For the first time in a month, the Jennies saw some movement in the AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll. UCM moved up one place after their 3-0 week, to No. 6. The Jens are the third-highest ranked MIAA team, with #3 Washburn and #4 Nebraska-Kearney each holding steady from their rank a week ago. The Jennies overtook the Tampa Spartans for the sixth spot, following the Spartans loss to #22 West Florida last week.

The top five from last week's poll remained unchanged, as Southwest Minnesota State retained the top spot, collecting 29 of a possible 32 first place votes. The top six spots in the poll are claimed by teams out of the NCAA Central Region, made up of the MIAA, Northern Sun, and Great American conferences. In all, the Central Region boasts nine ranked programs this week, not including two more programs that are receiving votes. 

The nine ranked teams - #1 Southwest Minnesota State, #2 Concordia-St. Paul, #3 Washburn, #4 Nebraska-Kearney, #5 Minnesota Duluth, #6 Central Missouri, #15 Truman, #16 Wayne State (Neb.), #20 Minnesota State - will compete for eight spots in the NCAA Central Regional Tournament in November. The MIAA and Northern Sun champions will earn automatic bids to the Tournament, while the Great American Conference champion must earn an at-large bid.

National Rankings

As a team, the Jennies boast one of the most efficient offensive attacks in Division II. Nationally, Central Missouri ranks 17th in kills per set, with a 13.96 average. Led by junior All-American Julia Bates, the team averages 12.7 assists per set, ranking 22nd in the nation. Their .236 hitting percentage ranks 38th in Division II, while they boast an .833 winning percentage, good for the 20th-best record in the country.

Individually, senior hitter Bradye Peniston is in the top 100 in the nation in a number of statistical categories. The Wichita, Kan. native has the 27th-best hitting percentage this year, at .356. She also ranks 74th in points per set, with a 3.94 average, and 94th in blocks per set, at 0.96. Finally, her kills per set average of 3.29 ranks 105th in Division II.

Junior Julia Bates is again among the nation's best setters, averaging 10.43 assists per set, good for 33rd on the national leaderboard. As a freshman, Annie Reilly has made an immeiate impact, ranking 42nd in the country in digs per set, with a 4.9 average. Among first-year players, Reilly leads the nation in digs per set.

Senior Hillary McCormick ranks just outside the top 100 in a pair of categories as well. The Overland Park, Kan. native is averaging 0.91 blocks per set, good for 123rd on the national leaderboard.

Players of the Week

The Jennies have tallied six MIAA Player of the Week awards so far this season between three different players, including two sweeps of the Hitter and Specialist of the Week awards. Junior setter Julia Bates has earned three MIAA Specialist of the Week honors this season, and seven in her career. Senior hitter Bradye Peniston has been honored as the MIAA Hitter of the Week twice this year, and three times in her career, including the award she won in as a sophomore in 2010. Freshman Annie Reilly won her first career MIAA Specialist of the Week award last month, leading the UCM defense to wins over Missouri Western and Truman.

Freshman Phenoms

Three freshmen have proven to be key components to the Jennies success this season, in outside hitter Carly Sojka, libero Annie Reilly, and defensive specialist Mikalee Monachino. The three first-year players have combined for 10.32 digs per set, 76 of the team's 127 service aces, and 2.81 kills per set.

Sojka is one of three Jennies averaging over two kills per set, with a 2.79 average and a .212 hitting percentage. She also has collected 3.10 digs per set, the second-highest average on the team. Sojka is the only Jennie to have over two kills and two digs per set on the season. Last week, Sojka led the team in kills in all three matches, with a high of 16 kills coming in the four-set win over Lindenwood. The Blue Springs native also picked up her sixth and seventh double-doubles of the year, against Southwest Baptist and Lindenwood. Sojka has hit for ten or more kills in her last six matches, including a career-high 17 kills in the five-set loss to #4 Washburn. She also has ten matches on the year with double-digit digs, including her past two matches last week.

Reilly is the team leader in digs, with 4.90 per set, and the national leader among freshman in Division II. She ranks 42nd nationally, and fifth in the MIAA. Reilly has reached double-figures in digs in 22 of the team' 24 matches so far this year, and has put together 13 straight matches with ten or more digs. Against Lindenwood, Reilly set a career-high with 31 digs. She nearly put ner name in the record books against Missouri Southern, dealing out six service aces, setting a career high and coming up just two aces shy of the school record of eight, set by Corrie Paul and Mona Davis, in 1991 and 1993, respectively.

Not to be outdone, defensive specialist Mikalee Monachino posted her own six-ace performance this week as well, against Lindenwood. Monachino leads the team in aces with 34, and ranks fourth in the MIAA. The Jacksonville, Fla. native has strengthened the back line play this year, averaging 2.32 digs per set. Monachino has reached double-digits in digs seven times this year, and set a career-high with 18 digs in the win over Lindenwood. She has also gone three straight matches without committing a service error, and has only one error over the past six matches, posting a .990 serve percentage. 

Opponent Preview

Northwest Missouri

The Bearcats are riding a three-match win streak heading into their matchup with the Jennies, having defeated Missouri Western, Lindenwood and Missouri Southern last week. Northwest Missouri currently sits fifth in the MIAA standings, and are fighting for the right to host a first round playoff game in two weeks. A dangerous team from the service line, the Bearcats rank third in the MIAA with 1.58 aces per set, led by freshman Dallas Gardner's conference-leading 0.41 ace per set average. Sophomore Brooke Bartosh leads the offense with 3.15 kills per set, good for seventh in the MIAA. Defensively, senior Tori Beckman leads the league with 5.85 digs per set, which ranks 10th in the nation. The Jennies own a 79-6 advantage all-time against the Bearcats, and are a perfect 21-0 in Maryville.

Missouri Western

Fighting for a spot in the MIAA Tournament, the Griffons currently sit ninth in the standings with a 4-9 conference record. Missouri Western snapped a five-match losing streak last week with their straight set victory over Missouri Southern, and will look to carry that momentum into their match against #15 Truman before coming to Warrensburg. Three Griffons are averaging over two kills per set, in freshmen Melissa Cairns (2.28) and Jessie Thorup (2.27), and sophomore Amanda Boender (2.11). Sarah Faubel leads the defense with 3.47 digs per set while Boender patrols the front of the net with a 0.98 blocks per set average. UCM holds a 72-4 lead in the all-time series with the Griffons, and have won the past 14 matches.

Truman

The 15th-ranked Bulldogs are poised to make a run over the final two weeks of the season and break into the top three in the MIAA standings; having just two conference losses on the year, Truman can do just that when they host the Jennies on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs are riding a conference-high 14-match win streak that began after Central Missouri defeated Truman in Warrensburg on Sept. 22. Truman broke into the AVCA Coaches' Poll after upsetting then-No. 1 Nebraska-Kearney on the road on Oct. 12, and have been moving up the poll ever since. A solid all-around team, Truman ranks third in the MIAA in hitting percentage (.241), and third in opponent's hitting percentage, holding their foes to just .134 on the year. They are led by sophomore Allie Brak, the conference's leader in kills per set with a 3.63 average. On the back line, sophomore Abby Moser leads the team with 4.31 digs per set. The Jens have defeated the Bulldogs in their last seven meetings, and hold a 57-31 advantage all-time.

Academic Honors

For the 2011-12 school year, 16 of the 19 Jennies volleyball players were placed on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll, accounting for 84% of the total roster. Five Jennies, including returners Julia Bates and Bradye Peniston, were honored as MIAA Scholar-Athletes. The award is given to all student-athletes who are named to their respective All-MIAA Teams while maintaining at least a 3.3 cumulative GPA. Additionally, senior hitter Hillary McCormick earned the MIAA Academic Excellence Award, given to student-athletes who maintain a 4.0 cumulative GPA. 

To top it all off, the Central Missouri volleyball program was awarded the AVCA Team Academic Award for their work in the classroom. The Jennies are one of only 69 programs in Division II to earn the award, making up less than 13% of Division II programs nationwide. It marks the ninth consecutive year the Jens have claimed the honor, which is earned by maintaining a 3.3 cumulative GPA throughout the entire team.

Jennies on the Air

Central Missouri volleyball can be caught online at www.AmericaOne.com. All home matches as well as select road contests, including matches this weekend, will be availiable.

Fans can catch highlights each week on Central Missouri Sportspage, Thursday nights at 7 p.m., and Saturdays at 5 p.m. on KMOS-TV. Shawn Jones will sit down with Coach Piontek throughout the season to discuss the latest match, as various Jennies will be featured throughout the year.

Jennies fans can also tune in to 98.5 “The Bar” and 1450 KOKO each Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. for Central Missouri Sports Talk, with Greg Hassler and Bill Turnage. The pair will talk UCM athletics, as well as other hot topics in the sports world. Jennies coaches and players will drop in throughout the season as well.

Records & Milestones

Senior hitter Bradye Peniston moved into fourth place on UCM's all-time points list, with her 11-point performance against #4 Washburn earlier this season. Peniston has totaled 1,439 points during her career at UCM, and is currently on pace to potentially move into the top three in points all-time. If she does, she would join her former teammates Allie Huffman and Paula Harris at the top of the list. In the win over Emporia State, Peniston became just the fourth Jennie in program history to reach the 1,400-point mark. The Wichita, Kan. native is only 66 points behind Becky Haug (2002-05) for third place on the list. Peniston also currently ranks eighth on the Jennies all-time points per set list, with a 3.11 career average, and tenth on the Jennies' all-time hitting percentage list, with a .335 average.

Freshman libero Annie Reilly has shown potential to break into the record books after a strong start to her first season. Reilly has totaled 446 digs on the year, just 166 shy of besting Katie Tarka's 2005 season, where she recorded 612 digs, the tenth-highest total in a single season in Jennies history. Reilly's dig per set average of 4.90 ranks tenth on the single-season list, and will rank second on the career list after she passes the minumum of 750 career digs.

Junior All-American Julia Bates moved up UCM's all-time assists leaderboard with her final assist of the night at Lindenwood. Bates has tallied 3,627 assists in her three seasons with the Jennies, surpassing Kelly Lincoln (1990-93) for ninth on the list. The Leavenworth, Kan. native also ranks second on the Jennies assists per set list, with an 11.06 career average.