WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Oct. 19, 2018) - Central Missouri Jennies Volleyball returns to Warrensburg this weekend for two MIAA matches.
Opponents: Missouri Western Griffons (12-13, 4-8 MIAA)
Northwest Missouri Bearcats (18-5, 10-2 MIAA)
When: Friday-Saturday, Oct. 19-20
Friday, Oct. 19 vs. Missouri Western - 6 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 20 vs. Northwest Missouri - 3 p.m.
Where: Warrensburg, Mo. - UCM Multipurpose Building
How to Watch
• This weekend's matches will be broadcast live on the MIAA Network. Fans can access the stream by visiting www.themiaanetwork.com/ucmmules. The game will also feature live stats which can be found at www.ucmathletics.com.
First Serve
• Central Missouri is back home after a three-match road trip this weekend to take on Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri.
• For four straight weeks the Jennies have been ranked either 16th or 17th by the AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association). For the last two weeks they were 16th in the country before sliding down to 17th, which is where they were three weeks ago.
• The Jennies already started this week with a win, sweeping Lindenwood 3-0 Tuesday in St. Charles and finished their road trip at 2-1.
Story Lines
• Central Missouri and the Griffons have already met twice this season. They faced off by chance at the Colorado Premier Challenge in the Third Place Game in the second week of the season. The Jennies got the win 3-2 after falling behind 2-0. The Jennies then again defeated the Griffons 3-2 in their conference opener also back in September.
• The Jennies lead the all-time series with both teams by a pretty large margin. The Jens are 81-7 against Missouri Western after their win two weeks ago and are 93-8 against the Bearcats. Northwest Missouri has gotten one win over UCM in each of the last three seasons.
• One of those wins for the Bearcats came earlier this season. Northwest defeated the Jennies 3-0 in September in their season opener. The Bearcats hit over .400 against the Jennies in the match, the highest opponent attack percentage against UCM this season.
Quick Hits
Last Time Out
• Central Missouri concluded a three-match road trip with a 3-0 win over Lindenwood. The sweep was the Jennies first since Oct. 5 against Fort Hays State.
Audrey Fisher hit over .700 for the match with 12 kills on 17 attempts.
Previously Against Missouri Western/Northwest Missouri
• The Jennies and Griffons have had two great battles already this season with UCM coming out on top 3-2 in both. In the first, UCM came back from down 2-0 and most recently was down 2-1 before winning in five.
Audrey Fisher,
Rylee Neigenfind and
Hannah VanBuskirk all had double-figure kills. The next day, the Jens struggled at Northwest Missouri and fell 3-0 as the Bearcats hit .408 against the Jens.
UCM in the Polls
• In the American Volleyball Coaches Poll, the Jennies fell one spot to No. 17 after being ranked 16th the previous two weeks. They had been ranked as high as No. 9 and have appeared in all nine polls. The Jennies were ranked in the top-10 twice this season after starting out at No. 22 in the preseason.
• In the MIAA preseason poll, the Jens were picked to finish fourth behind Nebraska-Kearney, Missouri Western and Central Oklahoma. They finished with 85 points and one first place vote.
Around the MIAA
• All 12 teams are in action this weekend.
• Washburn fell from the ranks of the unbeaten last weekend with a 3-0 loss to Northwest Missouri. The Ichabods and Nebraska-Kearney are tied atop the standings at 11-1. Central Oklahoma and Northwest Missouri are each 10-2 followed by the Jennies at 8-4. Those five teams are the only ones with a winning record in conference play. The top four teams will all host an MIAA quarterfinal round match.
Individual Milestones
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Aubree Bell needs three more digs to get to 250.
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Hannah Engelken is 10 blocks away from 100.
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Kylie Hohlen needs 15 more kills to set a career-best for a single season.
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Ally Offerdahl is two kills shy of 200.
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Carly Offerdahl is counting down to 1,000 career digs. She needs 55 more.
.300 or Better
• If you didn't see the match, a good way to know if UCM won is to look at the hitting percentage. Under Coach Piontek, Central Missouri 110-0 when they hit at least .300. While it hasn't happened often under Piontek, UCM is just 3-13 when surrendering a .300 attack percentage to their opponent. The Jennies hit .333 Tuesday against Lindenwood, their highest attack percentage this season.
League Leaders
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Audrey Fisher leads the MIAA hitting .359 this season. She is also fourth in the league with 3.59 kills per set.
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Kylie Hohlen is fifth in kills per set with 3.13.
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Ally Offerdahl is third in assists per set at 10.85.
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Hannah Engelken is fourth with 1.02 blocks per set.
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Abby Skrastins is in the top-10 in digs with 4.40 digs per set which is seventh in the league.
• As a team, the Jennies are second in the league with 14.16 kills per set and 13.29 assists per set.
• They also sit second in the league with 18.43 digs per set.
• The Jennies .229 attack percentage is fifth in the league.
Top-25 Opponents
• This season the Jennies have already played nine top-25 opponents. They are 4-5 in those games this season and are 61-47 all-time under Coach Piontek against ranked opponents. The Jennies will take on Northwest Missouri this upcoming weekend who is currently receiving votes. They also have Washburn left on the schedule who is currently ranked 11th by the AVCA.
Heating Up
• In 10 of the Jennies last 11 matches they have hit at least .200 with six matches above .250 and three higher than .300.
• During that stretch, the Jennies have hit .254 and raised their team hitting percentage .019 points from .211 to .230.
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Audrey Fisher has been a big reason for the bump as she leads the team with a .384 attack percentage and 3.97 kills per set during the 11-game span.
Scouting the Opposition
Missouri Western Griffons (12-13, 4-8 MIAA)
• Missouri Western has struggled mightily after getting off to a good start this season. They have dropped three straight and four of their last five. They are now under .500 for the season at 12-13 and 4-8 in the MIAA.
• The Griffons still average more than 13 kills per set at 13.05. Stephanie Doak is the team leader with 353 kills and 3.84 kills per set. That puts her second in the MIAA and she leads the league in total kills.
• Lauren Murphy is the Griffons setter. She is second in the league with 10.96 assists per set. Murphy has had eight matches with 40+ assists including 70 in a match with St. Edward's.
• Defensively, Missouri Western is near the top of the MIAA in blocks. They average 2.08 blocks per set with Rachel Losch's 97 a team best. Audrey Keim is third in the MIAA with 5.29 digs per set. She has double-figure digs in all but three matches this season.
• Missouri Western is hitting .196 as a team this season, which is down from .230 when these two teams last met.
• Tiana Butler has 25 service aces of MWSU's 95. They've also allowed 86 aces to opponents.
Northwest Missouri Bearcats (18-5, 10-2 MIAA)
• Northwest Missouri has been a streaky team all season and are currently on a four match winning streak entering the weekend. They've also have winning streaks of nine and five matches.
• Maddy Bruder is the Bearcats top offensive player averaging 4.15 kills per set and her 336 total kills rank third in the MIAA. Hallie Sidney is sixth in the league with 3.12 kills per set.
• Maddy Ahrens is the team's primary setter. She averages 11.13 assists per set to lead the MIAA.
• Northwest's .246 attack percentage ranks second in the MIAA. Bruder is hitting .228 off of 927 attempts and Sofia Schleppenbach is hitting .349 with 196 kills and 48 errors on 424 attempts.
• With 127 service aces, the Bearcats rank second in the MIAA. Schleppenbach leads the way with 30. She is one of three Bearcats with more than 20 aces. Olivia Nowakowski has added 26 and Ahrens 28.
• Nowakowski is also the team's leader with 358 digs, averaging 4.42 digs per set. She is also 279/282 in service receptions. Bruder has added 258 digs and is second on the team.
• Bethany Elkins is coming up with 0.95 blocks per set to lead the team and has eight solo blocks.
