BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Jax State fell 3-0 to Western Kentucky Friday night inside WKU's E.A. Diddle Arena.
The Gamecocks (6-7, 0-1) were able to gain a 22-17 advantage late in the third, before a 3-0 run by the Hilltoppers (10-4, 1-0) made it 22-19. The Gamecocks extended their lead to 23-19 to stop the run thanks to a kill by
Keyauna Linwood, before WKU crawled back to tie it 24-24. WKU clinched the match with a 28-26 third victory.
Jax State was led by
Kayla Williams with 17 kills, while
Luci Wilkinson led the Red-and-White with 19 digs.
Charlee Solomon had a team-best 28 assists and was second on the squad with 11 digs.
Morgan Blazzard added nine digs, and
Madison Konopka had eight digs, respectively. As a team, Jax State had 35 kills, 34 assists, 61 digs, four blocks, and three aces in the match.
WKU came out hot in the opening set, jumping in front 4-0. Williams got the Gamecocks on the board with a kill to make it 4-1. Williams led Jax State in the first with three kills. In the first set, Jax State had seven kills as a squad. Defensively, Jax State had seven digs with Solomon leading the way with five. WKU went on to take the first set 25-15.
The Gamecocks were determined to make the Hilltoppers earn the second set. The two teams played through five set points before WKU clinched the set win 30-28.
Izzy Whittaker claimed one of her six kills on the night to make it 22-21 in favor of WKU. Jax State then took the lead 23-22 thanks to a Hilltopper attack error. Later in the set,
Amaya Tolentino put the ball away and put the Gamecocks ahead 28-27. Tolentino also had six kills on the night.
Konopka's service ace helped the Gamecocks go ahead 8-6 early in the third. Before the media timeout, Linwood helped the Gamecocks get ahead 14-12 with one of her three kills on the evening. Williams got back-to-back kills to put the Gamecocks up 22-17. Tolentino put a ball away to tie it 26-26 and score the final Gamecock point of the match.
The Gamecocks take on WKU again Saturday at 1 p.m. in E.A. Diddle Arena to continue the opening weekend of conference play.
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