THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Jacksonville State 3, Eastern Kentucky 0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-20)
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 0
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - For the eighth-straight meeting in the series, the home team came away victorious as the Jacksonville State volleyball team stymied Eastern Kentucky in a 3-0 win Thursday night.
JSU (8-7, 2-1 Ohio Valley Conference) gained a slight edge in the early conference race as the Colonels, who also entered at 1-1 in league play, dropped to 1-2 and 6-11 overall.
The visiting Colonels hit just .097 as a team with 22 attack errors, including six Gamecock blocks. JSU remained consistent throughout the night winning in a multitude of ways by pulling away in the first set, mounting a late rally in the second, and held on to a lead in the third to secure the match.
With the defense posting solid numbers on the night, junior Dani Steele led the way with 11 digs, followed by freshman Erin Carmichael with nine. Eight Gamecocks overall registered two-or-more digs, including Taylor Pribyl and Lexie Libs who each had a pair of blocks as well. Meanwhile, senior Kaylee Frear recorded a team-best three blocks to go along with seven kills.
Libs dished 33 of JSU's 37 assists, guiding sophomore Lena Kindermann to a match-high 13 kills on 20 swings for a .500 hitting clip. Sadie Anderson had eight kills, followed by Frear (7), Kaylie Milton (5) and Pribyl (5).
Kills from Kindermann and Pribyl broke a 7-7 tie in the opening set as JSU would go up by as many as nine (24-15) while storming off with the first set point. In the second, EKU freshman Abby Noll had five of her team-best 10 kills to push the Colonels out ahead 20-15 late and force a JSU timeout. Out of the break, Frear and Anderson put attacks down to begin the shift momentum back to Jax State. The score evened at 22-22 on Milton's kill after a great save by Carmichael defensively. Freshman Kylee Quigley entered to serve the final points, and sealed a two-point victory with an ace that caught the tape and dropped over.
JSU opened the third on a 6-1 run and led 19-13 before EKU began to chip away at the deficit. A 4-2 spirt by the visitors cut the lead to 21-17. The Colonels would get back-to-back points again near the end, but Anderson's final swing for a 25-20 win handed the Gamecocks their sixth sweep of the year.