No. 11 Jennies Volleyball Plays Two In-State MIAA Foes

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - No. 11 Central Missouri Jennies Volleyball looks to continue their three-match winning streak hosting Missouri Western and traveling to Northwest Missouri. UCM hosts the Griffons Friday, October 9 at 7 p.m. and quickly turn around and head on the road to take on Northwest Missouri in Maryville, Saturday, October 10 at 6 p.m.

First Serve
• UCM enters this weekend fresh off of a win Tuesday afternoon at Lindenwood.
• The Jennies moved up two-spots to No. 11 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll after defeating Fort Hays State and No. 16 Nebraska-Kearney. UCM has won four straight matches to move to 16-2 and 4-1 in the MIAA. The 16-2 record is the Jennies second-best record through 17 matches since 2008.
• Missouri Western is 12-4 this season with an identical 4-1 conference record as the Jens. After dropping a match to No. 14 Central Oklahoma last weekend, the Griffons have won two straight over Pittsburg State and Northwest Missouri.
• Northwest Missouri wraps up a seven-match home stand with the Jennies. They gone 3-2 heading into this weekend. The Bearcats are 10-5 overall and 3-2 in conference. NWMSU won their first three MIAA matches before losing to Central Oklahoma and Missouri Western.

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. Live stats can be found at UCMathletics.com

Story Lines
• The Jennies are riding a four-match winning streak and are 4-1 in the MIAA.
• The Griffons and Bearcats are two of UCM's longest tenured rivals. The Jennies are Griffons have met 78 times in their history, with UCM holding a 74-4 edge. The 78 games is betted only by the 93 games played against the Bearcats. UCM has gone 87-6 against NWMSU.
• Head Coach Flip Piontek has never lost to either MWSU or NWMSU. He's 12-0 lifetime against the Griffons and 13-0 against Northwest Missouri.
• 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 323 points in 18 matches and has now accumulated 1,587.5 career points. Last weekend, Sojka moved into third-place all-time in points and is 231.5 points away from cracking the top two.

Junior setter Kourtney Thompson is eighth all-time in assists per set at 9.27. 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 41 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.

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 19 over her last four. She's also recorded a block in eight of her last nine matches with 21 in that span. After missing time in September, Hohlen has come back to be a force in the middle. She has 40 kills in her five matches since returning and tied a career-high with five blocks against Nebraska-Kearney.

Great Starts
The Jennies 16-2 start to the 2015 season is their best since the team went 22-0 at the start of the 2013 season. It also matches the third most wins in 18 games since 2001.

Piontek vs. the Griffons
Coach Piontek has never lost to Missouri Western as head coach of the Jennies. He is 12-0 lifetime.

Piontek vs. the Bearcats
Coach Piontek has also never lost to Northwest Missouri as the Jennies head coach. He has a 13-0 career record.

Scouting the Opposition
Missouri Western
Overall Record: 12-4
Conference Record: 4-1 (MIAA)
Series History: UCM leads 77-4
Last Meeting: 2014, UCM 3-0
Head Coach: Marian Carbin (50-24, third season)
• The Griffons come into Friday night's match on a two-game winning streak and is 12-4 on the season with a 4-1 MIAA record.
• MWSU rattled off nine straight wins earlier in the season, but is just 2-2 over their last four with losses to then-No. 14 Central Oklahoma and Missouri S&T.
• Missouri Western had three All-MIAA First Teamers in 2014 and have returned two in setter Jordan Chohon and outside hitter Jessie Thorup. Thorup leads the team and is fourth in the MIAA with 3.77 kills per set. She is one of three Griffons with more than 100 kills. Shellby Taylor (117) and Rachel Friedrichs (111) have also hit the century mark.
• Like Thorup, Chohon is also fourth in the MIAA in assists per set. She sits at 10.43 with 584 assists on the season. She passed out 48 assists in MWSU last match and has three 50-assist matches this season.
• Missouri Western has been strong on defense, allowing just a .139 opponent hitting percentage which sits third in the MIAA. The Griffons boast five athletes with more than 100 digs. Kayla Ruff leads the way with 258. Thorup is second with 146 and Chohon is third with 137.
• MWSU is also one of the better blocking teams in the conference. They average 2.00 blocks per set with is fourth in the MIAA. The team is led by Friedrichs' 54 blocks, but the team has seven players with double-digit blocks.

Northwest Missouri
Overall Record: 10-5
Conference Record: 3-2 (MIAA)
Series History: UCM leads 87-6
Last Meeting: 2014, UCM 3-0
Head Coach: Amy Woerth (48-59, fourth season)
• Northwest Missouri looks to snap a two-match losing streak this weekend. They have a 10-5 record this season and are 3-2 in the MIAA.
• The Bearcats won their first three conference matchups before dropping their last two against Central Oklahoma and Missouri Western.
• Three of the Bearcats four All-MIAA honorees from 2014 return in 2015. Miranda Foster was named All-MIAA Second Team as a sophomore. She is second on the team this year with 2.96 kills per set and 157 kills.
• Leading the teams offense has been freshman Maddy Bruder. She's racked up 175 kills and a 3.57 kills per set average which is sixth in the MIAA.
• Also sitting at No. 6 in the MIAA is setter Sarah Dannettell. She was an All-MIAA Honorable Mention in 2014. She has a 10.41 assist per set average with 562 total assists
• Aarika Wittenburg has been the leader of the Bearcat defense. She has a team-high 197 digs and 4.10 digs per set, 10th in the MIAA. Wittenburg has reached double-digit digs in her last six matches.
• The Northwest defense also is second in the conference in opponent kills per set, limiting the opposition to just 10.89 on average. They also do a good job of avoiding blocks as NWMSU opponents average just 1.63 blocks per set.