RUSTON, La. – With Friday afternoon's loss in its regular season finale at Louisiana Tech, Jacksonville State volleyball wrapped up the No. 8 seed in next week's Conference USA Tournament.
 
The Gamecocks (5-21, 3-13) started poorly again at Thomas Assembly Center. They registered just seven kills and hit .107 in the opening set while a motivated Louisiana Tech (8-20, 3-13) bunch powered to a 25-15 set win. Although the Red-and-White played better in the second and battled in a back-and-forth frame with the Bulldogs, in the end the home team again posted a set victory in a 25-21 difference. Louisiana Tech would go on to clinch their second sweep in as many days with a 25-20 win in the third set despite being out-hit in the interval by Jacksonville State.
 
Kaylee Moseley and Maddie Stayer paced the Gamecocks' offensive efforts, finishing with ten and eight kills respectively. Kathryn Smith had a team-best nine assists. Luci Wilkinson's 18 digs served as both a match-high and a career-high for the sophomore from Fairhope, Ala., and Stayer also ended the regular season with double-digit digs as she finished with 11.
 
Jax State was out-hit .291 to .135 by the Bulldogs. Louisiana Tech had more kills (43 to 31), aces (6 to 1), blocks (7 to 2), assists (39 to 22), and digs (55 to 44).
 
Louisiana Tech's weekend sweep hands them the seven-seed in next week's league tourney, where they will meet second-place Middle Tennessee in the first round. Jacksonville State, the eight-seed, takes on first-place Western Kentucky in the CUSA Quarterfinals on Friday. The tournament will be held at Liberty Arena in Lynchburg, Va., and match times will be released later this weekend.
 
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