JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State volleyball dropped Saturday's Conference USA match against Liberty. The Gamecocks fell in straight sets to visiting Liberty at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
 
After a back-and-forth start to the opening set, Liberty (10-10, 2-5) went on a 7-1 run to claim the momentum and never looked back en route to a 25-17 difference. The Flames scored the first six points of the second and pulled away early, hitting .441 in the interval to take the set by 13. Though the Gamecocks (4-14, 2-5) found their most success in the third, where they totaled 11 kills to Liberty's eight, they could not close the gap late and fell 25-19 to drop the match.
 
Hana Aiana and Maddie Stayer had team-highs with seven kills against the Flames while Clarke Adams added six kills and eight digs. Brooklyn Schiffli had a team-best ten digs as well. Birmingham native Kathryn Smith finished as the team's assists leader with 13 and tallied one ace and one dig after playing most of the second and third sets. 
 
The Gamecocks were out-hit .369 to .110 in the loss and ended up with less kills (36 to 30), aces (6 to 4), blocks (8 to 1), assists (31 to 26), and digs (44 to 35).  
 
Jacksonville State hosts New Mexico State next weekend at Pete Mathews Coliseum. Matches will start at 6 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday. Links to watch or follow along with live stats will be provided at JaxStateSports.com. In addition, score updates will be posted on Jax State Volleyball's X account (@JaxStateVB). 
 
To stay up-to-date with the Gamecocks, follow their X (@JaxStateVB), Instagram (@JaxStateVB), and Facebook (Jacksonville State Volleyball) accounts.