Coming into the match, both APSU and Jacksonville State were the final two unbeaten teams in conference and both were riding a winning streak.
In a hard-fought match, Jacksonville State prevailed, winning 3-2 (25-13, 19-25, 25-18, 19-25, 15-11) over the Lady Govs at the Dunn Center.
A win would have given APSU sole possession of first place in the conference standings as well as extend their best start in conference play in school history.
“There are never any excuses, as I told the girls,” APSU coach Mike Johnson said. “We’ve played a tough schedule, with five matches in our last nine days and [Jacksonville State] probably our toughest opponent in that time.”
The match didn’t start for the Lady Govs (11-5, 5-1) as planned. Jacksonville State (13-5, 7-0) scored seven consecutive points to build a six-point lead that allowed them to take the first set to lead the match 1-0.
“It would have been easy to roll over after that first set,” Johnson said. “We didn’t. The girls kept fighting. I’m proud of them.”
The Lady Govs fought back, taking a 14-4 run that saw six service aces to even the score 1-1.
Jacksonville State again traded blows with the Lady Govs taking the third set behind six kills from their senior outside hitter, Brittney Whitten.
The fourth set was the best for the Lady Govs, in which they earned 15 kills, led by Ilyanna Hernandez, who had six kills. Stephanie Champine also chipped in for kills to even the match at 2-2.
In the final set, the Lady Govs stumbled, giving up six errors as a team with five errors from Champine to only seven kills by the entire team.
“If a couple of different calls go our way, or we had gotten a couple of breaks in the fifth set, we’re all smiles right now,” Johnson said.
Champine, the current OVC Player of the Week, recorded double-digit kills (15) for the 12th consecutive match but had season-high 10 errors. Kirstin Distler and Hernandez also chipped in 15 kills each. Paige Economos had 21 digs in the loss. The Lady Govs, as a team, had 20 errors its most since a 26-error match against Loyola (Ill.) on Sept. 12, the Lady Govs’ last loss.
“Jacksonville State game-planned to stop Champine, and when that happens, (Kirstin) Distler and Hernandez are open,” Johnson said. “We’ll see this team again.”
The Lady Govs will go on the road Friday, Oct. 9, to face Tennessee State with a 7 p.m. serve.
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