No. 6 Jennies volleyball faces two MIAA opponents this weekend - University of Central Missouri Athletics

Jennies vs. Southwest Baptist
Friday September 20 | 7:00 p.m.
Mulitpurpose Building|Warrensburg, Mo.

Jennies vs. Lindenwood

Saturday September 21 | 3:00 p.m.

Robert F. Hyland Arena|St. Charles, Mo.

Live Stats | Video | GAME NOTES

This Week

The Jennies, take on their second and third conference teams this weekend, one match at home and one on the road. Southwest Baptist and Lindenwood have not faced a conference opponent yet this season.

Tuesday's Match

The Jennies improved to 10-0, 1-0 in the MIAA, with a 3-0 win over Missouri Southern on Tuesday night at the UCM Multipurpose Building. The match took just 65 minutes, as the Jennies rolled to the 25-9, 25-10, 25-16 win. The Jennies held the Lions (3-5, 0-1 MIAA) to under 10 points in the first set, the last time the Jennies held an opponent to under 10 points in a set was on Sept. 28, 2012

Jennies in the Polls

Central Missouri moves one spot in this weeks AVCA Division II Coaches Poll to No. 6, after finishing the Peggy Martin Challenge at 5-0. The Jennies have moved up two places since the first AVCA Division II Coaches' Poll earlier this month in which they were ranked No. 8, and were ranked No. 7 last week.

The Jennies are now the second-highest MIAA squad in the poll, behind No. 5 Nebraska-Kearney. Washburn is now ranked at No. 11, down from No. 6 last week, however no other MIAA teams were ranked. Concordia-St. Paul is back up to No. 2 from the No. 4 spot in this week's poll, Tampa moving down to No. 3 from No. 1 in last weeks poll. Minnesota Duluth takes the top spot this week, moving up one spot from No. 2.

The Jennies are the only team in Division II to appear in the AVCA Coaches Poll every week since the poll began in 1986, making the top 25 for 344 consecutive weeks.

Seniors Setting the Standard

Central Missouri senior, Taylor Goodness, was named the MIAA Hitter of the Week, after racking up 65 kills in the Jennies home opener, the Peggy Martin Tournament. Goodness averaged 4.06 kills per set and hit a blistering .426 as the No. 6 Jennies went 5-0 on the week. She registered double-figure kills in three of the five matches, including a season-high 18 in the win over MSU-Moorhead, while hitting .429. She also had five digs and two blocks in the match. Against No. 23 Ferris State she had 17 kills and hit .469 to go along with three digs. Against McKendree she had 13 kills and hit .545. Goodness is the second player to be named MIAA Player of the Week, Julia Bates was named Specialist of the Week for the first week of play.

Goodness was named the MVP of the Peggy Martin Challenge. Bates, Carly Sojka, and Annie Reilly were also named to the All-Tournament team. In the Jennies last match against Missouri Southern on Tuesday, Goodness hit .400 with five kills on the night.

After only 10 matches this season, Bates is up to sixth place in Central Missouri's All-Time Assists list, with 4,340 assists in her career. Bates has tallied 340 assists this season and is 175 assists out of fifth place.

Bates is currently averaging 10.97 assists per set, and has a hitting percentage of .367 with 42 kills this season. In the Jennies second match of the season against Minnesota-Crookston, Bates reached her season high 42 assists in a match, only five away from her personal best of 47 assists in a match. Bates has 20 serving aces this season, second on the team, with an average of .65 serving aces per set. Aside from being named MIAA Specilist of the week, and selected for the Peggy Martin All-Tournament team, Bates was also named MVP of the Hilltopper-Rattler Classic.

Fresh Faces

After graduating several starters last season, the Jennies have turned to their younger team members to fill the spots. Redshirt freshman Haley Thompson from Nixa. Mo. started her collegiate career with a bang this season. The middle hitter already leads the Jennies and is third in the MIAA in blocks, averaging 1.23 per set, with a total of 38 blocks in the first 10 matches of the season. Her hitting percentage is also third in the conference and first on the team, at .377, with a total of 74 kills so far. Thompson is also third on the team in serving aces, with 11 total. Thompson reached double figures in kills for the second time this season in the Jennies last match against Missouri Southern, with the team high in kills and blocks, 10 kills and 4 blocks in the match.

Two more new faces making an impact are true freshmen Maddie Jones and Becca Blaise. Jones, a middle hitter from Chesterfield, Mo., is right behind Thompson in total blocks and fourth on the team in kills. She currently has 25 blocks this season, .81 blocks per set, and 64 kills with an average of 2.06 kills per set. Last week in a match against Winona, Jones had a team high eight blocks, and eight kills.

Blaise ranks in the top three on the Jennies squad in kills, assists, and digs. Blaise is a right side hitter from Chesterfield, Mo., and is tied with Carly Sojka for third in kills with an average of 2.39 kills per set, and 74 total kills this season. She is also third in assists with an average of .52 assists per set, and second in digs with an average of 2.81 digs per set. Blaise reached her first double-double in the Jennies second match of the season against Minnesota-Crookston, with 13 kills and 12 digs.

Thompson, Jones, and Blaise have all started in every match this season.

Returning Starters

Sophomore libero Annie Reilly currently leads the Jennies in serving aces, with 23 total aces and an average of .74 aces per set. Reilly averages 4.97 digs per set, second in the MIAA. In the Jennies last match, Reilly posted 6 serving aces, the highest of all the Jennies this season.

Sophomore outside hitter, Carly Sojka, rounds out the Jennies starters. Sojka is tied for third on the squad in kills with 74 kills and 2.39 kills per set. She is also tied for third in serving aces, with 11 and an average .35 per set. Last week in the match against Ferris State, Sojka had her first double-double of the season, with 10 kills and 12 digs.

Opponent Preview

Central Missouri will face Southwest Baptist in Warrensburg, Mo. Friday, before traveling to St. Charles, Mo. for their first MIAA road game of the season on Saturday. The Jennies have not lost a match against Southwest Baptist since they first faced the Bearcats in 1977. This season the Bearcats have lost only twice, to Southern Arkansas and Texas A&M- Commerce, both losses in the Henderson State University Classic. Last week Southwest Baptist competed in the Thunderwolves Classic, in Pueblo, Co., winning all four of their matches. Tuesday the Bearcats beat William Jewel in three sets for the second time this season.

Sophomore McKinley Chesley and Nikki Madoch currently lead the Bearcats in kills, with a 2.45 and 2.12 kills per set average respectively. Chesley also has 30 blocks, the second highest on the squad after senior Jordan Nedbalek, who has 40 blocks and an average 1.29 blocks per set. Defensive specialist Hannah Blout has 151 digs this season, with an average of 4.58 digs per set, and has had seven serving aces so far this season.

In the Jennies third MIAA match of the season, the Jennies will face the Lindenwood Lions, who the Jennies have beat in every match since the Lions joined the MIAA in 2011. Lindenwood is 3-7 so far this season, and will play their first MIAA match Friday, at home against Northwest Missouri State.

Junior setter Emma Brydels currently has an average of 8.53 assists per set, and is tied for first with defensive specialist Anna Reichert for first in digs with 122 and 3.39 digs per set. Freshman middle hitter Aleah Rosenau leads the Lions in kills, with 96 kills and an average 2.74 kills per set. Kayla Guyot, sophomore middle hitter, is right behind Rosenau in kills, with 77 kills and an average 2.26 kills per set. Guyot leads the team in blocks, she has 31 blocks this season, and an average 0.91 blocks per set.

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