Jennies Volleyball Hosts Fort Hays State in MIAA Quarterfinal

WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Nov. 15, 2016) - The MIAA Volleyball Tournament gets underway this evening with quarterfinal round action. Central Missouri went 11-7 in the MIAA during the regular season, earning the No. 4 seed and a home draw against fifth-seeded Fort Hays State.

When: Tuesday, Nov. 15, 6 p.m.

Where: Warrensburg, Mo. - UCM Multipurpose Building

Opponent: No. 5 seed Fort Hays State (25-8, 11-7 MIAA)

How to Watch: Tonight's match 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.

Tickets: Tickets are $5 and can be purchased online or at the UCM Ticket Office in the Multipurpose Building. Children six years of age and younger are admitted for free.

First Serve
• The Jennies remain in the No. 16 spot in the AVCA rankings for the third straight week. 
• Central Missouri wrapped up the regular season at 22-9 and 11-7 in the MIAA. They earned the No. 4 seed in the upcoming MIAA Tournament. 
• Central Missouri has now won at least 20 games in a season for the 40th straight year. 

Story Lines
• The Jennies are 23-2 all-time against Fort Hays State. They are 1-1 this season. Coach Piontek is 13-1 all-time against the Tigers and Central Missouri a perfect 9-0 against Fort Hays State playing Warrensburg.
• In their match last month, the Jens swept the Tigers 26-24, 25-16, 27-25. Kasey Hohlen landed 16 kills leading three Jennies in double-figures. Maddie Jones picked up 15 and Molly Lawrence added 11. Kourtney Thompson averaged 11 assists per set, handing out 44 in the win. Carly Offerdahl was one of four Jennies with 10+ digs, registering 14.
• The Tigers did get the better of UCM in Hays on the final day of September. The Tigers outhit the Jennies .239-.178 with Crystal Whitten picking up 14 kills. Kylie Hohlen led the Jennies with 15 kills and recorded 10 digs. 
• Sophomore Kylie Hohlen won her first MIAA Hitter of the Week award last week. This week she won her second. The sophomore outside hitter connected for 35 kills and a 3.18 kills per set average while also aiding on defense with 44 digs and four digs per set.
• Central Missouri swept the MIAA weekly awards this week as redshirt-freshman Carly Offerdahl joined Hohlen. Offerdahl led the Jens with 66 digs on the week for a 6.0 dig per set average. She also passed out 16 assists and landed three service aces. 
• In the final week of the regular season the Jennies went 3-0 with 3-0 wins over Lindenwood and Missouri Western. The Jennies also came-from-behind to defeat No. 25 Northwest Missouri. Their wins over the Griffons and Bearcats avenged a previous pair of losses earlier this season.
• Last season, Central Missouri went 15-3 in conference, on their way to their 14th MIAA Tournament Championship. 
• The Jennies went 30-5 during the regular season in 2015 and appeared in their 33rd consecutive NCAA Tournament. 

Quick Hits
UCM in the Polls
Central Missouri remained at No. 16 in this week's AVCA Poll. They've now been ranked 16th for three straight weeks and four of the last six. Their 16th ranking matches their lowest of the season. The Jennies have been ranked as high as sixth this season on two separate occasions. 

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 11/15/2016)
On the offensive end of the floor, the Jennies are four in the MIAA in both team hitting percentage (.234) and kills per set (13.78). Cheyanne Lyons is the team leader and is eighth in the league at 2.94 kills per set. The Jens have two in the MIAA top-10 in hitting percentage with Kourtney Thompson fifth at .346 and Kasey Hohlen eighth at .328. In conference only games, Thompson is second in the MIAA hitting .375 while Maddie Jones is eighth hitting .316.

Also in conference only games, Katie Carlson is fifth in the conference with 0.29 aces per game. The Jens have two in the top-10 in digs per set with Kylie Hohlen ninth at 4.05 digs per set and Carly Offerdahl a spot behind her in 10th recording 3.97 digs per set in conference games.

At the national level, the Jennies rank 21st in kills per set, 33rd in hitting percentage and 30th in assists per set. Thompson is a big help to those last two, she's 44th in hitting percentage and 48th in assists per set. 

Career Milestones
Senior setter Kourtney Thompson is well over 3,000 career assists standing at 3,310 for her career. Her 9.85 assists per set are seventh all-time at UCM.

Maddie Jones surpassed 900 career kills earlier in the season. At 972 she is just 28 away from 1,000. Jones also went over 250 career blocks last week at Lindenwood. She has 259 for her career.

Fellow senior Mackenzie Harding went over 250 career kills in the Jennies last match at Northwest Missouri. Harding has 154 kills this season, a career-best. She also reached 100 career blocks earlier in the season.

Redshirt-freshman Carly Offerdahl went over 300 career and season digs last Tuesday at Lindenwood. She needs 35 more to reach 400 and has gone over 20 digs in her last three matches.

Junior Kasey Hohlen went over 100 career total blocks two weeks ago. She has 118 blocks in less than two full seasons. She also went over the 400 career kill mark last weekend and needs 14 more for back-to-back 200 kill seasons.

Cheyanne Lyons has played sparingly since returning from injury. She is now just eight kills shy of reaching 400 for her career. She has set a single-season high with 229 kills this season. 

Sophomore Kylie Hohlen is nearing a few career milestones. She needs just 18 more kills to reach 500 and 17 more digs for 800. She is also one service ace away from 60 and two blocks shy of 40. 

Jennies in the MIAA Tournament
Central Missouri has had a great deal of success in the MIAA Tournament. Throughout the 19 years the tournament has been held (1982-92, 2003-07, 2012, 2013, 2015) Central Missouri has a 46-6 all-time record.

Jennies at Home
Jennies Volleyball has always enjoyed a home-court advantage. This season, UCM is 10-3 at the Multi and throughout his eight-year career, Coach Piontek is 110-10 in Warrensburg. 

Magic Number
Throughout Coach Piontek's tenure at the helm of UCM Volleyball, there has been one surefire way to determine if the Jennies won - checking out the hitting percentage. When UCM hits .300 or better for the match, the Jennies are a perfect 99-0 under Piontek. That includes going 11-0 this season. Things normally work out even if they fall a little short. They are 20-0 this season and 195-10 when hitting at least .200 for a match. 

Against Unranked Opponents 
The Jennies have faced one of the toughest schedules in the nation, playing 11 regular season games against ranked opponents, including five matches against top-10 teams. In their 20 games against unranked opponents, the Jennies have made the most of their opportunities posting an 18-2 record against teams outside the top-25. With their win over Missouri Western on Friday, Coach Piontek is 203-10 against unranked teams in his eight years. However UCM went 1-1 against unranked Fort Hays State in the regular season.

Scouting the Opposition
Fort Hays State Tigers (25-8, 11-7 MIAA)
• Fort Hays State finished the regular season tied with UCM at 11-7 in the MIAA, but are the No. 5 seed in the tournament due to number of sets won, 4-3 during the regular season. 
• Hays comes to Warrensburg on a three match winning streak and won five of their last six matches.
• The Tigers are in the top-15 in the NCAA-II in four stat categories: blocks per set (2.35), total assists, (1,471), total kills (1,570), and total blocks (268). 
• Hannah Wagy controls the Tiger offense and is third in the MIAA with 11.53 assists per set. Wagy also helps out defensively with 243 digs and 48 total blocks. Her 1,254 total assists is sixth in the nation.
• The Tigers have Callie Christensen to thank for most of their blocks this season. She's 12th in the country in total blocks at 135 and 19th with 1.21 blocks per set. Both marks lead the MIAA. Rebekah Spainhour is also over 100 blocks this season with 105 and is sixth in the MIAA in hitting percentage at .346.
• Offensively, the Tigers rely on Spainhour and Crystal Whitten. Whitten leads the MIAA with 4.14 kills per set and her 462 total kills is 11th in Division II. Spainhour's 3.23 kills per set are fifth in the conference. Whitten's numbers go up in conference play averaging 4.38 kills per set against conference opponents. 
• Defensively, two Tigers have more than 300 digs this season, led by Whitten's 366. Ari Jacobsen has 3.99 digs per set and 299 digs, just one shy of joining the 300 dig club.
• FHSU doesn't generate many points off the serve, but Crystal Whitten has provided 25 service aces.