Jens Travel to St. Charles for Midweek Match at Lindenwood

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - The No. 11 Jennies take their two-match winning-streak on the road to St. Charles, Mo. for a midweek MIAA battle with Lindenwood. First serve is set for 7 p.m.

First Serve
• UCM's first of three matches this weekend comes on the road Tuesday, October 6th at
Lindenwood.
• The Jennies went 2-0 last weekend defeating Fort Hays and No. 16 Nebraska-Kearney. They moved up two-spots to No. 11 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll. The pair of wins moves UCM to 15-2 on the season and 3-1 in the MIAA. The 15-2 record is the Jennies second-best record through 17 matches since 2008.
• Lindenwood is 8-6 this season, however just 1-3 in the MIAA. They enter Tuesday's match on season-long four match losing streak. The Lions also played the Lopers and the Tigers last weekend, dropping both matches 3-1.

On The Air
• Matches this weekend will be webcast online through Central Missouri's Stretch Internet portal at UCMathletics.com/gamecentral. It is a pay-per-view broadcast.

Story Lines
• The Jennies are riding a two-match winning streak and are 3-1 in the MIAA.
• UCM is undefeated in their history against Lindenwood. They've won all seven matches against the Lions. Last season, the Jennies swept Lindenwood 3-0 in both Warrensburg and St. Charles.
• Head Coach Flip Piontek is also undefeated when playing on Tuesday's. The Jennies are a perfect 25-0 under Piontek.  
• The Jennies went 22-9 last season on their way to a share of the MIAA regular season
championship (an MIAA Tournament Championship was not played) and 32nd straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

Quick Hits
Jennies Rankings
A pair of Jennies seniors are climbing the UCM all-time rankings. Libero Annie Reilly surpassed the 200 ace mark against Fort Hays State last weekend. With 204 career aces, Reilly becomes just the third Jennie to reach the milestone and it second all-time at UCM

In addition to Reilly, Carly Sojka is moving up on the all-time points list. She's recorded 309 points in 17 matches and has now accumulated 1,573.5 career points. Last weekend, Sojka moved into third-place all-time in points and is 245.5 points away from cracking the top two.

Junior setter Kourtney Thompson is eighth all-time in assists per set at 9.26. She went over nine assists per set for the first time in her career after her 47-assists performance against Missouri S&T. Thompson has also dished out at least 25 assists in 40 consecutive matches.

National Rankings
In addition to their career rankings at UCM, Reilly and Sojka are among elite company in the NCAA Division II. Among all active players, Reilly is first in the nation with 2,215 digs, one of only three active players with more than 2,000 career digs. She is also in the top-five in service aces with her 204 checking in at No. 4.

Sojka has also climbed into the top-five among active NCAA players in kills. With 45 last week, Sojka is fourth with 1,418 kills.

UCM in the Polls
After going 2-0 last week, the Jennies climbed two spots to No. 11 in the AVCA Coaches Poll. UCM started the season at No. 13 in the preseason poll and has been ranked as high as No. 6. The Jens have been ranked in every AVCA poll since its inception in 1986, a span of 376 polls.

National Leaders
Carly Sojka is ranked in the NCAA top-10 in three different categories. She is fourth in the
nation in total kills with 275 and seventh in both kills per set (4.51) and points per set (5.07). Sojka leads the MIAA in all three categories as well.

Annie Reilly is also in the NCAA top-20 in total digs. She's 18th in the nation and leads the MIAA with 334 digs.

Maddie Jones has crept into the top-30 in hitting percentage. With an attack percentage of .364, Jones ranks 29th.

As a team, UCM is in the Division II top-10 in four different categories. The Jens are second in both kills (909) and kills per set (14.90). They're also fourth in total assists with 823 and 10th in hitting percentage at .274. Kourtney Thompson is largely to thank for the assists, she's 16th in the nation with 636 total assists.

Lyons vs. the Lions
UCM junior Cheyanne Lyons has set season-bests in kills in two of the past three matches. After not recording more than five kills in a match, Lyons broke out for nine against Pittsburg State. She then bettered that by knocking down 10 against Nebraska-Kearney.

Up the Middle
In addition to Maddie Jones' strong play up the middle, the Jennies have been getting big contributions of late from Haley Thompson and Kasey Hohlen. Thompson's landed six kills in back-to-back matches and has 15 over her last three. She's also recorded a block in seven of her last eight matches with 21 in that span.

After missing time in September, Hohlen has come back to be a force in the middle. She has 33 kills in her four matches since returning and tied a career-high with five blocks against Nebraska-Kearney.

Piontek vs. the Lions
Coach Piontek has never lost to Lindenwood as head coach of the Jennies. In fact, the Jennies are 7-0 all-time against the Lions and 3-0 in St. Charles.

Scouting the Opposition
Lindenwood Lions
Overall Record: 8-6
Conference Record: 1-3 (MIAA)
Series History: UCM leads 7-0
Last Meeting: 2014, UCM 3-0
Head Coach: Ron Young (346-180, 14th season)

• Lindenwood is currently riding a season-long four-match losing streak. They're 8-6 on the season with a 1-3 record in the conference.
• The Lions won their opening MIAA match against Pittsburg State 3-1 before falling to UCO, UNK, FHSU and in a nonconference match to Missouri-St. Louis.
• Lindenwood started the season 4-0, but have since gone just 2-6.
• The Jennies will be the third straight home match for the Lions. They're currently 0-2 on the brief homestand with losses to Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State, both by the score of 3-1.
• Offensively the Lions are led by Kayla Guyot. She's fourth in the conference with a .356 hitting percentage and second on the team with 115 kills and 2.35 kills per set.
• Also leading the offense is Bailey Dvorak. She has a team-best 146 kills in 50 sets. Dvorak landed a season-high 17 kills against Missouri St. Louis and has 34 kills in her last three matches.
• Lindenwood carries one of the top setters in the nation in Sarah Jane Pavlik. She's third in the MIAA with 10.70 assists per set and 27th in Division II. She recorded a season-best 53 assists in the Lions win over Pittsburg State.
• Lindenwood also boasts two of the top-five servers in the MIAA. Alex Dahlstrom, 0.43, and Anna Reichert, 0.36 are third and fifth in the MIAA in aces/set. The Lions are also second as a team in service aces in the MIAA with 1.48 per set.
• Reichert also leads the Lions defensive efforts with a team-best 215 digs, good for eighth in the MIAA at 4.30 digs per set.  Lindenwood has had four players already reach the century mark in digs this season.