Jennies Volleyball Hosts Northwest Missouri in Opening Round of MIAA Tournament

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - The No. 13 and second-seeded Central Missouri Volleyball team hosts round one of the MIAA Tournament. They'll take on seventh seed Northwest Missouri at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 17. UCM is coming off a 3-0 week, concluding with a 3-2 come-from-behind win on senior night against these same Bearcats. They have won seven straight matches and ended the regular season at 27-4 and 15-3 in the MIAA.

First Serve
• No. 13 Jennies Volleyball enters the MIAA Tournament on a seven-match winning streak. Six of the seven wins have come via a 3-0 score and three of the wins (Central Oklahoma, Washburn, Missouri Western) have come over NCAA regionally-ranked opponents.
• The Jennies stayed at No. 13 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll. UCM stands at 27-4 and 15-3 in the MIAA. They are also No. 5 in the NCAA Central Region rankings.
• Northwest Missouri stands at 15-13 and 8-10 in the MIAA, and are currently riding a five-match losing streak.

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 15-3 in the MIAA, the Jennies finished in second-place in the MIAA regular season.
• Tuesday starts the MIAA tournament Championship. Play-in games run Nov. 17 with the higher seeding hosting at campus sites. The four winners will meet at the site of the highest remaining seed for the semifinals and finals Nov. 20-21.
• The Jennies are 89-6 against Northwest Missouri. UCM has already defeated the Bearcats twice this season, including a 3-2 comeback win in the MIAA regular season finale, on senior night.
• Central Missouri is 43-6 all-time in MIAA Tournament matches.
• The MIAA has held a conference tournament championship only twice (2012-13) in the last seven years. UCM won the 2013 tournament and finished in second on 2012.
• Head Coach Flip Piontek is undefeated in his career against Northwest Missouri. Piontek has led the Jennies to a 15-0 record against NWMSU, including 2-0 in 2015. It is the most wins Piontek has against any one opponent.
• Coach Piontek is undefeated in his history when playing on a Tuesday. The Jennies are 27-0 all-time on Tuesday's with Piontek at the helm and 3-0 in 2015.
• 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 219 career aces, Reilly becomes just the third Jennie to reach the milestone and is second all-time at UCM.

Reilly also moved into second-place at UCM in career digs with her 27 at Missouri Western (11/12). With 2,492, she is also just six digs away from second-place in MIAA history.

In addition to Reilly, Carly Sojka is moving up on the all-time points and kills lists. She's recorded 523 points in 31 matches and has now accumulated 1,787.5 career points. Sojka has already moved into third-place all-time in points and is 31.5 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 1,598 kills, she is sixth all-time and needs just one more kills to reach fifth all-time.

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 leads the nation with 2,492 digs, one of only nine active players with more than 2,000 career digs. She is also in the top-five in service aces with her 219 placing her fourth.

Sojka has also climbed into the top-five among active NCAA players in kills. With 1,598 career kills, Sojka is fourth among active players.

UCM in the Polls
After going 3-0 last week, the Jennies remained No. 13 in the AVCA Coaches Poll for the third consecutive week. UCM started the season at No. 13 in the preseason poll and has been ranked as high as No. 6. Of the 12 AVCA Polls this season, UCM has been ranked No.13 in six of them. The Jens have been ranked in every AVCA poll since its inception in 1986, a span of 382 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
Carly Sojka is ranked in the NCAA top-15 in three different categories. She is 14th in the nation in both points per set with 4.80 and kills per set with 4.17. She is also 12th in the nation with 455 total kills. 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 25th in the nation and second in the MIAA with 5.61 digs per set. She is also 27th with 611 total digs.

As a team, UCM is in the Division II top-10 in three different categories. The Jens lead the nation in kills per set with 14.92. They are fifth in total kills with 1,626 and eighth in assists per set with 13.45. They're also just outside the top-10 with a .262 team attack percentage which ranks 12th.

Sweeps Ahead
Of the Jennies 27 wins, 20 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 15 MIAA wins, 11 have come in three sets, including 11 of their last 12 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 46-5 (.902) 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.). They are 5-0 thus far in 2015.

Scouting the Opposition
Northwest Missouri
Overall Record: 15-13
Conference Record: 8-10 (MIAA)
Series History: UCM leads 89-6
Last Meeting: 11/14/15, UCM 3-2
Head Coach: Amy Woerth (53-66, fifth season)

• At 8-10 in the MIAA, the Bearcats clinched the 7th seed in the MIAA Championship Tournament.
• Heading into tournament play, NWMSU has lost five straight matches.
• The Bearcats concluded the regular season on a five match road trip in which they lost all five.
• Maddy Bruder is the Bearcats offensive leader with 317 kills and 3.48 kills per set, fifth in the MIAA.
• Northwest Missouri has needed to go to a 6-2 rotation due to the loss of their setter, Sarah Dannettell. Jordan Trimble and Megan Stilmock have filled in in Dannettell's abscence. Trimble recorded 24 assists while Stilmock passed out 22 last Saturday against the Jens. Stilmock recorded a double-double as she also picked up 13 digs. Trimble was one dig shy of a double-double.
• Defensively, Alexis Williams and Aarika Wittenburg lead the Bearcats. Williams is fifth in the MIAA with a team-best 0.98 blocks per set and has 96 total blocks. Williams and Sofia Schleppenbach each had four blocks on Saturday while Becker added three more.
• Wittenburg's 4.12 digs per set rank her eighth in the conference. She's dug out a team-high 371 opponent attacks. Against UCM though, it was Olivia Nowakowski who led NWMSU with 32 digs. As a team, the Bearcats had 118 digs against UCM Saturday, most by an opponent this season.
• The Bearcats are fifth in the MIAA in kills per set with 13.10. 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 251 kills while Jackie Becker, All-MIAA Honorable Mention last year, checks in with 235 kills.
• Saturday against the Jennies, it was Shelby Duren who gave UCM trouble. She landed a team-best 18 kills and also had 26 digs. Darcy Sunderman was also in double-figure kills with 13 and was one dig shy of a double-double.