UCM Volleyball Concludes Regular Season with Senior Day Saturday

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - No. 13 Central Missouri Jennies Volleyball wraps up their regular season this weekend with a match on the road Thursday night at Missouri Western before coming home for Senior Day, Saturday, Nov. 14 against Northwest Missouri in the regular season finale. The Jennies (25-4, 13-3) will put their five-game winning streak on the line and are one game behind Central Oklahoma in the MIAA standings.



First Serve
• No. 13 Jennies Volleyball enters the weekend on a five-match winning streak. All five wins have come via a 3-0 score and two of the wins (No. 12 Central Oklahoma, No. 9 Washburn) have come over AVCA ranked opponents.
• The Jennies stayed at No. 13 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll. UCM stands at 25-4 and 13-3 in the MIAA. They are also No. 5 in this week's NCAA Central Region rankings.
• Missouri Western is 21-7 and 12-4 in the MIAA and also receiving votes in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll.
• Northwest Missouri stands at 15-11 and 8-8 in the MIAA, though they are currently riding a three-match losing streak heading into the weekend.

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
• At 13-3 in the MIAA, the Jennies currently sit in a tie for second place. UCM is in a tie with Washburn, whom they have a head-to-head tie-breaker over and Nebraska-Kearney, whom they split two games with this year.
• Next weeks starts the MIAA tournament Championship. Games run Nov. 17-21 with the higher seeding hosting at campus sites.
• The Jennies have already clinched a spot in the MIAA postseason, but their positioning remains very-much in flux. Only Central Oklahoma has fewer losses than the Jennies and with some help, UCM can find themselves in a tie or win their 25th MIAA Championship outright.
• The Jennies are 77-5 all-time against Missouri Western and 88-6 against Northwest Missouri. UCM lost to Missouri Western earlier in the season in five sets, but swept the Bearcats.
• 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 in the Jennies first match against Fort Hays State (10/2). With 215 career aces, Reilly becomes just the third Jennie to reach the milestone and is second all-time at UCM.

Reilly also moved into third-place at UCM in career digs with her 22 against Central Oklahoma (10/30). With 2,437, she is now 15 digs away from reaching second-place all-time.

In addition to Reilly, Carly Sojka is moving up on the all-time points and kills lists. She's recorded 481 points in 29 matches and has now accumulated 1,745.5 career points. Sojka has already moved into third-place all-time in points and is 73.5 points away from cracking the top two.

Sojka also became just the 10th Jennie to record 1500 career kills Oct. 24 against Nebraska-Kearney. With 1,562 kills, she is eighth all-time and needs 37 more kills to reach fifth all-time.

National Rankings (as of Mon., Nov. 9)
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 leads the nation with 2,424 digs, one of only seven active players with more than 2,000 career digs. She is also in the top-five in service aces with her 213 placing her fourth.

Sojka has also climbed into the top-five among active NCAA players in kills. With 1,552 career kills, Sojka is fourth among active players.

UCM in the Polls
After going 2-0 last week, the Jennies remained No. 13 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 381 polls.

The Jennies also moved up two spots in this week's Central Regional rankings to No. 5. Central Missouri opened the first poll at No. 7 in the region.

National Leaders (as of Mon., Nov. 9)
Carly Sojka is ranked in the NCAA top-15 in three different categories. She is 13th in the nation with 4.79 points per set. She also ranks 14th in both total kills (409) and kills per set (4.17). Sojka is also the MIAA leader in all three of those categories.

Annie Reilly is in the NCAA top-30 in digs per set. She's 26th in the nation and second in the MIAA with 5.57 digs per set. She is also 31st with 546 career digs.

Maddie Jones has crept into the top-20 in hitting percentage. With an attack percentage of .367, Jones ranks 19th.

As a team, UCM is in the Division II top-10 in two different categories. The Jens lead the nation in kills per set with 14.96 and eighth in assists per set with 13.47. They're also just outside the top-10 with a .267 team attack percentage, and 1,466 total kills which both rank 11th.

Sweeps Ahead
Of the Jennies 25 wins, 19 have come by a 3-0 sweep. A season ago, UCM posted 15 3-0 sweeps and the most this decade came in 2010 when the Jens totaled 27 sweeps out of their 32 wins. Of UCM's 13 MIAA wins, 10 have come in three sets, including their last ten straight wins.

"Flip" the Calendar
The Jennies have historically played some of their best volleyball when the calendar turns to November. Under Coach Piontek, the Jennies are 44-5 (.898) in the month of November. In 2014, the Jennies went 6-1 with their only loss coming at the NCAA Regional to Wayne St. (Neb.).

Scouting the Opposition
Missouri Western
Overall Record: 21-7
Conference Record: 12-4 (MIAA)
Series History: UCM leads 77-5
Last Meeting: 10/9/15, MWSU 3-2
Head Coach: Marian Corbin (59-30, third season)
• Missouri Western is fifth in the MIAA with a 12-4 record and has already clinched a spot in the MIAA Tournament Championship.
• The Griffons were on a four-match winning streak at the end of October, but have since gone 2-2 in their last four matches with losses to Washburn and Nebraska-Kearney.
• The Griffons offense runs through Jessie Thorup who is third in the MIAA with 3.79 kills per set. She has totaled a team-best 345 kills was an MIAA First Team selection last year. Thorup is also averaging 2.53 digs per set and had 372 receptions with a .946 reception percentage.
• Jordan Chohon paces the Griffon attack with 10.42 assists per set which is sixth in the MIAA. Her 1,052 total assists are fourth in the MIAA.
• MWSU is one of the better blocking teams in the conference. At 2.01 blocks per set, the Griffons are third in the MIAA. Rachel Friedrichs's 94 total blocks leads the team with Lindsey Partridge right behind her with 86.
• The Griffons have five athletes with more than 200 digs led by Kayla Ruff's 487. Her 4.82 digs per set is also sixth in the MIAA. Additionally, Chohon has 286, Amand Dalbey has 240 and Thorup and Audrey Keim each have 230.
• Chohon and Ruff are also both in the MIAA top-10 in service aces per set. Chohon leads the team with 28 total aces and 0.28 aces per set, good for ninth in the conference while Ruff is 10th with 27 aces and 0.27 aces per set.
• Missouri Western is fifth in the MIAA in opponents hitting percentage at .158. The Griffons have outhit their opponents this season .215-.158, a difference of 0.57 percent.

Northwest Missouri
Overall Record: 15-11
Conference Record: 8-8 (MIAA)
Series History: UCM leads 88-6
Last Meeting: 10/10/15, UCM 3-0
Head Coach: Amy Woerth (53-65, fifth season)
• At 8-8 in the MIAA, the Bearcats have clinched a spot in the MIAA Championship Tournament.
• Heading into the weekend, NWMSU has lost three straight matches to Nebraska-Kearney, Fort Hays State and Missouri Western and four out of their last five.
• The Bearcats finish the regular season on a five match road trip. They have started out 0-3.
• Maddy Bruder is the Bearcats offensive leader with 305 kills and 3.55 kills per set, fifth in the MIAA. She's landed 51 kills in her last five matches.
• Northwest Missouri is set at the setter position with All-MIAA Honorable Mention Sarah Dannettell. She is third in the conference with 10.61 assists per set and has a team-best 891 total assists.
• Defensively, Alexis Williams and Aarika Wittenburg do the job for the Bearcats. Williams is fifth in the MIAA with a team-best 0.98 blocks per set and has 88 total blocks. Wittenburg's 4.29 digs per set rank her eighth in the conference. She's dug out a team-high 369 opponent attacks.
• The Bearcats are fifth in the MIAA in kills per set with 13.29. In addition to Bruder, NWMSU has two others with more than 200 kills. Miranda Foster, Second Team All-MIAA in 2014 is second on the team with 239 kills while Jackie Becker, All-MIAA Honorable Mention last year, checks in with 210 kills.
• The Bearcats hold a slight 99-97 edge over their opponents in service aces. That is mostly due to the 23 aces from Gabby Torline, who is sixth in the MIAA with 0.29 aces per set. Shelby Duren is also over 20 aces with 22.