Central Missouri faces Missouri Southern and Central Oklahoma at home

Game Notes

No. 19 Jennies vs. Missouri Southern
Friday, Nov. 7 | 7 p.m.
UCM Multipurpose Building | Warrensburg, Mo. 
Live Stats | Video

No. 19 Jennies vs. Central Oklahoma
Saturday, Nov. 8 | 7 p.m.
UCM Multipurpose Building | Warrensburg, Mo. 
Live Stats | Video

Last Week... 
Central Missouri (18-8, 15-3 MIAA) picked up three wins on the road last week. The Jennies started the week in Maryville, Mo. where they swept Northwest Missouri State, 25-17, 25-21, 25-11. Central Missouri hit .327 with 44 kills and five blocks total. Carly Sojka led the Jennies with a .448 hitting percentage and 15 kills. Kourtney Thompson had a team-high three blocks, with 39 assists and three kills. Shelby Winkelmann and Annie Reilly both had double-figure digs. Reilly had a 14 digs, while Winkelmann had one less dig (13) with an ace. 

On Friday the Jennies beat then-No. 4 Nebraska-Kearney in five, 25-15, 18-25, 25-16, 18-25, 15-9, extending the Jennies streak over the Lopers to five straight matches. Sojka and Haley Thompson had 14 kills each. H. Thompson broke a career record with eight blocks, while hitting .407 in the match. Sojka tallied 18 digs and two blocks. Becca Blaise had a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs. K. Thompson was one kill away from a triple-double, she had nine kills, 44 assists, and 10 digs with three blocks. Winkelmann had a block and 15 digs, while Reilly had 30 digs in the match. 

The Jennies topped of the weekend with a four set win over Fort Hays State, 25-12, 19-25, 25-17, 25-17. The team hit .275 with nine blocks and 65 kills. K. Thompson had another double-double, with 51 assists and 13 digs. H. Thompson recorded seven blocks, and had 14 kills. Sojka had a team-high 19 kills, and hit .333, with 10 digs and three blocks. Winkelmann and Blaise again broke double-digit digs, Winkelmann with 14 digs and Blaise with 20. Reilly had four aces and 31 digs in the match. Lauren Dudgeon hit .438, with nine kills in three sets, while Mackenzie Harding had six kills and a block. 

After the weekend the Jennies moved up two places in the latest AVCA poll. Sojka and Reilly were also named MIAA Players of the Week. Sojka averaged 4.00 kills, and 2.92 digs per set, while hitting .307 through 12 sets. She added two double-doubles, for 13 total this season. Reilly averaged 6.25 digs per set, with a perfect reception percentage off 40 attempts. Reilly also earned CoSIDA/Capital One First Team Academic All-District honors for her performance in the classroom. Reilly is majoring in biochemistry and has a 3.93 GPA. Reilly is a two-time MIAA Scholar-Athlete Award recipient, and has been named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll twice. The academic all-district ballot is nominated and voted on by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) in each district. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must maintain a 3.30 grade point average and be at least a sophomore. Reilly is now eligible for Academic All-America honors.

Central Missouri Jennies
Sojka leads the team and is second in the MIAA in kills. She has had 3.98 kills per set, with a .230 hitting percentage this season. Sojka is also third on the squad in digs, with 2.74 digs per set. She has had 13 double-doubles this season, and has had the most kills on the team in 19 matches this season. Against Missouri Southern, she matched a career-high 26 kills, which is also the highest number of kills recorded in the MIAA this season.

Reilly averages 0.673aces per set, which is currently the sixth best average in the NCAA-II. She is second in the MIAA in digs, with 5.54 digs per set, and has had only six receiving errors of off 413 attempts this season. She has tied the Central Missouri record for aces in a single match (8) twice this season. 

H. Thompson has hit over .300 in 18 matches this season, and has had at least one block in every match. She leads the Jennies and is sixth in the MIAA in blocks, averaging 1.08 blocks per set. H. Thompson also has the best hitting percentage on the team and the second best average in the conference, at .331. She broke her career blocking record last week against Nebraska-Kearney, with eight blocks in the match. 

K. Thompson is fifth in the MIAA in assists, with 10.19 assists per set. She has had 12 double-doubles this season. Jones has led the Jennies in blocks four times this season. She averages 1.88 kills per set and 2.07 points per set. Shelby Winkelmann is second on the team in digs and aces. She has served 17 aces this season, and averages 2.91 digs per set. Mackenzie Harding has played in 52 sets, with three starts this season. She has had 56 kills and 21 blocks. Lauren Dudgeon has had 56 kills and 12 blocks in 22 matches this season.

Jennies in Central Region Rankings 
The Jennies are up one spot in the latest regional rankings released Wednesday evening. Central Missouri is third in the central region after beating Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State last weekend. The Jennies are 18-8 overall, with a 15-3 MIAA record, and are tied with Nebraska-Kearney for first in the MIAA.
 
Minnesota-Duluth holds the top spot, after beating Concordia-St. Paul on Tuesday. Concordia-St. Paul also kept their second place position. Southwest Minnesota State and Wayne State round out the top five at fourth and fifth, followed by Nebraska-Kearney in sixth, Central Oklahoma in seventh, and Washburn in eighth. Winona State is ninth and Minnesota State-Mankato is tth.
 
The top eight teams in the final regional rankings on Sunday, Nov. 16 will earn a spot in the NCAA-II Central Regional Tournament to be held Nov. 20-22 at a campus site to be determined.

Opponent Preview
The Central Missouri went to five sets against Missouri Southern and Central Oklahoma earlier this season. The Jennies hit .517 in their first set against the Lions, and .636 in the second set, but dropped sets three and four and did not break .100 again in the match. The Lions had 18 blocks, 28 block assists and four blocks solo, and 47 kills, while Central Missoui had seven blocks, 67 kills and six aces. Sojka matched a career high 26 kills, and H. Thompson and Harding had 10 kills each. Reilly had the most digs on the team (16), while Sojka, Winkelmann, and Blaise had 12 each. 

The following day Central Missouri fell in five to Central Oklahoma, 25-16, 16-25, 25-13, 15-25, 10-15. The team had 59 kills, and seven blocks, while allowing 49 kills and 11 blocking points. It was the first loss to Central Oklahoma in program history. Reilly matched a career high, with 33 digs in the match. Sojka had 17 kills, Jones had 14, and H. Thompson had 11. 

Missouri Southern Lions | Joplin, Mo.
Series Record: UCM leads 61-1-1    Current Streak: UCM 37 straight
Napier vs. UCM: 0-1        Piontek vs. MSSU: 11-0
AVCA Rank: NR         
2014 Statistics            (6-20, 3-15 MIAA)    
Kill/Set: 10.57        Hit Pct.: .136    Ace/Set: 0.90    
Digs/Set: 13.65        Assists/Set: 9.86    Blocks/Set: 2.44

Missouri Southern lost to Central Oklahoma, Emporia State, and Washburn last week. The Lions are the best blocking team in the MIAA, with 2.44 blocks per set, but have trouble picking up attack points, with only 10.57 kills per set. 

Callie Whetstone leads the team and the MIAA in blocks. She has racked up 143.0 blocks total, and averages 1.43 blocks per set. Whetstone also has had 2.12 kills per set while hitting .241 this season. Katie Politte is leading Missouri Southern in kills, with 3.14 per set, Krishna Merriman is second with 2.89 kills per set. Politte is not only the best offensive player on the team, but also has the best receiving perentage. She has had 25 errors off of 632 attempts, and averages 1.98 digs per set. Setter Abby Finder has had 8.82 assists per set, and is second in digs with 2.38 per set, while Katie Wiele is first with 3.70 digs per set. 

Abby Finder had a double-double the last time she faced Central Missouri, with a team-high in assists (42) and digs (13). Katie Politte also had a double-double, with 13 kills and 12 digs. Whetstone recorded 12 block assists and three solo blocks for 15 total blocks. She also had 11 kills and three aces in the match. Merriman had the most kills on the team (15), and had six blocks. 

Central Oklahoma Bronchos | Edmond, Okla.
Series Record: UCM leads 9-1    Current Streak: UCO 1 straight
Miraku vs. UCM: 1-2        Piontek vs. UCO: 3-1
AVCA Rank: No. NR        
2014 Statistics            (25-4, 14-4 MIAA)    
Kill/Set: 13.59        Hit Pct.: .250    Ace/Set: 1.33    
Digs/Set: 18.16        Assists/Set: 12.56    Blocks/Set: 2.28

Central Oklahoma is ranked in several MIAA statistical categories, as a team and individually. The Bronchos are first in digs (18.58), second in blocks (2.32), third in hitting percentage (.241), fourth in assists (12.60) and aces (1.28), and fifth in kills (13.54). Barbara Jackson has the best kill per set average in the conference at 4.24, and is third in aces served, with 38 total this season. Jackson also averages 0.54 blocks and 2.62 digs per set. Whitney Gifford leads the MIAA in digs (5.97), while Juliette Smith is second in blocks, with 1.33 per set. Smith has had 2.02 kills per set, while hitting .286 through 98 sets this season. Allison Barr has the third best hitting percentage in the MIAA (.324), and Katy Davis is third in assists (11.60). Barr averages 2.36 kills per set, and Davis has had 2.14 digs per set.

In the Bronchos win over the Jennies earlier this season, Jackson had 15 kills, 18 digs, and four blocks. Davis also had a double-double with 39 assists and 14 digs. She also had three blocks. Juliette had the most blocks on the team (7), and also had six kills. Gifford had 21 digs and an ace in five sets.