MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Jacksonville State volleyball team's historic spring season came to a close on Friday evening, falling in the championship match of its final Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
 
The Gamecocks (16-2) were back in the title match for the first time since 2009, after running roughshod through the league in its OVC farewell tour. JSU started 15-0, running up the second-longest win streak in the NCAA at the time, on its way to clinching the program's eighth OVC crown. JSU lost the final regular-season match of the season, allowing co-champions Morehead State to host the conference tournament.
 
JSU knocked off Southeast Missouri (14-3) in straight sets on Thursday in the semifinal round, while the Eagles (16-1) received a bye to the title match by virtue of Covid-19 testing protocols from their opponent.
 
In Friday's title match, the fourth match in six days for the Gamecocks, the host Eagles proved to be too much on their home court. MSU took the match 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-18) as JSU struggled to find its rhythm throughout the night.
 
The league's hottest offense for eight weeks, JSU was unfamiliarly out-hit .356 to .143, and blocked nine times by MSU. Junior Lena Kindermann and freshman Courtney Glotzbach had just seven kills each to lead JSU offensively. From her middle position, junior Katie Montgomery hit .500 with six kills on 10 swings to go along with a pair of blocks, but it wasn't to keep pace with a fresh MSU squad.
 
Depth played a role in JSU's success all season, and when going to the bench for a spark on Friday, freshman Caroline Kasson put down two kills on her six tries, while redshirt-junior Addie Halverson hit a strong .364 with four kills.
 
Senior Lexie Libs, who intends to return for the fall 2021 season per Covid-19 waiver, had 30 of JSU's 34 assists. She fed fellow returning senior Kaylie Milton for six kills on Friday, and led defensively with 11 digs. Sophomore libero Erin Carmichael finished with nine digs, while freshman Tahya Pozorski collected seven. In her final appearance for the Red and White, Sugar Land, Texas senior Dani Steele recorded two digs and produced some of the tougher serves of the night for JSU.  
 
MSU took control early in the first with a 3-8 lead that later reached double-digits at 21-11, before finishing 25-15. After falling behind 10-6 in the second, JSU got within a point of the Eagles on three separate occasions, but were unable to even things up. At 14-13, MSU used a 4-1 run to build its cushion resulting in a 25-17 decision.
 
JSU failed to go quietly in the night in the third. Again off to a rough start with a reconfigured rotation, the Gamecocks started in a 9-1 deficit in a must-win set. Milton came through with consecutive kills to spark a 6-0 run, followed by both a block and kill from Montgomery, which sandwhiched a service ace from Carmichael. The Gamecocks clawed back to an even 11-11 mark, but the tank was nearly empty by that point as MSU ran back ahead on a 7-2 stretch. Glotzbach and Kindermann added late kills, but it wasn't enough to bring JSU all the way back, falling 25-18.
 
For their efforts in the tournament, Libs and Montgomery were both named to the OVC All-Tournament Team.
 
Jacksonville State heads to the ASUN Conference beginning in the 2021-22 season, returning to its original Division I home conference. It ends an 18-year stretch in the OVC.