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Last Week
The Jennies improved to 14-0, 4-0 in the MIAA, after one non-conference and one MIAA match. The Jennies had their first five-set-match against No. 18 Truman last Wednesday. The Jennies lost the first two sets, 12-25 and 10-25, but won the next two sets, 25-17 and 25-22, to force a fifth set. Central Missouri won the fifth set of the match 20-18, maintaining their undefeated record. Through the match the Jennies had 50 kills, 63 digs, six serving aces, and eight blocks.

Friday evening Central Missouri beat Missouri Western in three straight sets. The Jennies had 45 total kills, and a .321 hitting percentage. The team also had 52 digs and 15 total blocks in the match.
 
Missouri S&T
Central Missouri beat Missouri S&T in straight sets, 25-17 25-22 25-20, on Tuesday evening in Rolla, Mo. The team had 50 kills, 5 serving aces, 45 assists, and 47 digs through the match. Carly Sojka and Taylor Goodness both had 15 kills in the match. Sojka also had 3 serving aces.                          

Jennies in the Polls
The Central Missouri Jennies volleyball continued to climb in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. Central Missouri began the season in the No. 8 spot, and have risen to No. 4 through three weeks of play.

The Jennies tallied 1055 points and three first place votes in the latest AVCA poll. They remain one spot ahead of fellow MIAA squad, Nebraska-Kearney. Minnesota-Duluth fell to No. 2 after two straight weeks on top, Concordia-St. Paul is now ranked No.1.

The only other MIAA school in the rankings is Washburn, who fell two spots to No. 15.
 
NCAA Rankings
The Jennies crack the top 20 teams in the four of six NCAA statistical categories. Central Missouri is the only MIAA team with an ace per set average in the top 50 teams of the NCAA. The Jennies lead the MIAA in aces per set, with an average of 2.13, and are ranked at No. 20 in the NCAA. Nebraska-Kearney is the only MIAA school to rank ahead of Central Missouri in assists, the Jennies are currently ranked No. 16 with 13.04 assists per set. Central Missouri leads the MIAA in kills per set, and have the highest hitting percentage of the MIAA. Compared to the entire NCAA the Jennies are fifth in kills per set, averaging 14.67 kills per set, and have the third highest hitting percentage at .307.
 
MIAA Specialist of the Week
Annie Reilly, sophomore libero, was named the MIAA Specialist of the Week this week. Reilly leads the MIAA in serving aces, with 32 total aces, and .65 aces per set. That average also ranks her in at No. 16 in the NCAA. Reilly is also third in the MIAA in digs per set, this season she has totaled 245 digs and 5.00 digs per set.

Reilly averaged 5.00 digs per set as the Jennies stayed unbeaten with two wins last week. In the five set win over No. 18 Truman, Reilly had 25 digs, seven assists as well as a service ace and a kill. She followed that up with 15 digs and three service aces in the straight sets win over Missouri Western. Earlier this week, in the match against Missouri S&T, Reilly had two serving aces and 17 digs. Reilly is a native of Overland Park, Kan. where she competed at St. James Academy.

Reilly is the third member of the Central Missouri squad to receive a player of the week nod, Julia Bates and Taylor Goodness were also honored in the first and second week of the season.
   

Returning Starters
In last week's matches Goodness was the only member of the Jennies squad to post double digit kills in both matches. In the match against Truman Goodness had 14 kills, and ten kills later in the week against Missouri Western. Goodness also had two solo blocks and a block assist against Missouri Western. Earlier this week, against Missouri S&T Goodness had 15 kills, and two block assists. She is currently fourth in the MIAA and No. 43 in the NCAA in kills per set, averaging 3.79. Goodess also has the ninth highest hitting percentage in the MIAA at .316.

After Tuesday's match against Missouri S&T, senior setter, Julia Bates moved into fifth place on the Jennies All-Time Assists Leaders list, with 4,529 assists. Bates was in the No. 10 spot at the start of the season. Last week in the match against Truman Bates had four serving aces, five kills and 36 assists. Later in the week, Bates tallied 31 assists against Missouri Western, with three kills. In the match against Missouri S&T, Bates had 38 assists and three kills. She is currently ranked second in the MIAA and 25th in the NCAA in assists per set, with 529 total this season and 10.80 on average per set. Bates is also ranked second in the MIAA and 19th in the NCAA in serving aces, with 28 total, and .57 per set.

Carly Sojka, sophomore outside hitter, is currently top three in three statistical categories for the Jennies. Sojka had 15 kills against Missouri S&T, moving her up one place to second in overall kills, totaling 125 kills, 2.55 per set. Sojka is also ranked third in digs and serving aces with 2.22 digs per set, and .31 serving aces per set.  Last week Sojka had five kills and a block assist in both the match against Truman and Missouri Western. Sojka is the only member of the Jennies squad to post two double-doubles this season.
       

Fresh Faces
Red shirt freshman and middle hitter, Haley Thompson had double digit kills against Missouri Western last week, finishing the set with ten kills, and four block assists. In the match against Truman, Thompson tallied seven kills and three block assists. Against Missouri S&T Thompson had seven kills and two block assists. Thompson has the second highest hitting percentage in the MIAA and the twelfth highest in the NCAA, at .375. She is also sixth in the MIAA in blocks, with 50 total blocks this season, and 1.02 per set.

Maddie Jones, a true freshman and middle hitter, currently has the seventh highest hitting percentage in the MIAA, at .333.  Jones has 102 kills this season and averages 2.08 kills per set. Last week against Truman Jones posted eight kills and a block assists, later in the week, Jones had ten kills and two block assists against Missouri Western. In the last match against Missouri S&T Jones had seven kills and two block assists.   

Becca Blaise, right side hitter and true freshman, rounds out the Jennies starting line-up. Blaise has the second highest dig per set average on the team, 2.67, fourth in kills per set, 2.16, and is tied for fourth in with 24 total blocks this season. Blaise had six kills and three blocks in both matches last week. In the match against Truman, Blaise also had 10 total digs .  
 

Opponent Preview        
Barbra Jackson leads the Broncos in kills per set, averaging 3.37 with a .242 hitting percentage. Jackson also has the highest total serving aces on the Bronos squad, at 15 total, .29 aces per set. Taylyn Schwartz, junior setter, has played 43 sets this season, and has 301 assists, averaging 7.00 a set. Katy Davis, freshman setter, has also seen significant playing time this season. Davis has appeared in 41 sets, has 279 assists, and averages 6.80 assists per set. Senior libero, Tate Hardaker leads the MIAA in digs, averaging 6.13 digs pet set, and has five serving aces this season. 

This will be the second trip to Warrensburg, Mo. for Pittsburg State, but their first time facing the Jennies this season. The Gorillas season started with five straight losses. In the first week of the season the Gorillas hosted the Pitt State Classic, where they went 0-4. The next week at the Peggy Martin Challenge, Pittsburg lost their first match against Minnesota-Crookston, but then won the following three matches to finish the tournament 3-1. Since the Peggy Martin, Pittsburg has gone 3-3, with losses against Central Oklahoma, Nebraska-Kearney, and Washburn. The Gorillas have won their last two matches against Emporia and Southwest Baptist.

Crystal Whitten, sophomore outside hitter, is ranked second in the MIAA in kills, with 194 total and 3.88 on average per set. Whitten is also second on the Gorilla's squad in digs, averaging 2.90 digs per set. Jordan Rehm, senior defensive specialist, is second in the MIAA in digs per set, averaging 5.52. Hayley Hansford, sophomore setter, averages 9.22 assists per set, and has 21 kills this season.