MARYVILLE, Mo. (Nov. 12, 2016) – No. 16 Central Missouri completed a major comeback Saturday night against No. 25 Northwest Missouri in their regular season finale. After losing the first two sets, the Jennies clawed back to win the final three sets for the 3-2 win (15-25, 22-25, 25-17, 28-26, 17-15).
With the win, the Jennies move to 22-9 for the season and finish the MIAA regular season at 11-7. They also jump to the No. 4 spot in next week's MIAA Tournament. They will host No. 5 Fort Hays State Tuesday night.
Three Jennies finished the night with double-digit kills.
Kylie Hohlen led all scorers with 17 kills, while
Kasey Hohlen added 13 and
Molly Lawrence 12.
Kourtney Thompson tied a season-high with 51 assists and
Carly Offerdahl picked up 25 digs.
Kylie Hohlen notched her seventh double-double with 19 digs.
Central Missouri put back a season-high 14 blocks, four more than their previous best this season.
Kasey Hohlen did most of the damage with a career-high eight blocks, while
Mackenzie Harding added six and Thompson and
Maddie Jones each chipped in with four.
The Jennies took an early lead in the opening set, 5-3, but a 5-0 Bearcat run gave them a lead they never gave back. Northwest continued to build their lead, ending the set 25-15.
It was the Bearcats this time that got in front, racing to an eight-point lead, 11-3 in set two. Still down six at 17-11, the Jennies made a move to get back in the game, going on a 4-1 run to cut the lead to three, 18-15. The Jens kept clawing back and brought the set to one, 23-22, on kill from Thompson, but a service error and Bearcat kill gave Northwest a 2-0 lead in the match.
Central Missouri got back into the match with a 25-17 win in set three. A close battle from the start saw the two teams tied at 17-all. From there, the Jennies scored the final eight points of the set for the win.
Kasey Hohlen and Harding each had two kills during the 8-0 stretch.
Like the third set, set four was another back-and-forth affair with 10 ties and six lead changes. A 3-1 spurt for the Bearcats seemed to put them in charge, 10-7, but the Jens rallied, with an 8-3 run of their own, taking a two-point lead, 15-13. The Jens continued to hold onto a slim lead, but a kill from Jackie Becker tied the frame at 24-all. NWMSU got to match point at both 25-24 and 26-25, but three straight attack errors gave UCM a 28-26 win in the set.
A kill from Darcy Sunderman gave the Bearcats a three-point lead in the fifth and final set, 9-6. They pushed that to four, 13-9 after a bad set from Thompson. But as they had all night long, the Jennies rallied back, using a 5-1 run to tie the set at 14-all, and kills from
Maddie Jones and
Kylie Hohlen ended the match, 17-15, in UCM's favor.
Six different Bearcats picked up double-digit kills led by Alexis Williams and Maddy Bruder with 13. Jackie Becker landed 10 kills and six blocks. Olivia Nowakowski dug out a game-high 27 attacks and Sarah Dannettell dished out a team-high 27 assists.
The Jennies have a quick turnaround before the MIAA Tournament. They'll host the No. 5 seed Fort Hays State Tigers Tuesday, Nov. 15 at the Multi. First serve is scheduled
for 6 p.m.
