KENNESAW, GA. – Gamecock volleyball dropped their second consecutive match in Sunday's ASUN Conference road test at Kennesaw State. The Owls downed Jacksonville State 25-19, 25-15, 26-24 in straight sets at the KSU Convocation Center.
 
"We caught Kennesaw on a weekend where they were playing at a really high level and we were off our game," Jacksonville State head coach Todd Garvey said after Sunday's loss. "With playing them Friday and again today we really didn't have time to get back to work, but we will this week. Sometimes losses can be a good thing and it will be for us."

Kennesaw State raced out to a big lead in the first set. A handful of miscues by Jax State led to an 8-1 advantage for the home team before the visiting Gamecocks began their march back. JSU worked it as close as a two-point difference down the stretch, but their comeback would fall short in a 25-19 set loss.
 
The Owls put on an offensive clinic in the second set. KSU hit .533 and pulled away from Jacksonville State early in their 25-15 victory. The Gamecocks finished with nine kills and seven attack errors in the interval.
 
Kennesaw State had another impressive start to the third set and led by as many as five points, but JSU would not go away easily. A 4-0 scoring run put the Gamecocks in a position to reclaim the lead, which they were able to accomplish with an Erin Carmichael ace that made it 22-21. Jacksonville State even had a set point, leading 24-23, but Kennesaw State produced a 3-0 run to close out the game and secure the sweep in Cobb County, Ga.
 
Fifth-year outside hitter Lena Kindermann had a team-high ten kills in Sunday's loss. Kindermann has 1570 in her career and is now just seven away from overtaking second-place in program history in career kills from Allyson Zuhlke (2014-17). Senior Zoe Gonzales added five kills while graduate transfers Claire Ochs and Sophie Riemersma had four kills each. Ochs led the team with 22 assists, ten digs, and three aces at Kennesaw State.
 
Serving was much stronger than in Friday's match, as the Gamecocks finished with 10 service aces versus just one service error. However, KSU's strong defensive presence led to ten blocks and 18 attack errors against the JSU offense, which finished with a collective .125 hitting percentage.

"Kennesaw lost to Liberty last week and I'm sure they had their best practices of the year leading up to the games this week," Garvey said. "We are looking forward to doing the same."
 
The Gamecocks return to play next weekend at Pete Mathews Coliseum for a pair of ASUN tests. Jax State will play host to Eastern Kentucky on Friday evening before taking on Bellarmine and former JSU head coach Rick Nold in the Breast Cancer Awareness Match at 4 p.m. Saturday. Both matchups at The Pete will be free to attend and will be covered on ESPN+.