JACKSONVILLE – Gamecock volleyball's three seniors each earned playing time and made an impact in Saturday's Senior Day loss to Middle Tennessee as the visiting Blue Raiders swept Jacksonville State to round out the weekend series at Pete Mathews Coliseum. 
 
MTSU (20-6, 11-3) picked up where they left off on offense in Saturday's Conference USA affair. After hitting over .300 as a team on Friday night, the Blue Raiders totaled 16 kills in the opening set to power past Jax State (5-19, 3-11), 25-21. The second set was more decisive as timely blocks and attack errors hindered the home team in a 25-18 difference. Though the Gamecocks out-hit Middle Tennessee .545 to .480 in the final stanza, it was not enough as aces helped carry the visitors to a 25-20 victory and a sweep win. 
 
Seniors Carley Lynch, Stavroula Papazoglou, and Maddie Stayer were all celebrated in pregame of the Senior Day showdown. Lynch appeared in two sets and tallied her first ace of 2023 while Papazoglou finished with three kills, six digs, one assist, and one ace. Stayer had 19 assists to go along with her three kills, six digs, and one block. 
 
Kaylee Moseley led Jacksonville State with six kills in the loss. Hana Aiana ended up with five kills on a .556 clip and Morgan McClure finished with five kills, four blocks, and a .300 hitting percentage. Freshman Selin Sakiroglu tied a career-high of four kills versus Middle Tennessee and libero Brooklyn Schiffli had a team-best six kills. 

Middle Tennessee held advantages in hitting percentage (.395 to .211), kills (43 to 27), aces (8 to 5), and assists (35 to 27). Jax State had more blocks (5 to 3) and both teams had 31 digs. 
 
Jacksonville State travels to Ruston, La., next week for their final regular season showdowns of 2023. They are slated to take on Louisiana Tech at 6 p.m. Thursday and 3 p.m. Friday to round out the regular season. Both weekend contests in the Bayou State 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.