No. 13 Jennies Volleyball Travels to Kansas For Weekend Clash with ESU and WU

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - No. 13 Central Missouri Jennies Volleyball takes their act on the road for their only regular-season meetings this season against Emporia State and No. 9 Washburn. This will mark the third straight week UCM is squaring off against an AVCA top-25 ranked opponent. Their weekend starts Friday, November 6 at Emporia State with a first serve of 7 p.m. followed by Washburn Saturday, November 7, at 3 p.m.

First Serve
• No. 13 Jennies Volleyball enters the weekend after having gone 2-0 last week with a wins over No. 12 Central Oklahoma and Pittsburg State
• The Jennies moved up two spots to No. 13 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll. UCM stands at 22-4 and 10-3 in the MIAA.
• Emporia State is 9-15 overall this season with a 4-10 record in the MIAA. The Hornets have won just one of their previous 10 matches. This is the first matchup between the two teams in 2015, but ESU defeated the Jennies 3-2 in Warrensburg, last October.
• Washburn and the Jennies also meet for the first time this season. Washburn leads the MIAA with a 12-2 record and is 25-2 overall, sitting at No. 9 in the AVCA rankings. UCM swept the then-8th ranked Ichabods last October at the Multipurpose Building.

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
• For the third consecutive week, the Jennies will play a team in the AVCA top-25. UCM has gone 1-1 the previous two matches with a 3-2 loss to No. 16 UNK & 3-0 sweep of No. 12 UCO.
• The Jennies are 47-7 all-time against Emporia State including 8-3 in the Coach Piontek era.
• No team in the MIAA has had more success against the Jennies than Washburn. Despite that fact, UCM still holds a 49-14 all-time record against the Ichabods and are 9-4 with Coach Piontek at the helm.
• With 199 career victories, Coach Piontek is just one win away from 200.
• Annie Reilly won her second MIAA Specialist of the Week award for 2015 and ninth of her career last week.
• 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. With 213 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. She is now 55 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 442.5 points in 26 matches and has now accumulated 1,707 career points. Sojka has already moved into third-place all-time in points and is 112 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 1528 kills, she is ninth all-time and needs 71 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 2,397 digs, one of only five 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 1,528 career kills, Sojka is fourth among active players.

UCM in the Polls
After going 2-0 last week, the Jennies moved up two spots to 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 380 polls.

National Leaders
Carly Sojka is ranked in the NCAA top-11 in three different categories. She is 11th in the nation in total kills with 385 and tenth in total attacks with 1,081. She also ranks 11th with 4.81 points per set. Sojka is also the MIAA leader in points per set and total attacks and second in total kills and kills per set.

Annie Reilly is also in the NCAA top-30 in total digs. She's 27th in the nation and second in the MIAA with 516 digs.

Maddie Jones has crept into the top-20 in hitting percentage. With an attack percentage of .369, Jones ranks 15th.

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 14.98 and sixth in total kills with 1,378. They're also eighth in assists per set with 13.50 and just outside the top-10 with a .267 team attack percentage, which ranks 12th.

Sweeps Ahead
Of the Jennies 22 wins, 16 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 10 MIAA wins, seven have come in three sets, including both last weekend against No. 12 Central Oklahoma and Pittsburg State.

"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 41-5 (.891) 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.).

Against Ranked Opponents
The Jennies match at Washburn will be the third in five matches pitting UCM against an AVCA top-25 team. The Jennies have gone 1-1 during the stretch and are 2-3 this season against ranked opponents. In the Coach Piontek era, UCM is 48-29 against ranked opponents. Their last road win over a ranked opponent came last November at UNK.

Scouting the Opposition
Emporia State
Overall Record: 9-15
Conference Record: 4-10 (MIAA)
Series History: UCM leads 47-7
Last Meeting: 2014, ESU 3-2
Head Coach: Bing Xu (235-113, 11th season)
• ESU welcomes Central Missouri, sitting ninth in the conference at 4-10 and 9-15 overall.
• The Hornets snapped a seven game losing streak with a win over Pittsburg State Oct. 24. Since the win, Emporia State has dropped two straight last weekend to Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri, both by 3-0 sweeps.
• Emporia State is the best blocking team in the MIAA and one of the best in the country. ESU leads the MIAA with a 2.23 blocks per set average and is 35th in the nation. Shayla Cotman is the Hornet leader in the middle. She's averaging 1.10 blocks per set to lead the conference.
• For the Hornet offense, Josie Williams leads the team with 212 kills. She is one of five Hornets with over 100 kills. She also leads the team with a 2.49 kill per set average. Cotman (180/2.22) and Emma Benton (174/2.20) are right behind her.
• In addition to the Hornets blocking prowess, ESU is averaging 16.3 digs per set, sixth in the MIAA. Kelly Holden's 426 digs are fifth in the MIAA while Benton is over 200 with 208.
• Emporia State has employed a two-setter offense thus far. Both Kimberly Bell (423) and Sydney Hartman (413) are over 400 assists.
• The Hornets have allowed 118 service aces against, the fourth most in the MIAA.

Washburn
Overall Record: 25-2
Conference Record: 12-2 (MIAA)
Series History: UCM leads 49-14
Last Meeting: 2014, UCM 3-0
Head Coach: Chris Herron (422-74, 14th season)
• Washburn enters the weekend on an eight-match winning streak. They're the top team in the MIAA with a 12-2 conference record and are 25-2 overall.
• The Ichabods are ranked 9th by the AVCA, the highest MIAA team in the poll. Their .926 winning percentage ranks second in the country, behind only Edinboro at .931.
• The Ichabods boast one of the best offenses in the nation. They're led by Leanna Willer whos 386 kills are tops in the MIAA and 10th in the nation. Washburn's 1,348 team kills are also in the top-15 in Division II. After Willer, Sarah Vicory (261) and Taylor Selk (221) also have more than 200 kills.
• The Washburn defense is second in the MIAA in opponent hitting percentage at .142. It comes as no surprise they also lead the MIAA with 19.48 digs per set, nearly two digs more than second-place, Missouri Western with 17.62. That number is also fifth in the NCAA.
• The Ichabods have four athletes with more than 200 digs, led by Alyssa Carney with 496. She's third in the MIAA in both total digs and digs/set. Willer is 2nd on the team with 300 digs while Liz Powell (279) and Korie Thompson (259) are also over 200.
• Powell is also the Ichabods primary setter. With 9.34 assists per set, she's eighth in the MIAA and fifth with 887 total assists.
• Vicroy is in the NCAA top-50 in a pair of categories. She is 31st in the nation and leads the MIAA with 104 total blocks. Her presence up the middle also has her 35th in hitting percentage at .349.
• The Ichabods have almost a 3:1 ratio for service aces to errors. Washburn has landed 122 aces while committing just 47 errors. Carney is one of six Ichabods with 10+ aces, she leads the team with 20.