Jackson State volleyball spent the fall right where it belongs — in the thick of the SWAC race. The Tigers closed conference play 12-4, locking down the No. 2 seed behind a Prairie View A&M team that simply didn’t lose, running the table at 15-1. This is now back-to-back big seasons under Marcus Hereford, who walked into this program in 2024 and immediately took it to the SWAC Championship match and an NIVC bid. Year two proved that wasn’t a fluke.
Non-conference play humbled this team early. The Southeastern Showdown in Hammond and road trips to Auburn and Troy left some bruises before SWAC play even started. But the second conference matches hit, something clicked. Jackson State ran through Mississippi Valley State, Alabama A&M, and Alabama State, and then went toe-to-toe with two of the league’s best in five-set wars against Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M — the kind of matches that don’t show up as wins in the record book but tell you everything about a team’s fight.
Dove and James were the heartbeat of this team. Karys Dove ran the show as the reigning SWAC Setter of the Year, sharing setting duties with Naija Gadis in a 6-2 system that had opposing blockers guessing all night. Jayden James kept doing what she does — she led the entire SWAC in kills and points a year ago, and she backed that up with a monster 23-kill performance in the Texas Southern battle and 20 more against Bethune-Cookman. Hope Briggs and Kyra Dove gave this offense layers, and Kymorah Carter held the back row together match after match.
Then Tallahassee happened, and it hurt. SWAC Tournament quarterfinals against Southern went the distance — 25-18, 21-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-17. Five sets. James clawed out a 21-kill, 16-dig double-double. Cierra Gilbert was nearly perfect, hitting .533. Giannelle Asomani dug out 15 balls. And still, it wasn’t enough. The Tigers couldn’t find the extra points when it mattered most, and a season that had so much promise ended one match short of the semifinals.
It’s a gut-punch ending for a team that competed with anybody in this league all fall. But with Dove running the offense and James still up front, Jackson State isn’t disappearing from this conversation. This team will be back knocking on that door in November.