Lady Braves Drop Match to Jacksonville State

LORMAN, Miss. - The Alcorn State University volleyball squad fell in straight sets to Jacksonville State Tuesday night inside the Davey L. Whitney Complex.

"Our serve-receive was off today," said Alcorn head volleyball coach Chelsey Lucas-Nicholas. "They were able to ace us 10 times. You cannot beat anybody at this level being aced 10 times. We had more attacks than them, but we are not capitalizing on the swings."

Senior setter LETICIA GONZALES neared a double-double with a team-high nine assists and seven digs. Fellow senior SYDNEY MELLOM and freshman outside hitter BARBARA GARRETT notched five kills each for an Alcorn (1-9) team that totaled 18.

"Barb [Garrett] is a freshman who came in with a lot of explosiveness. That's something I want her to keep. We just have to fine tune her skills. Once we do that, she will be much better. With Sydney [Mellom], she's not as tall, but she's coachable and has a very high volleyball IQ. She's going to score more than some of the other hitters because she listens and understands that pounding the ball isn't always the key, placing it can score a lot in out-of-system plays," Lucas-Nicholas said.

Mellom notched seven assists and three digs playing all the way around in the rotation for the second straight game. Garrett also added six digs. 

JSU (10-8) was spearheaded by Charis Ludtke and Allyson Zuhlke who fired eight kills apiece. Kaylee Frear and Mackenzie Rombach were also productive with six kills each as the Gamecocks strung together 33 kills on a .391 attacking percentage. 

JSU also finished with a 7.0-2.0 advantage in team blocks. 

In the opening set, junior HEATHER JACKSON smashed a kill to tighten the deficit to 14-9 before the Gamecocks scored five in a row ending with two consecutive Ludtke aces to break the set open and eventually won 25-11. 

The second set was tied at six before Alcorn gave up eight straight points. JSU would close the second set on a 19-3 run, resulting in a 25-9 set-two victory.

The Lady Braves got off to a slow start in the third set, trailing 5-0. Garrett served an ace later in the set that landed right in front of Ludtke to make it 10-5 before the Gamecocks responded with a four-point spurt. At 23-11, JSU ended the match with back-to-back Ludtke kills.

Alcorn returns to SWAC play Friday in a 4:30 p.m. match against Southern inside the Davey L. Whitney Complex.

#FearTheBrave