Game Notes

No. 16 Jennies vs. Lindenwood
Tuesday, Sept. 23 | 7 p.m.
UCM Multipurpose Building | Warrensburg, Mo.
Live Stats | Video 

No. 16 Jennies at Emporia State
Friday, Sept. 26 | 7 p.m.
William L. White Auditorium | Emporia, Kan.
Live Stats | Video

No. 16 Jennies at No. 8 Washburn
Saturday, Sept. 27 | 3 p.m.
Lee Arena | Topeka, Kan.
Live Stats | Video

Opponent Preview
Central Missouri will play Lindenwood (4-7, 1-2 MIAA) at home on Tuesday before facing Emporia State and Washburn on the road this weekend. Lindenwood joined the MIAA in 2011, and the Jennies have a perfect record against the team. The Lions beat Pittsburg State in five last week, in between losses to Northwest Missouri State and Southwest Baptist. The Bearcats swept Lindenwood, and held them to under 20 points in a set. The Lions have the second best blocking average in the MIAA, at 2.24 blocks per set, but do not rank in the top five of any other category. 

Emporia State (4-4, 0-3 MIAA) dealt the Jennies their one and only regular season loss last season. The win was only the sixth time in series history that the Hornets beat the Jennies, Central Missouri leads the series 44-6. The Hornets all three of their matches last week, falling in three to Washburn and Missouri Western and in five to Northwest Missouri State. Emporia State averages 12.79 kills per set, 1.15 serving aces per set, and 1.67 blocks per set, but is not in the top five of any conference categories. 

Washburn (10-1, 2-1 MIAA) won their first two matches last week over Emporia and Northwest Missouri State, but were swept by Missouri Western to finish the week. Washburn is first in the MIAA in aces and digs, averaging 1.71 aces per set and 18.0 digs per set, and second in kills per set, 14.31, and assists per set, 13.40. The Jennies beat Washburn in three last season, and have a 50-13 overall record against the Ichabods. 

Last Week ...
Central Missouri opened conference play last week, their first match was on Tuesday in St. Joseph, Mo. against Missouri Western. The Jennies won in three, 25-23, 25-18, 26-24, with 48 kills, nine blocks, and four aces as a team. Central Missouri was on the road again on Friday in Bolivar, Mo., where they beat Southwest Baptist in three, 25-17, 25-17, 25-19. They had 12 serving aces,  34 kills, and seven blocks in the match. In the Jennies final match of the weekend, Central Missouri beat Pittsburg State in their home opener, 25-15, 25-5, 25-19. The Jens boasted their highest hitting percentage of the season, at .405, with 44 kills, 13 aces, and four blocks total. In the second set the Jennies scored 16 unanswered points. 

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
Against Missouri Western, Haley Thompson had a career-high seven blocks in the match, and Kourtney Thompson had her third double-double of the season, with 34 assists and 15 digs. Carly Sojka had the most kills on the team for the fourth straight match, and reached double digit kills for the fifth time this season. Annie Reilly had two aces and 18 digs in the match, with a perfect reception percentage.

On Friday, Maddie Jones had a team-high in both kills and blocks in her second start of the season against Southwest Baptist, with 13 kills and four blocks. She hit .417 off 24 attacks in the match. Sojka and H. Thompson had six kills and two blocks each. H. Thompson also had an ace in the match. K. Thompson had another double-double, with 28 assists and 11 digs, she also had a serving ace and a kill. Reilly and Sojka had 14 digs each, Reilly also tallied four aces, for the second highest total on the team. 

Reilly had eight aces total against Pittsburg State in the Jennies home opener on Saturday afternoon, tying the school record for most aces in a match. Sojka had 13 kills, two aces, and a block in the match. H. Thompson was one short of the team-high in kills, she had 12 kills and hit .524 in the match with two blocks.  Becca Blaise had a season-high seven kills, with two blocks and an ace. K. Thompson recorded 28 assists, and had six kills and an ace. 

After three weeks of play, Sojka leads the Jennies in kills, and is eighth in the MIAA, with 3.52 kills per set. She is also second on the team in blocks, averaging 0.61 blocks per set, and third in digs, with 2.58 digs per set.  

H. Thompson is second in kills and tenth in the MIAA at 3.42 kills per set. She has the highest hitting percentage on the team, at .365, and is tenth in the MIAA. H. Thompson averages 1.03 blocks per set and 4.17 points per set, the highest averages on the team. She has served an ace in the last four matches, and has had at least a block in every match this season. 

Reilly is first in the MIAA in digs and aces, with 5.73 digs per set and 0.73 aces per set. She has a .987 reception percentage, and has not had a reception error in the last nine matches. Reilly has had double-digit digs in every match this season, and has had an ace in the last five matches. Winkelmann is second in digs and aces, she averages 3.00 digs per set and 0.27 aces per set, and has a .953 reception percentage, with nine reception errors off 191 attempts. 

K. Thompson is seventh in the MIAA in assists, with 9.30 assists per set. She has the most double-doubles on the team, with four total, and has had double-figure assists in every match this season. 

Lindenwood Lions | St. Charles, Mo.
Series Record: UCM leads 5-0    Current Streak: UCM 5 straight
Young vs. UCM: 0-5        Piontek vs. LU: 5-0
AVCA Rank: NR         Starters Returning/Lost: 4/2+Libero
2014 Statistics            (4-7, 1-2 MIAA)                                            
Kill/Set: 11.33        Hit Pct.: .156              Ace/Set: 1.33    
Digs/Set: 14.31      Assists/Set: 10.50    Blocks/Set: 2.24

Lindenwood returns two All-MIAA honorees, Shannon Doyle and Kayla Guyot. Doyle has the highest kills per set average on the team, at 2.90, and has a .181 hitting percentage. She also averages 2.74 digs per set and 0.38 blocks per set. Guyot has hit .273 this season, and averages 1.76 kills per set and 0.78 blocks per set. 

Sarah Makowski and Anna Reichart are the only members of the Lions to rank in the MIAA. Makowski is second in blocks, averaging 1.38 blocks per se. She also has 2.19 kills per set and has hit .233 this season. Reichart is tenth in the MIAA in aces, with 13 total aces and 0.31 aces per set. She also averages 3.95 digs per set with a .973 reception percentage. 

Ivy Reynolds will replace the Lions setter from last season. She averages 8.10 assists per set, and has had 11 aces and 20 blocks this season. 

Against the Jennies last season Guyot had a team-high 15 kills and a block, Doyle had nine kills. Makowski did not tally a block in the match, but had four kills. Reichart had an ace and 12 digs, with a ball handling error. 

Emporia State Hornets | Emporia, Kan.
Series Record: UCM leads 44-6    Current Streak: ESU 1 straight
Xu vs. UCM: 4-11        Piontek vs. ESU: 7-2
AVCA Rank: NR         Starters Returning/Lost: 5+Libero/1
2014 Statistics            (4-4, 0-3 MIAA)                                              
Kill/Set: 12.79        Hit Pct.: .185    Ace/Set: 1.15    
Digs/Set: 15.67        Assists/Set: 11.48    Blocks/Set: 1.67

Emporia returns Carly Spicer, Courtney Haring, Katie Deutschmann, and Kelly Holden, all four were MIAA Honorable Mention last season. Spicer is second in the MIAA in kills, with 4.03 kills per set, and a .266 hit percentage. She also averages 3.21 digs per set. Spicer had the team high in kills in all three of the Hornets matches last season.

Haring has the highest blocking average on the team, at 0.82 per set and 27 blocks total. She also averages 1.76 kills per set, and has hit .252. Holden is tenth in the MIAA in digs per set, 3.76, and has had seven aces this season. Kimberly Bell has also had seven aces, and averages 5.79 assists per set.

Last season in the Hornets four set win, Haring had a team-high 11 kills and nine blocks, while Spicer had nine kills and seven blocks. Haring has averaged 2.38 kills per set and 1.38 blocks per set with a .393 hitting percentage in her career against the Jennies. Spicer has had 1.55 kills per set and 0.91 blocks per set with a .138 hitting percentage in 11 sets against the Jens.

Washburn Ichabods | Topeka, Kan.
Series Record: UCM leads 50-13    Current Streak: UCM 2 straight
Herron vs. UCM: 13-19    Piontek vs. PSU: 7-4
AVCA Rank: No. 8         Starters Returning/Lost: 3/3
2014 Statistics            (10-1, 2-1 MIAA)                                             
Kill/Set: 14.31        Hit Pct.: .258    Ace/Set: 1.71    
Digs/Set: 18.0        Assists/Set: 13.40    Blocks/Set: 2.11

Washburn returns three starters from last season this year, All-American Marissa Cox, and All-MIAA honorees Leanna Willer and Sarah Victory. Cox is first in the MIAA in kills, with 4.09 kills per set, and has the seventh best hitting percentage at .341. She also has 33 blocks this season, with 0.97 blocks per set. Cox was the MIAA Hitter of the Week this week after averaging 5.10 kills per set and 1.00 blocks per set in three matches last week.

Willer is second in kills per set, at 3.19, and averages 2.87 digs per set. She is third in the MIAA in aces, with 15 total. Victory has the best hitting percentage in the MIAA, at .438, and averages 2.74 kills per set. She also has had 22 blocks this season. 

Cox had five kills and four blocks in the Ichabods match against the Jennies last season, and has averaged 1.65 kills per set with a .205 hitting percentage in 20 sets against Central Missouri in her career. Willer had nine kills, while Victory had eight kills and hit .389 with two blocks in the match. 

Several newcomers are also making an impact. Mattie-Ann Swenson currently has the best blocking average in the MIAA, with 36 blocks total and 1.38 blocks per set. Alyssa Carney is fourth in the conference in digs, with 5.03 digs per set, while Natalie Bates is seventh in assists, at 7.06 assists per set.