Jennies Volleyball Finishes October on the Road

WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Oct. 27, 2017) - Central Missouri Jennies Volleyball ride a four game winning streak into their upcoming roadtrip in the northern part of the state.

Opponents: Northwest Missouri (13-11, 7-5 MIAA)
                    Missouri Western (16-9, 10-2 MIAA)

Where: Maryville, Mo. - Bearcat Arena
            St. Joseph, Mo. - MWSU Fieldhouse at Looney Complex

When: Friday, Oct. 27 - 6 p.m. at Northwest Missouri
           Saturday, Oct. 28 - 7 p.m. at Missouri Western

How to Watch
• This weekends match will be webcast online through Central Missouri's Blueframe Internet portal on the MIAA Network at TheMIAANetwork.com/ucmmules It is a pay-per-view broadcast. Live stats can be found at UCMathletics.com.

First Serve
• Central Missouri moved up to number 16 this week in the AVCA Coaches Poll after going 3-0 last week. They had previously been ranked 18th and earlier this season they reached their highest position in the poll, No. 15 after starting the season at No. 21 in the preseason poll.  
• This is the second straight week Central Missouri will play in three matches. They won earlier in the week defeating Lindenwood 3-0. This weekend Central Missouri travels to a pair of in-state rivals, Northwest Missouri and Missouri Western. 
• Missouri State is tied with the Jennies at 10-2 in the MIAA, along with Central Oklahoma in a three-way tie. Northwest Missouri is also in a playoff position at 7-5 in conference. 

Story Lines
• Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri are two of Central Missouri longest tenured rivals. The teams have played a combined 181 matches with the Jennies holding a 172-13 combined edge over their two opponents, but both teams split in the regular season with UCM in 2016.
• The Griffons are just 6-80 all-time against UCM, but have won one match against UCM each of the past two years. Prior to that, the Jennies had won 19 straight over MWSU with their last loss coming back in 2005.
• UCM is 92-7 all-time against NWMSU. The Bearcats win over the Jennies in 2016 was their first win since 1984. 
• Central Missouri wrapped up their four match homestand a perfect 4-0. They defeated William Jewell last Tuesday and Pittsburg State and Central Oklahoma last weekend before defeating  Lindenwood this past Tuesday. The Jennies will look for their fifth straight win. If they go 2-0 this weekend it will match a season-long winning streak. 
• Last season, UCM went 11-7 in conference and finished fourth overall in the regular season.
• With their win against Lindenwood, Central Missouri now has 37 straight 20 win seasons. 

Quick Hits
Last Time Out
Central Missouri picked up their fourth straight win Tuesday with a 3-0 win against Lindenwood. They went 4-0 on their homestand and remained undefeated at home at 7-0. Three Jennies had 10+ kills led by Aubree Bell's 13. Audrey Fisher had 12 and Kasey Hohlen had 10. Ally Offerdahl led the team with 31 and Kylie Hohlen had 16 digs. 

UCM in the Polls
The Jennies moved up to No. 16 this week in the AVCA Coaches Poll. They reached a high of No. 15 Sept. 11. They are the third-highest ranked MIAA team in the poll. UCM has moved up two spots in each of the last two polls. The Jens have been ranked in every AVCA poll since its inception in 1986, and this week, hit 405 straight weeks, the longest in the AVCA. 

Conference Leader Board (as of 10/26/2017)
Central Missouri's offense is at the top of the league in three major categories. UCM leads the MIAA with 13.45 assists per set as well as kills with 14.49 and are ranked in the top-15 in the NCAA in both. They are second in the league with a .242 attack percentage. 

Ally Offerdahl has been the one racking up the assists. Her 11.30 assists per set is second in the MIAA and is 18th in the NCAA. Kasey Hohlen leads the MIAA and is 16th in the NCAA with a .383 attack percentage. She is also fourth in kills per set with 3.52. Freshman Aubrey Fisher's .324 attack percentage is fourth in the MIAA. 

Defensively, Kylie Hohlen leads the league and ninth in Division II with 6.15 digs per set.

Audrey Fisher is not only fifth in the league in hitting percentage, she is at the top of the conference with 0.40 service aces per set and 35 total aces. 

Around the MIAA
There are only six conference matches left in the regular season. Four teams have at least 10 wins and Nebraska-Kearney tops the conference at 11-1. UCM, Central Oklahoma and Missouri Western enter this weekend at 10-2 in league play. Only one other team, Northwest Missouri is above .500 at 7-5. Eight teams make up the MIAA Tournament. The above five teams along with Washburn, Lindenwood and Emporia State would make the playoffs should the season end today. Missouri Southern is one game back in ninth place. 

Individual Milestones
• Coach Flip Piontek won his 250th career game with the win against Lindenwood. 
• Kasey Hohlen reached 700 career kills against Central Oklahoma.
• Carly Offerdahl notched her 600th career dig against Lindenwood. 
• Ally Offerdahl is 17 assists away from reaching 1,000. 
• Abby Skrastins needs just two digs to reach 200. 
• Molly Lawrence needs 18 more kills for 400 in her career. 

Stifling Defense
Four Jennies are now averaging at least two digs per set this season. Kylie Hohlen's 6.15 leads the team. Senior Katie Carlson has 256 digs and 2.94 digs per set and both Offerdahl's with Carly and Ally both averaging more than 2.30 digs per set. Aubree Bell is just shy with 1.94 digs per set. 

.300 or Better
If you didn't see the match, a good way to see if UCM won is to look at the hitting percentage. Under Coach Piontek, Central Missouri 104-0 when they hit at least .300. While it hasn't happened often under Piontek, UCM is also just 3-10 when surrendering a .300 attack percentage to their opponent. The Jennies hit .311 in their match with UCO. 

Double-Dipping
Only two Jennies this season have recorded a double-double. Ally Offerdahl has nine assist-dig double-doubles while Aubree Bell has five kill-dig double-doubles. No Jennies has recorded a triple-double since Sarah Dallas in 1997. Offerdahl seems to have the best chance. She's been in double-figure assists every game this season and has seven double-digit dig matches. Her career-high in kills is eight. 

Weekly Honors
Kasey Hohlen has received back-to-back MIAA Hitter of the Week honors. In fact, the Jennies have swept the awards each of the last two weeks. Hohlen's sister, Kylie, was the Specialist of the Week recipient last week while Ally Offerdahl took the award this week. Both Hohlen's have three MIAA weekly awards this year and Offerdahl now has two.

Scouting the Opposition
Northwest Missouri - 13-11, 7-5 MIAA
• Northwest Missouri is 13-11 this season and right in the hunt for a berth in the MIAA Tournament. At 7-5 they sit fifth in the MIAA standings. 
• Northwest has been great at home with a 4-1 mark. Their only loss was their last match vs. MWSU.
• Only one Bearcat has more than 200 kills so far this season and that is 2016 First-Team MIAA selection Maddy Bruder. The Outside Hitter leads NWMSU with 312 kills and 3.59 kills per set which is third in the league.
• Behind Bruder is Darcy Sunderman who has 174 kills and Morgan Lewis with 157. Sofia Schleppenbach has 151. 
• Sarah Dannettell averages 6.70 assists to lead the Bearcats. She also has picked up 62 kills and 137 digs with 25 total blocks this season.
• Lewis has been the team's top-blocker this season with 71. The Bearcats 1.94 blocks per set are ninth in the MIAA. In addition to Lewis, Schleppenbach has 45, Bruder has 43 and Alexis Williams has 38. 
• The Bearcat defense has been off to a good start this season. They rank 50th and are third in the MIAA in digs per set with 17.82 and are fifth in total digs with 1,550.
• The leader of the dig party has been All-MIAA libero Olivia Nowakowski. She averages 5.55 digs per set which is third in the league. Nowakowski is one of five Bearcats with more than 100 digs this season. Bruder has 268 and 3.29 per set. Sunderman has collected 2.43 digs per set and Dannettel is at 1.57. Gaby Dasilva has 113 digs and 2.05 per set. 
• Nowakowski and Sunderman also help out the Bearcat offense on the serve. Nowakowski leads the team with 20 while Sunderman has 17. NWMSU has eight more aces than their opponents and need three more to reach 100 this season. 
• The Bearcats are hitting .193 as a team with 1,104 total kills and 460 errors on 3,337 attempts. They also allow opponents to hit .163 which is the fifth best opponent hitting percentage in the MIAA. 

RV Missouri Western Griffons - 16-9, 10-2 MIAA
• Missouri Western has won five straight matches and are 10-2 in their last 12. They are also 10-2 in the MIAA which puts them in a three-way tie for second place. 
• At home, MWSU is 5-1 this season, their only loss came to West Texas A&M. 
• Three Griffons already have more than 200 kills this season. Stephanie Doak has 340 kills to lead the way and is second in the MIAA with 3.86 kills per set and her 340 total kills are also second on the league. 
• After Doak is Ali Tauchen who had 263 kills and Shellby Taylor who has 229. 
• Lauren Murphy is the team's setter and her 11.50 assists per set tops the MIAA. She's had at least 40 assists in each of the last three matches and had 63 against Central Oklahoma on Oct. 13. 
• The Griffons 183 total blocks has them eighth in the conference and in the top-40 in Division II. Two Griffons are in the top-15 in blocks per set in the MIAA. Tauchen is ninth with 0.98 blocks per set and Rachel Losch is 14th with 0.79 blocks per set.
• The Griffon defense is also led by Kayla Ruff. She is averaging 5.18 digs per set and has 477 total digs. Their 18.03 digs per set is leads the MIAA and 42nd in the nation. 
• Three other Griffons also have more than 200 digs. Tauchen is averaging 2.59 digs per set with 238 total. Audrey Keim has six fewer with 232 and is averaging 2.52 digs per set and Amanda Dalbey recently went over 200 with 227 digs and 2.47 digs per set.
• The Griffons have 100 service aces this season, led by Keim's 18. Ruff has 17 while Dalbey has 16. MWSU has given up 92 aces to opponents. 
• As a team, the Griffons are hitting .211 which is fifth in the MIAA. Rachel Losch is 10th in the league hitting .279 and Ali Tauchen is hitting .253. Stephanie Doak is right at .200 from the outside hitter position.