Game Notes

No. 14 Jennies at Southwest Baptist
Friday, Sept. 19|7 p.m.
Meyer Sport Center | Bolivar, Mo.
Live Stats | Video 

No. 14 Jennies vs. Pittsburg State
Saturday, Sept. 20|3 p.m.
UCM Multipurpose Building | Warrensburg, Mo.
Live Stats | Video 

Southwest Baptist & Pittsburg State
Central Missouri with play Southwest Baptist and Pittsburg State on Friday and Saturday this weekend. Southwest Baptist started the season with four wins at the UAH Classic, they beat Ouachita Baptist Trevecca Nazarene University, Miles College, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The following weekend the competed at the Northern State Invitational. The Bearcats fell to No. 21 Northern State, the University of Minnesota-Crookston, and St. Cloud State, but beat Minot State in their final match of the tournament. In their first conference match, they were beat in five by Pittsburg State. 

The Gorillas began their season at the Rockhurst Invitational. They lost to Rockhurst and Findlay, but beat East Central and William Jewel in the tournament. The next weekend at the Colorado-Colorado Springs Invitational the team wont their first match over Saint Martin's University, but fell to Colorado-Colorado Springs, Adams State, and Colorado State-Pueblo. 4

vs. Missouri Western
The Jens open conference play in St. Joseph, Mo. on Tuesday, with road over Missouri Western. The Jennies won three straight sets at 25-23, 25-18, 26-24. Central Missouri had 48 kills, and hit .242 in the match. As a team, they also had nine blocks and four aces in three sets. 

The first set began with the Jennies taking the first five of six points, and the Griffons were unable to catch them through the set. Play was much closer the second and third set, the Griffons prevented the Jennies from running away with the game. The score of set two was close, a few attack errors on the Griffons gave the Jennies a small lead until. Missouri Western almost caught the Jennies at 9-8, but the Jennies earned the following three points, and did not allow the Griffons to tie the score again. In the final set of the match, Missouri Western took the lead at 7-7 and stayed ahead until the Jennies scored four in a row to catch them at 21-21. Both teams scored a point, but the Jennies were able to string two together first and took the match.

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.

Central Missouri Jennies
The 2014 Jennies bring back four starters and a libero from last year's squad, which had the best record in Central Missouri Volleyball history and led NCAA-II in winning percentage. Becca Blaise, Maddie Jones, Annie Reilly, Carly Sojka, and Haley Thompson will be joined by a few fresh faces this season, to fill the spots left by the MIAA Player of the Year Julia Bates and First Team All-American Taylor Goodness. The team went 3-1 at the Tampa Spartans Classic in the first week of the season, with two wins over nationally ranked teams, but dropped four in a row the following weekend at the Colorado Premier Challenge. The Jennies won their first conference match against Missouri Western in St. Joseph, Mo. on Tuesday. 

Last season, Becca Blaise and Maddie Jones both earned All-MIAA Honorable Mention as true freshmen. Blaise is a rightside hitter, that averaged 2.05 kills per set and 2.08 digs per set last season. She had double digit digs in 11 matches, and had two double-doubles. She has started every match in her second season with the Jennies, and averages 2.08 digs per set, with a .969 (2RE-64TA) receiving percentage. She had a career-high two aces and 15 digs against Florida Southern at the Colorado Premier Challenge last weekend. Jones eased into this season, after suffering from an injury in the spring. She had the best blocks per set average on the team last season, 0.81, with 93 blocks total. She started her first match of the season against Missouri Western, and had six kills in the match. 

Reilly was the only member of the Jennies squad to be named a Daktronics All-American last season. She also earned AVCA All-American honors, and was the MIAA Specialist of the Week twice. The libero had 73 serving aces last season and the 10th best average in the nation at 0.59 aces per set. She also had 1.05 assists per set and 5.29 digs per set. After two weeks of non-conference play, Reilly is leading the MIAA in digs, with 6.11 digs per set. She had five aces in the Jennies match against Tusculum at the Tampa Spartans Classic, and has served an ace in seven of nine matches this season. Reilly's receiving percentage has been perfect since the Jennies played No. 13 Ferris State at the Tamp Spartans Classic, and is at .986 (8RE-139TA) overall this season. 

Sojka was a Second Team All-MIAA selection last season, and was named MIAA Hitter of the Week once. The Junior had a team-high seven double-doubles last season, and averaged 3.03 kills per set and 2.49 digs per set. This season Sojka averages 3.59 kills per set, and 3.96 points per set, with 2.52 digs per set. In just nine matches this season, Sojka already has already tallied a pair of double-doubles, and has reached double figure kills in five matches and double figure digs in four. She has been the Jennies leading scorer in their last four matches, and currently has the most kills on the team. 

The final returning Jennie is H. Thompson, who has already improved on several career records this season. She was named the Sport Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week for her play during the first weekend of the season at the Tampa Spartans Classic. She started the season with a career-high 22 kills against No. 24 Indianapolis, and hit .656 in the match. The sophomore middle finished the weekend with 4.58 kills per set and 1.00 blocks per set with a .432 hitting percentage. Thompson has tallied two or more blocks in eight matches this season, and had a career-high seven blocks against Missouri Western. In her first year with the Jennies she had the second highest hitting percentage in the MIAA, at .337, and was 42nd nationally. She had five or more blocks in five matches and averaged 0.80 blocks per set. 

The Jennies have looked to Kourtney Thompson and Shelby Winkelmann to finish out their starting line-up this season. K. Thompson appeared in 10 matches for the Jennies last season, but has started every match this season at setter. She had 45 assists, 10 digs, five kills, three aces and a block in her first collegiate start. In the Jennies match against No. 4 BYU-Hawaii last weekend, she had a team-high four blocks. K. Thompson has shown that she is a strong player in both the front and back row. She has had three double-doubles this season, and averages 9.37 assists per set, 2.63 digs per set and 0.44 blocks per set. 

Winkelmann returned to volleyball after two years off, she last played at the University of Nebraska, where she appeared in 20 matches for the Huskers in 2011. She has served four aces, and has reached double-digit digs in three matches this season. She has the most second most receptions on the team and a receive percentage at .944 (8RE-162TA). She averages 3.26 digs per set and 1.11 kills per set. Jessica McDougald, Mackenzie Harding, Lauren Dudgeon and Ashley Jurgens have appeared in several matches this season.

Southwest Baptist Bearcats | Bolivar, Mo.
Series Record: UCM leads 75-4    Current Streak: 17 straight
Dortch vs. UCM: First Meeting    Piontek vs. SBU: 10-0
AVCA Rank: NR         Starters Returning/Lost: 2+Libero/4
2014 Statistics            (5-4, 0-1 MIAA)                         
Kill/Set: 12.53          Hit Pct.: .198               Ace/Set: 1.91    
Digs/Set: 15.35        Assists/Set: 11.41    Blocks/Set: 1.06
Hannah Blout is the Bearcats only All-MIAA honoree to return for this season. She averaged 5..53 digs per set with a 0.95 receiving percentage last season. This year she has 4.35 digs per set on average. Against UCM she averaged 5.57 digs per set, with four reception errors in to matches and seven sets. 

Lori Angello is currently the leading scorer for the Bearcats, with 3.23 kills per set, and a .241 hit percent, but has not yet faced the Jennies. Kalyn Sotomayor has the most blocks for the Bearcats, with 21 total and 0.64 blocks per set. She averages 2.79 kills per set as well. In two matches against the Jennies last season, she had seven kills and hit .307 with three blocks. Kelsey Fankhauser has been setting for the Bearcats this season, with an average 9.85 assists per set. She played in only one match against Central Missouri last season, and had21 assists and 2 blocks in the match. Taryn Marton has been a useful member of the Bearcats in the front and back row. She averages 2.90 kills per set and 2.77 digs per set. She led the Bearcats in kills against Pittsburg State, with 15 kills total, and had 4 kills and 19 digs total between the two matches against the Jennies last season. 

Pittsburg State Gorillas | Pittsburg, Kan.
Series Record: UCM leads 75-4    Current Streak: 17 straight
Mueller vs. UCM: First Meeting    Piontek vs. PSU: 9-1
AVCA Rank: NR         Starters Returning/Lost: 6/0
2014 Statistics            (4-5, 1-0 MIAA)                     
Kill/Set: 12.87          Hit Pct.: .229            Ace/Set: 1.05    
Digs/Set: 14.59        Assists/Set: 12.26    Blocks/Set: 1.87
Madison Mosier and Hayley Hansford are the only Gorillas to have started every match this season. Mosier is the reigning MIAA Freshman of the Year, she had 2.70 kills per set, 1.42 digs per set, and 0.60 blocks per set last season. Against the Jennies she averaged 1.43 kills per set, 1.29 digs per set, and 1.0 blocks per set. Currently she leads the team with 3.72 kills per set, and has a hitting percentage a .294. Mosier also averages 0.67 blocks per set and 2.31 digs per set.

Hansford was an All-MIAA honoree last season, and averaged 9.74 assists per set and 1.91 digs per set. In four matches against the Jennies in her career, she has had 6.64 assists per set, and 1.29 digs per set. This season she has averaged 10.31 assists per set.

Paula Okrutna is the Gorilla's  final returning All-MIAA honoree. She has played in 16 sets with four starts this season, and has 2.50 kills per set and 0.75 blocks per set. Last season she had 0.80 blocks per set and 1.96 kills per set with a .249 hitting percentage. She has played in four matches against the Jennies in her career, and averages 0.93 blocks per set and 1.12 kills per set.