Friday, October 28
JACKSONVILLE
6 P.M.
Jacksonville State University
vs
FGCU
Gamecocks Set for Final Full Weekend at The Pete
10/27/2022 8:56:00 AM | Volleyball
JACKSONVILLE – Gamecock volleyball (19-4, 7-3) returns home on Friday to begin their final full weekend at The Pete for the 2022 regular season. Jacksonville State will meet Florida Gulf Coast (16-6, 6-3) at 6 p.m. Friday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum before tangling with Stetson (13-8, 4-5) at 3 p.m. Saturday at home.
JSU will look to improve their standing in the ASUN Conference with a pair of wins against Florida foes in Calhoun County. Garvey's squad went 1-1 in Jacksonville, Fla., last weekend, as they fell in five sets to North Florida on Friday and responded with a sweep of Jacksonville on Saturday.
"I think we're starting to get back to rolling and playing good volleyball again," Jacksonville State volleyball head coach Todd Garvey said. "We hit a little stretch in the middle of the season, right before Kennesaw, where we had some injuries and we weren't practicing quite as much or as hard. I think we've gotten back to being able to practice more consistently without as many days off and go a little bit harder since we're getting healthy."
Florida Gulf Coast appears to be the league's strongest team from the Sunshine State. The defending ASUN Champions played a stout non-conference schedule that was highlighted by a four-set Power 5 road victory at Maryland in late August. FGCU opened conference play with a shocking five-set loss at North Florida but have since found their footing and won six of their last eight showdowns. The only teams to beat them since- Central Arkansas and Liberty- are either tied for or 0.5 games out of first place as we begin play this week. Ninth-year head coach Matt Botsford has another talented squad in Fort Myers, Fla., with minimal weaknesses. 2021 ASUN Volleyball Player of the Year Erin Shomaker has been phenomenal thus far and is second in the league in total kills and third in kills per set and points per set. Fifth-year setter Chelsey Lockey has guided the offense well and sits second in the conference in assists per set.
"We're definitely excited about Friday night, seeing where we stack up," Garvey said. "I know we had some battles with (FGCU) last year, lost to them in a close match in the conference championship game, and I feel like we've gotten better and I think they've gotten better, so it should be a really good match. They lost one really good piece on their team, an outside hitter, but replaced her with Tennessee's best player- a six-rotation outside. I think they're playing better volleyball than they did last season, and so are we, so it should make for a really good match."
Yang Deng is in her sixth season at head coach in DeLand, Fla., and is fielding another competitive team this fall. The Hatters have already matched last season's win total- a mark that served as their best since 2018- and went five sets with Central Arkansas and Lipscomb earlier this month. Their most efficient attacker is freshman middle blocker Sophia Groom, who enters the weekend top-ten in the ASUN with a .324 hitting percentage.
"Stetson has two really good outside hitters that they set a lot, and then they use them in the front and back rows, so we're going to have to try to do a good job on them defensively," Garvey said. "They have a really good setter. They do an unorthodox lineup, they like to mix things up a lot, so just being dialed in and focused on each play is going to be big- knowing who's going where when, and make sure we're communicating along the net."
Jacksonville State is searching for their first program win against the Eagles. FGCU swept JSU in the regular season last fall and downed them in four sets in the ASUN Championship Final. Jax State is 9-7 all-time versus Stetson and has won five in a row, with their last loss of the series coming in Oct. 2001.
Admission to both matches at Pete Mathews Coliseum is free of charge. Fans unable to attend can also stream all the action online on ESPN+. Links to watch the match or to follow along with LiveStats will be provided at JSUGamecockSports.com. Additionally, score updates will be posted on JSU Volleyball's Twitter account (@JSUGamecockVB).
To stay up-to-date with the Gamecocks, be sure to follow their Facebook (Jacksonville State Volleyball), Twitter, and Instagram (@JSUGamecockVB) accounts.
STAT WATCH
Two Gamecock performers reached milestones last weekend in Florida. Fifth-year outside hitter Lena Kindermann topped 1600 kills in Friday's loss to UNF, and senior Kylee Quigley tallied her 500th career dig in the same match.
Fifth-year middle blocker Katie Montgomery still leads the league in hitting percentage. Her mark of .390 is a full .035 points ahead of second place and is good enough for 30th nationally.
As for other JSU standouts ranking in the top-ten of the ASUN in certain statistics, Kindermann is third in total kills (295), fourth in kills per set (3.51), fifth in total points (321.5), and sixth in points per set (3.83). Southeast Missouri State graduate transfer Claire Ochs has the second-most assists (868) in the league and the third-most assists per set (10.59). Quigley is third in aces per set (0.42) and senior Erin Carmichael, who has had 16 aces in 10 conference matches, is ninth with 0.36 aces per set in 2022. Furthermore, senior Zoe Gonzales is eighth in the ASUN in blocks per set (0.95).
JSU will look to improve their standing in the ASUN Conference with a pair of wins against Florida foes in Calhoun County. Garvey's squad went 1-1 in Jacksonville, Fla., last weekend, as they fell in five sets to North Florida on Friday and responded with a sweep of Jacksonville on Saturday.
"I think we're starting to get back to rolling and playing good volleyball again," Jacksonville State volleyball head coach Todd Garvey said. "We hit a little stretch in the middle of the season, right before Kennesaw, where we had some injuries and we weren't practicing quite as much or as hard. I think we've gotten back to being able to practice more consistently without as many days off and go a little bit harder since we're getting healthy."
Florida Gulf Coast appears to be the league's strongest team from the Sunshine State. The defending ASUN Champions played a stout non-conference schedule that was highlighted by a four-set Power 5 road victory at Maryland in late August. FGCU opened conference play with a shocking five-set loss at North Florida but have since found their footing and won six of their last eight showdowns. The only teams to beat them since- Central Arkansas and Liberty- are either tied for or 0.5 games out of first place as we begin play this week. Ninth-year head coach Matt Botsford has another talented squad in Fort Myers, Fla., with minimal weaknesses. 2021 ASUN Volleyball Player of the Year Erin Shomaker has been phenomenal thus far and is second in the league in total kills and third in kills per set and points per set. Fifth-year setter Chelsey Lockey has guided the offense well and sits second in the conference in assists per set.
"We're definitely excited about Friday night, seeing where we stack up," Garvey said. "I know we had some battles with (FGCU) last year, lost to them in a close match in the conference championship game, and I feel like we've gotten better and I think they've gotten better, so it should be a really good match. They lost one really good piece on their team, an outside hitter, but replaced her with Tennessee's best player- a six-rotation outside. I think they're playing better volleyball than they did last season, and so are we, so it should make for a really good match."
Yang Deng is in her sixth season at head coach in DeLand, Fla., and is fielding another competitive team this fall. The Hatters have already matched last season's win total- a mark that served as their best since 2018- and went five sets with Central Arkansas and Lipscomb earlier this month. Their most efficient attacker is freshman middle blocker Sophia Groom, who enters the weekend top-ten in the ASUN with a .324 hitting percentage.
"Stetson has two really good outside hitters that they set a lot, and then they use them in the front and back rows, so we're going to have to try to do a good job on them defensively," Garvey said. "They have a really good setter. They do an unorthodox lineup, they like to mix things up a lot, so just being dialed in and focused on each play is going to be big- knowing who's going where when, and make sure we're communicating along the net."
Jacksonville State is searching for their first program win against the Eagles. FGCU swept JSU in the regular season last fall and downed them in four sets in the ASUN Championship Final. Jax State is 9-7 all-time versus Stetson and has won five in a row, with their last loss of the series coming in Oct. 2001.
Admission to both matches at Pete Mathews Coliseum is free of charge. Fans unable to attend can also stream all the action online on ESPN+. Links to watch the match or to follow along with LiveStats will be provided at JSUGamecockSports.com. Additionally, score updates will be posted on JSU Volleyball's Twitter account (@JSUGamecockVB).
To stay up-to-date with the Gamecocks, be sure to follow their Facebook (Jacksonville State Volleyball), Twitter, and Instagram (@JSUGamecockVB) accounts.
STAT WATCH
Two Gamecock performers reached milestones last weekend in Florida. Fifth-year outside hitter Lena Kindermann topped 1600 kills in Friday's loss to UNF, and senior Kylee Quigley tallied her 500th career dig in the same match.
Fifth-year middle blocker Katie Montgomery still leads the league in hitting percentage. Her mark of .390 is a full .035 points ahead of second place and is good enough for 30th nationally.
As for other JSU standouts ranking in the top-ten of the ASUN in certain statistics, Kindermann is third in total kills (295), fourth in kills per set (3.51), fifth in total points (321.5), and sixth in points per set (3.83). Southeast Missouri State graduate transfer Claire Ochs has the second-most assists (868) in the league and the third-most assists per set (10.59). Quigley is third in aces per set (0.42) and senior Erin Carmichael, who has had 16 aces in 10 conference matches, is ninth with 0.36 aces per set in 2022. Furthermore, senior Zoe Gonzales is eighth in the ASUN in blocks per set (0.95).
Players Mentioned
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