MIAMI – Strong serving and solid defense early was not enough for Jacksonville State volleyball in their four-set loss at FIU on Friday night. The Gamecocks took the opening set in the Sunshine State before dropping three in a row to fall in the Conference USA contest. 

"The first thing I told them after the match was that I was really happy to coach them," head coach Derek Schroeder said. "They had their blinders on and were very focused on the scouting report. We were dialed into small adjustments and it was a pleasure to coach them today." 
 
The Gamecocks came to play early in Miami. They rang up three blocks in the opening set, holding Florida International to a hitting percentage of just .032 and ten total kills. After a back-and-forth start saw the two sides split the first 46 points, a kill by Morgan McClure and an attack error landed Jax State a 25-23 first set victory. As poorly as their offense played in the first, though, the hometown Panthers did a complete 180 in the second. They hit sub-.400 in the interval and utilized a 5-0 run down the stretch to pull away in a 25-20 difference. 
 
The Red-and-White again found itself battling from behind in the third but rallied to equalize it at 17. The two sides played tit-for-tat down to point 24, where FIU secured a kill and a block on consecutive plays to take a 2-1 set lead. Jax State never gained its footing in the final period, and a resilient Panther squad created separation early and clinched the match, 25-14.
 
"The first set was so much fun because I think we caught a giant team by surprise as we came at them," Schroeder said. "We snuck that one out, and I think if we could've done the same in the third the result of the match might've been different. Credit to FIU, though. They just kept weighing on us and weighing on us until eventually it was just a little too heavy to lift."
 
Kaylee Moseley and Maddie Stayer led the Gamecock offense, finishing with 12 and ten kills respectively. Stavroula Papazoglou got the start as well, ending up with a season-best three aces, eight kills, and eight digs. Morgan McClure set a new career-high with six blocks and freshman Hana Aiana added five rejections. Furthermore, Gracie Danziger paced the team's back-row efforts with 15 digs.
 
Team statistics were very close in many categories. FIU held advantages in kills (53 to 45), blocks (12 to 11), digs (66 to 55), and assists (48 to 42) while Jax State finished with more aces (7 to 5). The Gamecocks were out-hit on Friday night .219 to .097.
 
"The whole team has been working very hard on blocking schemes and making things hard for the opposing offense," Schroeder said. "With the size that FIU has outside, we were really happy to block the ball as well as we did today."
 
Jacksonville State wraps up their penultimate road weekend with a Saturday afternoon bout in Miami. First serve at Ocean Bank Convocation Center is set for noon CT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+. 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.