Aug. 29—JACKSONVILLE — A couple of years ago, Jacksonville State’s Todd Garvey was helping run a volleyball camp and happened to notice one defensive specialist in particular.
Out of all the players at the camp, Brooklyn Schiffli caught his attention as much as anyone.
“She was all over the place on defense, running into chairs and walls and getting ball after ball up, and I was, ‘I’ve got to recruit that girl,'” Garvey said.
It’s a good thing he did, and it’s a good thing Schiffli signed with JSU. Schiffli, a freshman, did her part as Garvey’s deep, versatile Jacksonville State squad swept three matches in two days in the season-opening Gamecock Classic.
After sweeping Gardner-Webb 25-10, 25-22, 25-22 and Alabama State 25-14, 25-16, 25-22 on Friday, the Gamecocks came back Saturday evening and dropped Middle Tennessee State 25-12, 25-22, 25-14.
Schiffli had a team-high 35 digs to help make up for the loss of starter Erin Carmichael, a valuable defensive specialist who was forced to sit out the classic because of an injury.
That wasn’t the only bit of adversity JSU handled this weekend. During warmups before the Middle Tennessee match, the Gamecocks found out they would be without senior Katie Montgomery, an important middle hitter and at times the best server on the team. She sat on the sidelines because of an injury.
Still, the Gamecocks rolled. Middle Tennessee managed a 7-6 lead in the first set, but JSU won the next point off the Blue Raiders’ serve. Then JSU won nine more points in a row on senior Lexie Libs’ serve.
JSU remained in control from there to the end, hardly looking like a team missing two starters.
“It’s really special because our team is so diverse and so deep in so many positions,” junior Kylee Quigley said. “When we practice, our practice games are even better than some of our in-game games. So when we go out there, everyone is ready from one to how-ever-many-there-are on the roster.”
Garvey appreciated what he saw from his team, despite having two starters on the sidelines.
“That would’ve affected a lot of teams to have two really big contributors out, but we’ve got to the point where we can push ourselves not to make excuses and go out and perform no matter what’s in front of us. That was awesome to see.”
What to know
—Montgomery had 15 kills in the first two matches, which tied Addie Halverson for team-high honors. Lena Kindermann had 14 in the first two matches, then added a team-best 14 against Middle Tennessee.
—Against MTSU, Kaylie Milton had nine kills, while Courtney Glotzbach added seven. Zoe Gonzales had six.
—Libs had 33 assists against MTSU after compiling 40 against Gardner-Webb and Alabama State. With those two early matches in hand, Libs and most of the starters didn’t play in the third sets of those matches.
—JSU has won 22 of its last 23 regular-season matches. Also, before Saturday’s match, the Gamecocks received their rings for last season’s Ohio Valley Conference championship.
Who said
—Garvey on Schiffli: ” I love her energy and effort, and I think it’s kind of contagious on our team. I thought she played fantastic, especially for a freshman.”
—Garvey on how his team looked to open the season: “We’re not there yet. We’ve still got a lot to get better at, but I like their mindset. We’ve been coming in and working hard every day, and I think they’re really resilient for us to go out and play a really good Middle Tennessee State team with Erin Carmichael out and Katie Montgomery out.”
Next up
—JSU (3-0) will host Chattanooga on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Senior Editor Mark Edwards: 256-235-3570. On Twitter: @MarkSportsStar.