JACKSONVILLE – Gamecock volleyball has already clinched a spot in the ASUN Tournament but still has plenty to play for in the final weekend of regular season play. Jacksonville State will celebrate Senior Night in their 6 p.m. Friday clash with North Alabama and wrap up the regular season on Sunday afternoon at Austin Peay.
 
"I'm just ready proud of all of them," Jacksonville State volleyball head coach Todd Garvey said of this year's group of eight senior student-athletes. "I think all of them, whether they've been here five years or four or three- because we've had some transfers that've transferred in- all of them have given it everything that they've got every single day. They've been team players and worked their butts off for the person next to them, and when you have that you have something special."
 
Those league matches are still very valuable for a JSU squad that has tallied 22 victories on the season. Aside from simply wanted to end the regular season on a high note and send their seniors into the postseason with one final win at Pete Mathews Coliseum, Jax State needs a pair of wins to possibly improve their seeding heading into the conference tournament. In addition, the team is hoping to continue their hot streak after picking up a pair of road sweeps last weekend at Lipscomb and Austin Peay.
 
"I thought we were consistent all weekend. We served and serve-received the ball really well. When we pass like that, I think we're really hard to stop. I think it says a lot about our team, that we did really well under pressure all weekend long. On Saturday at Austin Peay, in pressure situations, we stepped up and made plays, and it was different people at different moments, which was awesome to see as well," Garvey said.
 
North Alabama will make the trip to Jacksonville for the second time this season. The Lions were downed by the Gamecocks in straight sets on Sept. 24. UNA, which had one of the best defenses in the nation entering conference play, has since won just three conference matches. First-year head coach Tristan Johnson's squad defeated Queens last weekend to improve to 3-11 in ASUN play and will now look for revenge against JSU.
 
"The first time we played them they were no. 1 in the nation in defense and our offense did a great job of hitting a high percentage against them," Garvey said. "They do have one player back that was hurt the first time we played against them: Katy Floyd, who's an outside hitter. We'll have to continue to play good defense against them, try to focus on shutting down their pins, and make it difficult for them to score."
 
Jacksonville State will then make the turnaround on Saturday and travel back to Clarksville, Tenn., for their second match at Winfield Dunn Center in eight days. Garvey's squad swept the Governors on their Senior Night last Saturday in the Volunteer State and will aim for another triumph over the longtime Ohio Valley Conference foe on Sunday afternoon.
 
"We're going to have to do exactly what we did last weekend. Just go in there, match their focus and energy," Garvey said. "It's basically a tournament game for them. They're going to need that win to get into the tournament, so it's got to be the same for us. We have to go in with the same mentality."
 
Friday's Senior Night match against North Alabama will start at 6 p.m. at Pete Mathews Coliseum and admission is free. Nine seniors will be honored in pregame: libero Erin Carmichael, middle blocker Zoe Gonzales, outside hitter Lena Kindermann, middle blocker Katie Montgomery, defensive specialist Anna Nelson, setter Claire Ochs, outside hitter Kylee Quigley, and outside hitter Sophie Riemersma, as well as student assistant Heather Pritchard. In addition, Kindermann (2^nd All-Time in Career Kills) and Riemersma (1,000 Career Kills) will receive game balls before the match commemorating their recent milestones.
 
"I just hope that they go out, have fun, soak it all in, and enjoy it," Garvey said. "Five years has flown by for Lena (Kindermann), and four for other seniors, but I just hope that they go out and play hard, play for each other, and enjoy it."
 
Fans unable to attend this weekend's matches can stream all the action on ESPN+. Links to watch or follow along with live stats 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
With a big weekend in Tennessee, Katie Montgomery still leads the ASUN in hitting percentage with a season-long mark of .379. The Idaho Falls High School alum ranks 38^th in the country with that impressive statistic. JSU's team hit percentage of .286 is also best in the conference and is 14^th-best in Division I.
 
Montgomery is no longer Jacksonville State's only conference leader. Thanks to a pair of aces in Clarksville on Saturday, senior Kylee Quigley now holds the league's best aces per set average (0.43). The Port St. Lucie, Fla., native is third in total aces (40) as well.
 
Several other JSU performers are within the top ten of conference ranks in certain statistics. Fifth-year attacker Lena Kindermann is fourth in kills (347) and kills per set (3.54), sixth in points (375.5), and seventh in hitting percentage (.323) and points per set (3.83). Graduate transfer Claire Ochs has the third-most assists (1031) and assists per set (10.74) in the league and senior Erin Carmichael is sixth in total aces (35) and ninth in aces per set (0.36).
 
A trio of Gamecocks reached milestones in Tennessee. Graduate transfer Sophie Riemersma earned 25 kills on the weekend, and her 12-kill outing at Austin Peay on Saturday pushed her over the millennium mark in career kills. In addition, Montgomery tallied her 200^th career dig, an impressive number for a talented middle blocker. Ochs also registered her 1,000^th assist of the season, becoming just the 17^th JSU setter to reach that in a single year.
 
Two Jacksonville State standouts could reach career accomplishments over the weekend. Kindermann sits as 1,683 career kills as we begin the weekend while redshirt sophomore Courtney Glotzbach sits at 397 career kills.
 
Head coach Todd Garvey earned his 100^th career victory Friday night at Lipscomb. The fifth-year leader is now 101-38 at JSU and is just the second head coach in the program's Division I history to amass 100 wins. His 72.7%-win percentage remains the best in school history at any level for a multi-year coach.