EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Jacksonville State volleyball will take part in its final invitational of the season this weekend as the Gamecocks head to the Hoosier State to play in Southern Indiana's USI Invitational. Jax State takes on Bradley and Southern Indiana on Friday before closing out the tourney against Arkansas–Pine Bluff on Saturday.
"We are going to control what we can control this weekend," head coach
Derek Schroeder said. "With some of the injuries we have sustained, we're going to focus on competing and finding our systems. To find success we're going to have to out-communicate and out-compete whoever we are playing."
The Red-and-White (1-5) dropped their three contests last time out in the Windy City Classic. They fell in straight sets to the host, Chicago State, Southeast Missouri State, and UC Irvine. This weekend, however, the Gamecocks will try for better luck against tough competition in Evansville, Ind.
Upperclassmen
Clarke Adams (59),
Maddie Stayer (43), and
Kaylee Moseley (35) lead the team in kills, but freshman middle blocker
Hana Aiana has also put together a solid start to the year. The first-year Gamecock from Molokai, Hawaii, has 29 kills and 16 blocks through the first six matches. Sophomore
Morgan McClure has a team-best 22 blocks and Michigan State transfer
Gracie Danziger is top five in Conference USA with 3.95 digs per set (79 total).
Jacksonville State will open the USI Invitational at 10 a.m. Friday morning against Bradley (4-2). BU went 1-2 in last weekend's Chippewa Invitational. They were paced by freshman Tendai TItley, who had 33 kills and five blocks at Central Michigan. The Braves are led by second-year head coach Alicia Williams, who guided them to a 10-21 record last Fall.
The Gamecocks will meet the hosts of the invite, Southern Indiana (2-5), on Friday night. That test will begin at 7 p.m. at Screaming Eagles Arena and will be broadcast on ESPN+. USI won just one match last year in its inaugural season as a Division I program but has already eclipsed that mark with victories over New Orleans and Radford. Their top threat is senior Abby Bednar, who was named to the Bellarmine Invitational All-Tournament Team after posting 41 kills, 27 digs, seven blocks, and five aces last week.
Graduate outside hitter
Stavroula Papazoglou will face off against her former team at noon on Saturday as Jax State plays Arkansas–Pine Bluff (1-6) to conclude action in the Stoplight City. UAPB claimed their first win of the season on Tuesday against Arkansas–Monticello of Division II. Prior to that, the Golden Lions fell in straight sets in each of their first six matches. Pine Bluff's main attacker is Zykia Jones, a junior outside hitter that had a 10-kill, 11-dig double-double against UAM.
Jacksonville State is 2-0 all-time against Bradley, having earned wins over the Braves in the 2004 Butler Invitational and the 2018 Gamecock Classic. Friday's showdown with Southern Indiana will be the first meeting between the two sides. Furthermore, the Red-and-White have won both prior matchups versus UAPB, with the last of which coming in 2013.
Links to watch Friday's match against USI or follow along with live stats for any of the matches 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 Twitter (@JaxStateVB), Instagram (@JaxStateVB), and Facebook (Jacksonville State Volleyball) accounts.
