No. 14 Jennies at Missouri Western
Tuesday, Sept. 16|7 p.m.
MWSU Fieldhouse|St. Joseph, Mo.
Live Stats | Game Notes 

Opponent Preview
        Central Missouri will face their first conference opponents this week, starting with Missouri Western in St. Jospeh, Mo. on Tuesday. The Jens have not lost a match against Missouri Western since 2005, and have a 75-4 overall record against the Griffons. Missouri Western will return all of their starters from last season, and have a 6-2 record this season, after competing at the Rockhurst Tournament and the University of Sioux Falls Tournament. The Griffons fall to Rockhurst and Augustana during non-conference play. The team averages 13.61 kills per set, 1.19 blocks per set, and 1.97 aces per set, with a .290 hit percentage this season.

The Colorado Premier Challenge
        The Jens did went 0-4 at the Colorado Premier Challenge, falling to then-No.4 BYU-Hawaii, Colorado Mesa, Florida Southern, and Metro State in straight sets. The team averaged 10.67 kills per set, and 2.08 blocks per set at the tournament, and hit .083 through 12 sets. 
        Against BYU-Hawaii the team had 23 kills, eight blocks, and an ace, and had their lowest hit percentage of the season at .107. The match had 15 tie scores and 10 lead changes, the Seasiders took the match at 25-12, 25-21, 25-20. Later on Friday, the Jennies fell at 25-22 in all three sets to Colorado Mesa. As a team the Jennies tallied 40 kills, two aces, and a season-high 10 blocks. In day two of the tournament, the Central Missouri faced Florida Southern and Metro State. Florida Southern beat Central Missouri at 25-14, 25-23, 25-11, and held the Jennies to 30 kills, one ace and three blocks with a 0.65 hit percentage. In the final match of the tournament, the Jennies had only negative hit percentage, with only 22 kills and four blocks through three sets. The Jennies were unable to break 20 points in a set, and fell to the host team at 25-16, 25-12, 25-17. 

AVCA Top 25 
        The Central Missouri volleyball team dropped to No. 14 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. The team had previously been ranked No. 5. This week, the 3-5 Jens had 505 total points in the poll.
        Tampa took the top spot from the defending national champions Concordia-St. Paul. Tampa had 33 first place votes, and 1180 points, while Concordia-St. Paul had 10 first place votes and 1153 points. Minnesota Duluth is the only team top-five team to keep their ranking in every poll this season, again coming in at No. 3., with three first place votes and 1104 points. Nebraska-Kearney and Washburn each received a first place vote at No. 4 and No. 5. Nebraska-Kearney had 995 points while Washburn tallied 974 points. Both teams are up two spots from the last rankings and are the only other MIAA squads to be ranked.

Missouri Western Griffons | St. Joseph, Mo.
Series Record: UCM leads 75-4    Current Streak: 17 straight
Carbin vs. UCM: 0-2        Piontek vs. MWSU: 10-0
AVCA Rank: NR         Starters Returning/Lost: 6/0
2014 Statistics            (6-2, 0-0 MIAA)    
Kill/Set: 13.61        Hit Pct.: .290    Ace/Set: 1.97    
Digs/Set: 14.65        Assists/Set: 12.81    Blocks/Set: 1.19

    Erica Rottinghaus was the only member of the Missouri Western squad to be named to the All-MIAA First Team last season, while teammates Kelsey Olion, Amanda Boender, and Sarah Faubel were all Honorable Mention. Rottinghaus averages 3.48 kills per set, 2.32 digs per set, and 0.52 blocks per set. Last season against the Jennies she had 22 kills, and 16 attack errors with 29 digs through eight sets. 
    Olion averages 2.35 kills per set, 2.26 digs per set, and 0.55 blocks per set this season. She had two kills with four attack errors in the Griffons first match against the Jennies last season, followed by 15 kills, 11 digs, and three blocks in the five set match later in the season. Boender currently averages 0.94 blocks per set, and 2.42 kills per set, with a .411 hit percentage. Last season she had 11 kills and six blocks against the Jens. Faubel averages 3.84 digs per set, with a .970 reception percentage this season. She had 33 digs and one reception error last season against the Jennies.