JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State University Volleyball team will travel to West Lafayette, Indiana this weekend for the Stacey Clark Classic and will face two top-25 ranked teams.

On Friday, Sept. 16 the Gamecocks will take on the tournament hosts, No. 9 ranked Purdue, at 9:30 a.m. CST.

At 4 p.m. CST on Friday JSU will take on No. 22 ranked Tennessee.

The tournament will wrap up on Saturday as the Gamecocks take on Purdue Fort Wayne at 9 a.m. CST.

 The Gamecocks enter their second road tournament of the season 9-1 overall and 1-1 away from Pete Mathews Coliseum. JSU's only loss of the season was a 3-1 defeat to Wyoming in a neutral site contest at the Charleston Southern Tournament. The Gamecocks picked up their lone road win of the season, 3-1, against the Charleston Southern in game two of the tournament.

Since the Wyoming loss, JSU has won five straight matches, dropping just four sets. This past weekend in the Jax State Invitational the squad swept Nicholls for the sixth sweep of the season. JSU played its first five-set match of the season against South Alabama, winning 3-2. In the final game of the tournament the Gamecocks fell behind 1-0 early to Southern Miss but came back to win 3-1.

Fifth year setter Lexie Libs was named the ASUN Player of the Week after her outstanding performance last week for the Gamecocks. The Floyd Knobs, Indiana native averaged 10 assists per set, 1.83 digs per set, 1.25 kills per set and .67 blocks per set through a 4-0 stretch.

The Gamecocks' offense has been firing on all cylinders this season, leading the ASUN with a .260 attack percentage. The mark ranks JSU 36th in the NCAA. The squad also leads the ASUN in kills per set, averaging 13.60, a mark that ranks 43rd across Division I. Senior Lena Kindermann leads Jax State with 116 kills on the season and is third in the ASUN with a .352 hitting percentage. Junior Zoe Gonzales is hitting .406 with 38 kills thus far. JSU posted a program record .528 hit percentage against Nicholls, posting 43 kills on 72 attacks. The mark ranks as the third highest amongst Division I season so far this season.
 
The Gamecocks will play their fifth and sixth matches all-time against top-25 ranked opponents this weekend and are 1-3 all-time in those contests. In 2006 Jax State defeated No. 12 ranked Louisville, 3-2, for the lone top-25 win in program history. The Gamecocks have also played two ranked Purdue teams - No. 13 in 2011 and No. 14 in 2012, falling both times. The other ranked contest for the Gamecocks was against No. 20 Missouri, losing 3-2, in 2007.
 
Head Coach Todd Garvey is in his fourth season with the Gamecocks and his college coaching career began in 2015 when he joined Purdue as a volunteer assistant. Garvey will return to Holloway Gymnasium where his coaching career began this weekend.
 
 "It'd be awesome to go back their and [get a win]," said Garvey. "I'm still really good friends with the coaching staff. They are a great group of coaches and people. They have been very successful; I think he's been there 18 years now. They've been one of the most successful programs in the country so going back there is going to be special, playing in that environment and if we could somehow get a win that would be amazing. Probably be the best win in school history, I would think. I don't know all the wins that we've had at JSU, but I think it would be right up there. It's definitely a great opportunity for us."


 SERIES HISTORY
 
0-2 vs. Purdue                                              Last Meeting: Sept. 14, 2012. L, 3-1
2-1 vs. Tennessee                                         Last Meeting: Sept. 21, 2013. W, 3-2
First meeting vs. Purdue Fort Wayne            Last Meeting: Sept. 16, 2000. L, 1-3

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