Jennies Volleyball Back on the Road at Missouri Southern & Southwest Baptist

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - Central Missouri Jennies Volleyball will look to get back to their winning way this weekend when they travel to Missouri Southern and Southwest Baptist.

When: Friday-Saturday, Oct. 14-15

Where: Joplin, Mo. - Robert Ellis Young Gymnasium
            Bolivar, Mo. - John Q. Hammons Court

Opponents: Missouri Southern - Fri., Oct. 14, 2016
                   Southwest Baptist - Sat., Oct. 15, 2016

How to Watch: 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.

First Serve
• The Jennies fell five spots in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll to No. 16 in the rankings. They have fallen 10 spots in the last two weeks. This is the lowest the Jennies have been ranked all season after match their season-high spot of six two weeks ago.  
• Missouri Southern is 1-6 in the MIAA and 4-16 overall. They won their first conference match last week against Pittsburg State.
• Southwest Baptist is the only winless team in the MIAA. They're 0-7 and 3-17 overall and have lost 11 straight matches and 10 straight MIAA matches dating back to 2015. 

Story Lines
• The Jennies have faced the Lions and Bearcats numerous times in their history. They have only one loss to each team. UCM is 64-1-1 all-time against MSSU and 62-1 all time against Southwest Baptist. 
• The Lions only win against the Jennies came in 1995. The Jennies have not lost a set to Missouri Southern since 2014. 
• The only win for the Bearcats came in the very first meeting between these two program. SBU defeated the Jennies 2-1 in 1977.
• At 1,399 wins, Central Missouri can reach 1,400 all-time program wins if they win one of their two matches this weekend. 
• The Jennies are 1-4 in their last five matches and have lost four MIAA matches for the first time under Coach Piontek.
• Last season, UCM went 15-3 in conference. They have never lost more than five conference matches in a single season and no more than three under Coach Piontek. 
• The Jennies went 30-5 in 2015, and won their 14th MIAA Tournament Championship. 

Quick Hits
UCM in the Polls
Central Missouri fell five spots this week in the weekly AVCA poll to No. 16. This is the lowest the Jennies have been ranked all season long. Two weeks ago, UCM was ranked No. 6, tied for the highest they've been ranked the last two seasons. The Jens have been ranked in every AVCA poll since its inception in 1986, a span of 389 polls. 

Before the season started, Central Missouri was picked to finish second in the MIAA, tying with Central Oklahoma with 106 points in the preseason coaches poll. Washburn received the most points to lead the preseason poll.  

Leader Boards (as of 10/11/2016)
On the offensive end of the floor, the Jennies are second in the MIAA with 13.91 kills per set. Cheyanne Lyons is the team leader and is fourth in the league at 3.31 kills per set. The Jens have three in the MIAA top-10 in hitting percentage with Kasey Hohlen sixth at .345, Kourtney Thompson eighth at .335 and Mackenzie Harding 10th at .305.

Katie Carlson is sixth in the conference in digs with 4.23 this season and Kourtney Thompson is still fifth with 10.24 assists per set. 

Jazzy Juniors
Two juniors have already been putting up career numbers. After seeing limited playing time their first two seasons, Katie Carlson and Molly Lawrence have provided helping hands in the Jennies 13 wins this season. Carlson has been the Jennies starting libero and leads UCM with 275 digs. She is also second on the team with 12 service aces and 276 service receptions.  

On the offensive end, Molly Lawrence has already surpassed her career total entering the year in kills. She has 142 kills which is third on the team. She also leads UCM with 43 blocks. She is 10th in MIAA conference games with 2.83 kills per set.    

Savvy Seniors
All four Jennies seniors have made an impact this season. Cheyanne Lyons leads the team and is sixth in the MIAA with 3.31 kills per set. 

Before her injury, Kourtney Thompson was having a big year averaging 10.24 assists, 1.51 kills and 2.27 digs per set. 

Maddie Jones has returned from injury and has 32 kills in her last four matches. Her 97 kills is fourth on the team and her 26 blocks is third.

Finally, Mackenzie Harding is having a career-year as a senior. She is fifth on the team with 89 kills and set a career-high last week with 12 against Lindenwood. She is also second with 32 blocks and has started the last 14 matches.

New Faces
So far this season, six Jennies have seen the floor who didn't a season ago. Redshirt freshmen Carly Offerdahl and Tyler Downs saw their first action in two years and freshmen Rylee Neigenfind and Abby Skrastins, along with transfer Fuatino Manu, have seen plenty of court time. With the injury to Thompson, Downs joins Offerdahl in the starting lineup. Last week, Gabby Johnson saw her first action of the season and landed five kills against Northwest Missouri. 

Jennies on the Road
The Jennies have struggled on the road this season. They are 2-3 in road matchups and 0-3 on the road in MIAA matchups. The Jennies are 69-17 in road matches in Coach Piontek's tenure. 

Jennies vs. Missouri
Central Missouri has been historically unbeatable against their in-state rivals under Coach Piontek. The Jens are 86-3 all-time against team from Missouri with Piontek at the helm, however two of those losses came last weekend at Missouri Western and vs. Northwest Missouri. All three losses to in-state rivals have come in the last two years.

Unfamiliar Territory
The Jennies find themselves in unfamiliar waters through seven conference matches. Under Coach Piontek, the Jennies have never lost more than three conference matches before this season. Only four times in their history have they dropped four or more. They also have lost four of their last five matches. The last time UCM had such a stretch was when the lost four matches at the Colorado-Premier Challenge in 2014. 

Scouting the Opposition
Missouri Southern Lions
• Missouri Southern went 1-2 last weekend, picking up their first MIAA win of the season, 3-2 over Southwest Baptist. The Lions are 1-6 in conference and 4-16 overall. Each of their six conference losses has come by a score of 3-0.
• Missouri Southern is towards the bottom of the MIAA in most offensive and defense statistical categories. Their highest team ranking is sixth in service aces with 1.27 per set. Kat Gries leads four Lions with double-figure aces, she has 18. Bridgette Jaeger is ninth in the MIAA in aces per set with 0.28. She has 15 aces on the season.
• On the defensive end, the Lions have a top-five blocker in Alicia Pickett. She is just one of six in the MIAA averaging more than one block per set. She leads MSSU with 66 total blocks, including 11 solo and is at 1.06 blocks per set. The Lions are drawing nearly even with opponents in blocks at 119.5 for the Lions and 124.5 for their opponents. 
• The Lions have three with more than 100 kills for the season. Bailey Rexford leads with 138 total while Christina Perlinger has 2.14 kills per set and 124 total kills. Pickett is also over the century mark with 102 and leads MSSU in attack percentage hitting .226 for the season.
• The setter position appears in flux for the Lions. Whitney Harrison leads MSSU with 375 assists, but appeared in only three sets last weekend. Katie Paine picked up 41 assists in five sets at Central Oklahoma and Pittsburg State. 
• Kat Gries has totaled 229 digs to lead the Lions. She is one of four for MSSU with more than 100. Rexford (149) and Harrison (139) are also over 100 digs for Missouri Southern. 

Southwest Baptist Bearcats
• The only team worse that Missouri Southern this season has been Southwest Baptist. The Bearcats are 0-7 in the MIAA and 3-17 overall. They have lost 11 straight matches and have not won since Sept. 16 against Southwestern Oklahoma. 
• Like the Lions, the Bearcats are also at the bottom of the MIAA stat categories. Also like MSSU, their highest ranking is in the service ace department where they're third in the MIAA with 1.38 aces per set. Serena Mar leads the Bearcats with 21 aces and 0.28 aces per set which is tied for ninth. 
• Dana Neal is the Bearcat leader in kills with 187 and 2.53 per set. She averaging just as many digs with 2.57 per set and 190 in 74 sets played. Kalyn Sotomayor is hitting a team-best .187 with 114 kills and 1.93 kills per set.   
• At setter, Southwest Baptist has employed a pair this season. Serena Mar has a team-high 317 assists and 4.28 assists per set. Brea Freeman also has over 200 assists with 249 and 3.36 assists per set. They both see time on the floor during the course of a match, running the Bearcats 6-2 offense. 
• On the defensive side, Bailey Baumann sets the tone with her 286 digs and 3.86 digs per set which is 10th in the MIAA. SBU has five with more than 100 digs this season including Baumann and Mar (209) over 200. 
• The Bearcats are out-blocking their opponents 135-125 this season and has 39 solo blocks. Most of those come from Katie Robinson who has 13 block solos and a team-high 72 total blocks. With 0.97 blocks per set, Robinson is eighth in the MIAA. She had 11 total blocks in the Bearcats three matches last week.