Jennies Volleyball Continues MIAA Play with Weekend Home and Home

WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Oct. 6, 2016) - Eleventh-ranked Central Missouri Jennies Volleyball finishes up their week with a road match at Missouri Western Friday, Oct. 7, before coming back home to take on No. 18 Northwest Missouri Saturday, Oct. 8 at the Multi.

When: Friday-Saturday, Oct. 7-8

Where: St. Joseph, Mo. - MWSU Fieldhouse at Looney Complex
             Warrensburg, Mo. - UCM Multipurpose Building 

Opponents: Missouri Western Griffons - Fri., Oct. 7, 6 p.m.
                   No. 18 Northwest Missouri Bearcats - Sat., Oct. 8, 7 p.m.

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. 11 in the rankings. Their ranking of sixth last week tied a high from the previous two seasons. They've been ranked sixth on four occasions over the past two seasons, but their last time in the top-five was back in 2014. 
• The Jennies started the week with a 3-0 sweep of Lindenwood 
• Missouri Western has dropped two of their last three matches to ranked opponents and sit at 11-6 and 3-2, even with UCM in the MIAA.
• Northwest Missouri is ranked for the first time in school history, coming in at 16-1 and No. 18 in this weeks AVCA poll. Their one loss was to MIAA foe Central Oklahoma after starting 15-0.

Story Lines
• Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri are two of Central Missouri longest tenured rivals. The teams have played a combined 179 matches with the Jennies holding a 168-11 edge over their two opponents.
• The Griffons are just 5-78 all-time against UCM, but one of those wins came last year in Warrensburg. Prior to that, the Jennies had won 19 straight over MWSU with their last loss coming back in 2005.
• UCM is 90-6 all-time against NWMSU including three wins last season. The Bearcats last win over the Jennies was way back in 1984. 
• At 1,399 wins, Central Missouri can reach 1,400 all-time program wins if they win one of their two matches this weekend. 
• 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. 6. The Jennies were also ranked 11th in the second poll of the regular, their lowest this season. Last week's No. 6 spot 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 388 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 10/06/2016)
On the offensive end of the floor, the Jennies rank ninth nationally and lead the MIAA with 14.2 kills per set. Cheyanne Lyons is the team leader and is fourth in the league at 3.42 kills per set. Mackenzie Harding is fourth in the MIAA with a .365 attack percentage and Kasey Hohlen is seventh at .345.

The Jennies remain one of the top defensive teams in the MIAA in terms of digs. They're fifth in the conference in digs per set with 16.2. Katie Carlson has been the biggest reason for that, leading the team with 4.53 digs per set which is third in the conference. Kylie Hohlen has also contributed with 3.47 digs 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 258 digs. 

On the offensive end, Molly Lawrence has already surpassed her career total entering the year in kills. She has 124 kills which is third on the team. She also leads UCM with 40 blocks. She is second in MIAA conference games with a .390 attack percentage and seventh with 3.13 kills per set.    

Savvy Seniors
All four Jennies seniors have made an impact this season. Cheyanne Lyons leads the team and is fourth in the MIAA with 3.42 kills per set. Kourtney Thompson is having a big year averaging 10.24 assists, 1.51 kills and 2.27 digs per set. Maddie Jones missed five games before returning to action and has 2.08 kills per set. Finally, Mackenzie Harding has started the past 12 matches and is hitting .365 with 79 kills and 32 blocks.  

Versus Ranked Opponents
The Jennies so far this season are 3-3 against ranked opponents. Last year, the Jennies went 5-4 against AVCA top-25 teams and are 55-33 under Coach Piontek. UCM has been in three top-10 matchups already this season and are 1-2 with a win over Central Oklahoma and losses to Wheeling Jesuit and Nebraska-Kearney. This week, The Jennies face another ranked team out of the MIAA in Northwest Missouri, when they come to the Multi Saturday, Oct. 8.

Roll out the Red Carpet
So far this season, the Jennies have picked up four MIAA weekly awards. The Jennies started the season with back-to-back MIAA Specialists of the Week in Kourtney Thompson and Katie Carlson. The last two have belonged to the hitters as Kasey Hohlen and Cheyanne Lyons each brought home their first career MIAA awards. 

New Faces
So far this season, five 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.

Hot Starts
The Jennies have won the opening set in 15 of 17 matches thus far in 2016. They've scored 413 points, their most in any set and are 13-1 when they win the first set. Last season, the Jennies won the opening set in 28 of 35 matches. 

Jennies at Home
Central Missouri is 7-0 at home this season following their win Tuesday over Lindenwood. They are now 100 games over .500 at the Multi under Coach Piontek at 107-7 in his tenure.

Jennies on the Road
Missouri Western will be only the Jennies fifth road contest of 2016. They are 2-2 to start this season, after back-to-back losses to Fort Hays State and Nebraska-Kearney last weekend. UCM is 69-16 all-time on the road under Coach Piontek. 

Scouting the Opposition
Missouri Western Griffons
• Like the Jennies, Missouri Western is 3-2 to start the conference season. They've beaten up on the bottom three teams in the league while falling to Central Oklahoma and Northwest Missouri.
• The Griffons had won six in a row to start MIAA play, but are just 1-2 in their last three matches.
• Missouri Western is in the middle of the pack of most MIAA categories. The one they sit at the top at, is service aces with 1.69 aces per set. The teams doesn't have one standout, though Rachel Friedrichs leads with 21, but there are six Griffons with at least 11 aces this season. They have almost doubled the amount of aces compared to their opponents: 103-52. 
• Offensively it's Friedrichs who has been the primary point scorer. She's averaging 3.05 kills per set which is eighth in the MIAA. Her .329 attack percentage is also in the top-10 in the conference. She leads five Griffons with over 100 kills this season. Stephanie Doak is the only other over 150 with 152.
• Kortney Blaufuss has been the one in the middle of the action with 10.76 assists per set, good for fourth in the MIAA. She had at least 45 kills in three of her last five matches and a double double in two of those. 
• Missouri Western has a number of athletes that help out defensively, four have more than 100 digs this season and a fifth has 98. Kayla Ruff is the team leader at 3.92 digs per set and 273 total digs. She's also second on the team with 264 service receptions. The Griffons have only 52 receive errors on the season, fourth fewest in the MIAA. 
• One area that has not been kind to MWSU is blocking. Their 1.50 blocks per set is the fewest in the MIAA. Friedrichs is the team leader with 51 total and four solo put backs. 

Northwest Missouri Bearcats
• The Bearcats this season have been ranked by the AVCA for the first time in program history. They're 16-1 overall and 4-1 in the MIAA and have climbed the rankings to number 18. Their only loss this season was to Central Oklahoma in Edmond. 
• The big news for the Bearcats is that middle hitter Jackie Becker returned from injury for the first time since Sept. 17 against Missouri Western. She suffered an injury at the Peggy Martin Challenge and missed five matches. 
• Northwest Missouri's Maddy Bruder has 232 kills and 3.74 kills per set this season, second in the MIAA. She is one of four Bearcats with 100+ kills, but hasn't reached double-digits in her last two matches. 
• Sarah Dannettell has been NWMSU primary setter. She has accounted for just over 80% of the Bearcats assists this season. Her 9.35 assists per set are eighth in the MIAA. She also has 54 kills, 131 digs and 22 blocks. 
• Similar to the Griffons, Northwest Missouri has found success through serving. They average 1.37 aces per set with Bruder and Olivia Nowakowski leading the way with 19 and 18. They are out-acing their opponents 85-56. 
• Northwest is only fifth in the MIAA with 2.01 blocks per set, but Alexis WIlliams sits in the top three in blocks per set with 1.11. She leads the team with 61 total blocks. Noone else has more than 36 blocks per set. She has eight blocks overall in her last three matches. 
• Nowakowski is the Bearcats defensive specialist. She has 254 digs for Northwest and her 4.10 digs per set is seventh in the MIAA. Bruder has also come up with 165 digs for Northwest.