JACKSONVILLE – A complete team performance led to a dominant sweep of North Alabama (10-4, 0-2) for Jacksonville State volleyball (14-1, 2-0) in Saturday afternoon's ASUN Conference showdown. The Gamecocks out-hit the visiting Lions .475 to .089 at the Pete Mathews Coliseum, decisively taking each set against an up-and-coming UNA squad. The triumph served as the ninth sweep in 15 matches for JSU this season.
 
"I thought tonight was one of our most complete matches of the season so far," Jacksonville State head coach Todd Garvey said following the three-set win. "We were very dialed in on the scouting report and what we needed to do to win.  After the match last night, we talked about one thing that we really wanted to improve on and that was keeping our foot on the gas and staying focused when we get leads. The team took that very seriously and it showed today."
 
The domination started early for JSU. The Gamecocks hit a collective .667 in the opening set while holding North Alabama to a team hitting percentage of .000. The match started with a 7-0 scoring run and Jacksonville State never slowed down. Garvey's squad kept its foot on the pedal, accelerating away from the Lions for a 25-9 win.
 
The second set saw more of the same. Three consecutive aces by senior libero Erin Carmichael set the tone early in the frame, and six attack errors by UNA did not help their cause. A 6-0 scoring spurt midway through the set helped JSU jump ahead 17-5, and the offense continued to produce en route to a 25-12 set victory.
 
North Alabama had their best outing in the third set. The Lions hit sub-.200 in the interval, but their best efforts could not match the Gamecocks. Despite allowing UNA to get within one, Jacksonville State ended the match on an 8-0 run to claim a 25-16 set win and a 3-0 sweep.
 
Fifth-year outside hitter Lena Kindermann had a fantastic bounce-back performance in the victory. After having several attack errors on Friday night, the left-handed attacker ended up with a match-high 14 kills while hitting .632 against UNA.
 
As for other top performers, redshirt sophomore Courtney Glotzbach added eight kills, five digs, and one block while graduate transfer Sophie Riemersma had seven kills and hit .636. Graduate transfer Claire Ochs finished with 35 assists, ten digs, four service aces, and four kills, and fifth-year middle blocker Katie Montgomery had a hit percentage of .700 to go along with her seven kills, two digs, and two blocks. Carmichael had ten digs and three service aces and sophomore Brooklyn Schiffli had three digs in the victory. Additionally, senior Zoe Gonzales earned more playing time on Saturday, tallying three kills on seven attacks with five blocks.
 
"We were good both offensively and defensively, and I thought Lena played great tonight," Garvey said. "Zoe is also starting to get her vertical back from being injured and did a great job blocking, which was huge."
 
After three straight weekends of action at home, Jacksonville State will hit the road next week for their first ASUN road trip of 2022. The Gamecocks will play at the conference's newest member, Queens (N.C.), at 5 p.m. CT Friday, Sept. 30. JSU will then travel to Lynchburg, Va., the next day for a 5 p.m. first serve versus Liberty.
 
Both of those conference matches will be broadcast on ESPN+. Score updates will be posted on JSU Volleyball's Twitter account (@JSUGamecockVB). Live stats and post-game coverage will be provided at JSUGamecockSports.com.
 
To stay up to date with the Gamecocks, be sure to follow their Facebook (Jacksonville State Volleyball), Twitter, and Instagram (@JSUGamecockVB) accounts.