JACKSONVILLE, Ala. ? For the first time since 1999, Austin Peay State University's volleyball team will finish the opening weekend of Ohio Valley Conference play unbeaten after picking up a 3-1 (24-26, 25-11, 25-23, 25-17) victory at Jacksonville State, Saturday afternoon.

It is the Lady Govs first victory in Jacksonville since the 2004 season and they improved to 10-4 overall and 2-0 in conference action. Jacksonville State saw its seven-match win streak against Austin Peay end and fell to 5-8 overall and 1-1 in league play.

Jacksonville State seemed to catch Austin Peay napping in the opening set, racing out to a 6-1 lead and forcing an early timeout. The Lady Govs would recover and used seven straight points to take a 17-14 lead. Austin Peay would get within a point of the set, 24-21, after a JSU service error, but could not close the set as Jacksonville State rallied for five straight points to secure the 26-24 victory.

Austin Peay didn't waste any time in the second set and grabbed an early 7-4 advantage before breaking the set open with 10 straight points to turn a 14-9 advantage into a 24-9 stunner en route to the 24-11 victory. Jacksonville State was its own worst enemy in the second set posting 10 attack errors, including five in the decisive 10-point rally.

The Gamecocks shook off the effects of that set and surprised the Lady Govs by scoring 10 of the set's first 14 points. Austin Peay would whittle away at that deficit but still trailed 23-20 before scoring the set's final five points to snatch the set away.

The decisive fourth set opened with Austin Peay scoring seven of the set's first nine points and rarely looking back. Jacksonville State would close within two points midway through the set, but a five-point scoring run put the set safely away.

“I believe matches like this are teaching us that when we put our mind to getting something done then we can accomplish anything,” said Lady Govs head coach Jenny Hazelwood. “The conditions today lulled us a little in the first set but we snapped out of it late and made a challenge and that momentum carried us the rest of the way. Jacksonville State played hard, that's their M.O., so we had to respond the same way and we did today.”

Junior Kirstin Distler finished with 14 kills, but was the Lady Govs rock throughout the match, posting four kills in the opening set and adding six kills in the third set. Junior transfer Stephanie Champine recovered from a slow start to lead Austin Peay with 15 kills, including seven in the decisive fourth set. Sophomore Jessica Mollmlan also reached double-digit kill territory with 11 kills.

“When you play well-coached team's they are going to try and take your top hitters out of the match,” said Hazelwood. “If we're going to be a successful team we will need our other players besides Jessica and Stephanie to step up and answer the challenge. Kirstin did that for us today, Jacksonville State almost couldn't stop her and that helped open things up for Stephanie later on in the match.”

Austin Peay won the offensive battle with 56 kills and a .276 attack percentage against Jacksonville State's 51 kills and .180 attack percentage. The Lady Govs pressed that advantage with a 7-6 advantage in service aces and a 6-5 blocking margin.

Jacksonville State's Brittney Whitten led all hitters with 24 kills and nearly led both teams with 21 digs. As only teammate Haley Booker's match-best 23 digs outpaced Whitten's defensive effort. Caitlin Vorbeck chipped in 13 kills for the Gamecocks.

Austin Peay completes its conference-opening three-match road swing with a 6 p.m. (CT), Tuesday, contest at preseason favorite Morehead State.