No. 13 Jennies Volleyball Begins Final Week with Midweek Match vs. Lindenwood

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - The No. 13 Central Missouri Volleyball team looks to extend it's four-match winning streak with a midweek match against Lindenwood, Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. The match is the Jennies first of three this week, culminating in Senior Day, Saturday, Nov. 14 against Northwest Missouri. The Jennies and the MIAA conclude the regular season this week, and the conference tournament starts up next week.

First Serve
• No. 13 Jennies Volleyball enters the weekend on a four-match winning streak. All four 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 24-4 and 12-3 in the MIAA.
• Lindenwood is 13-14 overall this season with a 4-11 record in the MIAA. The Lions have lost three straight matches after winning two in a row to end October. At 4-11, the Lions are still battling for the final spot in the MIAA Tournament.

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 12-3 in the MIAA, the Jennies currently sit in fourth place with a game at hand. A win over Lindenwood would put UCM 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 Championships outright.
• The Jennies are 8-0 all-time against Lindenwood including a 3-0 win earlier this season in St. Charles.
• With the win over Emporia State, Coach Piontek won his 200th career match.
• 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 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 (10/30). With 2,424, she is now 25 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 469 points in 28 matches and has now accumulated 1,733.5 career points. Sojka has already moved into third-place all-time in points and is 85.5 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 1,552 kills, she is eighth all-time and needs 47 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 2,424 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.

National Leaders
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 24 wins, 18 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 12 MIAA wins, nine have come in three sets, including their last four in a row.

"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 43-5 (.896) 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 was the third in five matches pitting UCM against an AVCA top-25 team. The Jennies went 2-1 during the stretch and are 3-3 this season against ranked opponents. In the Coach Piontek era, UCM is 49-29 against ranked opponents. UCM won't see another ranked opponent in the regular season.

Scouting the Opposition
Lindenwood Lions
Overall Record: 13-14
Conference Record: 4-11 (MIAA)
Series History: UCM leads 8-0
Last Meeting: 10/6/15, UCM 3-0
Head Coach: Ron Young (351-188, 14th season)

• Lindenwood has lost three straight matches, including the last two on the road. The Lions are 13-14 this season but only 4-11 in the MIAA.
• The Lions had won five of seven matches before their current three match losing streak. The Lions defeated Illinois-Springfield, Southwest Baptist, Missouri Southern, McKendree and Pittsburg State to end the month of October.
• The Jennies will be the third straight road match for the Lions. They're currently 0-2 on the brief roadtrip with losses to Washburn and Emporia State. The Lions took Emporia to five sets before falling 15-9.
• Offensively the Lions are led by Kayla Guyot. She was last week's MIAA Hitter of the Week. Guyot Has 216 kills and a .319 attack percentage, which was ranked in the NCAA top-75 and 6th in the MIAA. Guyot also has 70 blocks which is 2nd on the team.
• Lindenwood also has two other hitters with more than 200 kills. Bailey Dvorak leads the team with 261 and 2.72 kills per set. Jessica Krygsheld stands at 228 kills and 2.48 kills per set.
• Lindenwood's Allyson Clancy has been the primary setter of late. She has 617 total assists, all but 21 of those coming since October. She's averaging 11.12 assists per set in the last four matches.
• Lindenwood also boasts three of the top-ten servers in the MIAA. Alex Dahlstrom, 0.40, Anna Reichert, 0.29 and Jessica Krygsheld are third, seventh and 10th in the MIAA in aces/set. The Lions are also second as a team in service aces in the MIAA with 1.42 per set.
• Reichert also leads the Lions defensive efforts with a team-best 406 digs, good for 10th in the MIAA at 4.10 digs per set.  Lindenwood has had six players reach the century mark in digs this season.