FOLEY, Ala. – James Madison volleyball fell in 4 units (20-25, 25-18, 20-25, 21-25) to Arkansas State within the 2025 Sun Belt Conference volleyball championship on Sunday evening on the Foley Sports Tourism Center.
JMU slipped to 22-9, whereas Arkansas State improved to 22-8 and acquired the automated bid to the 2025 Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship.
Kennedy Louisell completed with 11 kills, bringing her 2025 season whole to 605.
Addie Norman hit .429 and in addition had 11 kills, whereas
Melisa Ilter tied a career-high 10 kills.
Julia McNeley recorded 21 digs, whereas
Ayen Nhial had six blocks to carry her Sun Belt event whole to 29 (2.23 per set).
Louisell and Nhial had been each named to the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Championship All-Tournament staff.
Addison Collum and Payton Van Veen every completed with 14 kills and hit .353 to tempo the A-State offense. The Red Wolves hit .217 as a staff.
How It Happened First Set: Arkansas State 25-20 - Arkansas State used an 8-0 run to show a 15-14 deficit right into a 22-15 lead. The Dukes responded by scoring 4 of the subsequent 5 to trim the Red Wolves’ result in 4 (23-19),
- Despite the push from JMU, A-State used a pair of kills from Hailey Glunz and Payton Van Veen to place the Dukes away within the first.
Second Set: James Madison 25-18
- The Red Wolves had been the primary to fifteen, utilizing a 5-0 run to go forward 15-12 on the media timeout.
- Out of the break, JMU scored 5 in a row and gained a 17-15 lead, capped off with a kill from Ayen Nhial.
- After trailing 15-12, JMU closed the set on a 12-3 run to even the match at one set apiece.
Third Set: Arkansas State 25-20
- Arkansas State led JMU 15-14 on the media timeout as each groups battled backwards and forwards.
- The Red Wolves rattled off three straight and took a 19-16 lead, capitalizing on a pair of JMU errors.
- The Dukes lower the A-State result in 22-20, however the Red Wolves picked up three straight kills to place the Dukes away within the third and take a 2-1 lead within the match.
Fourth Set: Arkansas State 25-21
- After the Dukes gained a 15-14 lead on a block from Nhial and Ilter, Arkansas State used a 3-0 run to take an 18-15 lead as JMU known as a timeout.
- JMU scored 4 of 5 factors to tie the rating at 19-19, however A-State closed sturdy with a 6-2 run to place away the set and safe the match
Match Notes
- Melisa Ilter tied a career-high 10 kills. She additionally had 10 kills in opposition to Western Michigan on Sept. 15, 2024.
- Julia McNeley recorded 21 digs tonight, bringing her season whole to 470 – the eighth-most digs in a single-season for a JMU participant within the rally-scoring period.
- Kennedy Louisell ended her 2025 season with 605 kills, making her the one participant in program historical past with 600 or extra kills in a season within the Division I period. The solely different participant in JMU historical past with extra kills was Sheila Chittams (615) in 1984, when JMU competed as a Division II staff.
- Louisell completed with a median of 4.80 kills per set, the college document. The earlier document was held by Janey Goodman, who averaged 4.54 kills per set within the 2016 season.
- Nhial completed the season with 165.0 blocks, probably the most for a JMU participant since M’Kaela White had 172 in 2018 and the third-most for a participant in program historical past.