Balanced attack leads Volleyball past Jax State, 3-0

STATS

MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State volleyball utilized a balanced attack, that saw six players record at least four kills, to sweep Jacksonville State, 3-0. The win moves them to 5-4 in OVC play. They downed the Gamecocks, 25-15, 25-15, 25-21.

The win gives them two straight at Wetherby Gym and both have been three-set sweeps.

"We've been working hard on keeping our offense balanced and I thought we did a nice job of that tonight," said head coach Jaime Gordon. "And that's going to be important for us because the teams in this conference are good defensively. If you rely on just one dimension of your offense to carry you through, opponents are going to be able to hone in on that. Tonight we were clicking on the right side, clicking in the middle, Bailey Nichol had some good swings, our outsides were really good, as well. When it all comes together like that, we become a really difficult team to defend."

The Eagles controlled the match throughout, never trailing later than midway through a set. In the first they led 17-9 and then ended the set on a five-point run. In the second, they outscored the Gamecocks 16-4 after trailing 11-9, to close it at 25-15. Then in the third they used an 8-0 run in the middle of the set to help close the match, 25-21.

Morehead State hit an impressive .346 in the first set, recording 11 kills on 26 attempts, and had 38 kills overall and hit .210 for the match. They limited Jacksonville State to just 18 kills and a -.058 hitting percentage.

Freshman Merideth Jewell led the way for MSU with 12 kills on 35 attacks. Her 35 attacks marked her fourth fewest of the year. Senior Hannah Sigala added eight kills on just 12 attempts and hit .417. Juniors Sydney Schuler and Courtney Smith had five kills each. Smith added 10 digs and four service aces. Freshman Jordan Jones led the way with 18 assists, while recording four kills, and junior Bailey Nichol added 14 assists and four kills.

The Eagles look to make it three in a row at Wetherby Gym and three in row overall tomorrow at 2 p.m. against Tennessee Tech.