11-0.
 
Jax State (11-0 Ohio Valley Conference) last started 11-0 in league play in 2009 on its way to a 17-1 regular-season OVC mark. Now, in its final month as a member of the OVC, the Gamecocks are chasing that squad's 16-0 start, which for this team would cement a perfect regular season.
 
The Colonels, not at full-strength, fell to 2-9 in the loss where JSU hit .407 as a team, scored 10 aces and recorded six blocks.
 
On a career afternoon, freshman Caroline Kasson came off the bench for the final two sets and proceeded to put away a career-best 11 kills to tie for the team high. She mirrored Lena Kindermann's totals as the duo each exactly had 11 kills on 19 swings to hit .421 after a few errors.
 
Alongside Kindermann and Kasson's double-digit day, junior Katie Montgomery hit .615 with eight kills, while senior Kaylie Milton and redshirt-junior Addie Halverson each hit better than .360.
 
The Gamecock lineup's depth was on display once again Sunday as head coach Todd Garvey subbed early and often in his efforts to keep his squad fresh in the second part of the season. Senior setter Lexie Libs distributed just 27 assists in the quick match, and was also lifted late in the action. Her eight digs ended up as a team-high against an EKU offense that had 18 attack errors on the day. Libero Erin Carmichael finished with seven, followed by Dani Steele, Kylee Quigley and Anna Nelson.
 
With JSU down by one, a kill by Halverson evened the score at 11-11 in the opening set. With Quigley at serve, Jax State reeled off an 11-0 run that featured a trio of kills from Kindermann and pair of blocks by Sadie Brown. In all, JSU won 15 of the final 17 points for the 25-13 set victory.
 
In the second, Kasson made her first appearance as JSU took an early 8-3 lead. EKU cut the deficit to two at 10-8, but that's as close as it would get after Libs dumped a ball over on the second touch to push JSU back in control. JSU later led 17-10 and an ace from Nelson sealed the set at 25-16.
 
Early in the third, Montgomery had three aces in a 6-0 run that saw JSU go from trailing to a 9-5 advantage. EKU hung around a little later in the set down two at 14-12, but JSU slowly extended the margin out to face match point up 24-17.
 
Although the Gamecocks have their sights set on much more, Sunday's win does officially clinch a spot for JSU in the four-team OVC Tournament field in early April. The OVC regular season champion will host the event.