Volleyball Battles in 3-1 Loss to FIU - Jacksonville State University Athletics

Saturday, October 24

JACKSONVILLE

1 PM

Jax State

3-19,0-10CUSA

Florida International

14-9,5-5CUSA

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
FIU	28	25	25	25	3
Jacksonville St.	30	18	14	23	1

Photo by: Emily Kish / Jax State

10/24/2026 3:25:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Ala.—Jax State made great strides in less than 24 hours.

After a tough match on Friday, Jax State was much more competitive in a 3-1 loss to FIU on Saturday at the Pete Mathews Coliseum.

The Gamecocks (3-20, 0-10 CUSA) earned their first set win in almost a month. Jax State held a 20-17 lead after a Taya Nordmann kill and then had double set point at 24-22, but a pair of kills by the Panthers forced extra points to be necessary to decide the first.

Nordmann and Sophia Schweikert picked up kills for the 29^th and 30^th points on consecutive rallies.

Schweikert finished with a team-high 14 kills and added seven digs on defense. Nordmann added six kills, three digs, and was part of seven blocks.

Both teams registered 19 kills in the first set. The Gamecocks posted six blocks in the opening set compared to two by the Panthers (14-9, 5-5 CUSA).

The hosts had five attack errors in the second set and had three errors at the service line, evening up the match at one after the Panthers recorded a 25-18 win. Jax State held a 14-13 lead, but an 8-1 run that saw the Panthers record six of their 17 second set kills in that span.

The third set saw each team go on three-point runs with FIU holding a 15-13 lead at the technical timeout, and closed out the match on a 10-2 run, taking advantage of three blocks and three kills during the final 12 rallies. The Gamecocks had just eight kills in the set with eight attack errors.

Jax State registered their first service ace of the match when Claire Evans gave the Gamecocks the lead on the third rally of the fourth set. FIU answered with three consecutive points for a 4-2 advantage. That's when things started to click again for Jax State, rattling off five consecutive points during a 9-3 run to go up 13-9. Nordmann had a block and a kill during the run and setter Sophia Varela added a block and a kill as well.

Varela finished with 35 assists, five digs, and had a pair of kills.

A kill by Azavia Thomas gave the Gamecocks a 15-11 lead at the technical timeout and then took a five-point lead at 17-12 on another kill by Nordmann, and at 18-13 on a kill by Schweikert.

Thomas was second on the team in kills with 13, doing so on 17 attacks with just one error for a .706 hitting percentage and was part of four blocks on the day.

FIU answered with a 5-0 run to take a 21-19 lead on a pair of Jax State attack errors and a setting error. The Gamecocks were able to tie the set at 22 and 23 with a service error and Schweikert kill, but the Panthers won consecutive points to close out the day.

Up next for Jax State is a road trip next weekend to Sam Houston for a 6 p.m. match on Friday and a 1 p.m. match on Saturday.

To stay up-to-date with the Gamecocks, follow their Facebook (Jacksonville State Volleyball), Twitter (JaxStateVB), and Instagram (JaxStateVB) accounts.