WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Nov. 6, 2018) - Central Missouri Jennies Volleyball begins the MIAA Tournament tonight on the road to take on Northwest Missouri State in the quarterfinal round.
Opponent: #4 seed Northwest Missouri State Bearcats (22-7, 14-4 MIAA)
Where: Maryville, Mo. - Bearcat Arena
When: Tuesday, Nov. 6 - 7 p.m.
How to Watch
• Tuesday's match 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 finished the regular season at 24-6 and 14-4 in the MIAA for the second straight season.
• The Jens fell into a tie for third place in the league regular season standings, however due to tie breakers fell to the fifth seed in the tournament.
• The Jennies are ranked 11th in the AVCA poll this week climbing up four spots from No. 15 where they had been ranked each of the last two weeks.
Story Lines
• The Jennies are are 94-9 all-time 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 MIAA opener. The Bearcats hit over .400 against the Jennies in the match, the highest opponent attack percentage against UCM this season.
• The Jennies have never been left out of the MIAA semifinals in postseason play.
• Their #5 seed is the lowest-seed for UCM in team history.
• Each of the last two seasons, the Jennies have won their MIAA quarterfinal round match at home and advanced to the semifinals where they were defeated by Nebraska-Kearney.
• This is a rematch of last year's MIAA Tournament Quarterfinals. The Jennies were the #4 seed and hosted the Bearcats in Warrensburg. Despite Northwest taking the first set, the Jennies advanced with a 3-1 win.
• With a win, the Jennies will match their win total from a year ago when they went 25-8. They also won 14 MIAA matches last year as well.
• Despite being the fifth-seed in the MIAA, the Jennies are ranked fourth in the Central Region. There is still one more set of rankings to be released before the NCAA selection show. The top-8 advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Quick Hits
Last Time Out
• Central Missouri made it eight straight with wins over Missouri Southern and Southwest Baptist on Senior Day.
Kylie Hohlen was the offensive leader in both matches and had a double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs against the Bearcats.
Carly Offerdahl averaged more than five digs per set for the weekend.
Previously Against Northwest Missouri
• The Jennies returned the favor against the Bearcats as both teams won on their home court this season. UCM dropped the first set, but came back to win the next three for a 3-1 win.
Kylie Hohlen led three Jennies with double-figure kills and
Ally Offerdahl passed out 55 assists. UCM also blocked 13 Bearcat attacks.
UCM in the Polls
• In the American Volleyball Coaches Poll, the Jennies moved up to No. 11 this week. They had been ranked as high as No. 9 and have appeared in all 12 polls.
• The second NCAA Regional Ranking came out and saw UCM move up from eighth to fourth. The top-eight teams move on to the NCAA Tournament with 3 automatic bids going to conference tournament winners and 5 at-large bids. The final rankings before the selection show will be released Wednesday, Nov. 7.
• 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.
Individual Milestones
•
Aubree Bell is one kill away from 400.
•
Audrey Fisher needs 11 more blocks to get to 100 this season and 24 more for 200 in her career.
•
Kylie Hohlen needs 24 kills to reach 900.
•
Rylee Neigenfind needs 11 kills to reach 100 for her career and seven digs for 200.
•
Carly Offerdahl is just seven digs shy of 1,100.
.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.
League Leaders
• The Jennies are the only team in the MIAA with two in the top-five in kills.
Audrey Fisher and
Kylie Hohlen go back-to-back with 3.35 and 3.29 kills per set to rank fourth and fifth.
•
Audrey Fisher also ranks third in hitting percentage at .343. and 16th in blocks per set with 0.80
•
Ally Offerdahl is third in assists per set at 10.95.
•
Hannah Engelken is third with 1.03 blocks per set.
•
Abby Skrastins,
Kylie Hohlen and
Carly Offerdahl all rank in the top-15 in the MIAA in digs per set. Skrastins is the highest at No. 11 while Hohlen and Offerdahl are back-to-back at 14th and 15th.
Top-25 Opponents
• This season the Jennies have already played 10 top-25 opponents. They are 5-5 in those games this season and are 62-47 all-time under Coach Piontek against ranked opponents. Northwest Missouri is receiving votes in this week's AVCA poll. Should the Jennies advance, there are three other MIAA teams ranked in the top-25.
Block Party
• Central Missouri is averaging 2.0 blocks per set this season, way up from their total of 1.64 last season.
• UCM has six matches this season with at least 10 blocks and are averaging 2.60 in their last five matches.
• Freshman
Hannah Engelken has more than 100 blocks already this season, the first time a Jen has picked up more than 100 blocks since 2014.
Audrey Fisher has 89. The last time two Jennies picked up more than 100 blocks in a season was in 2009 when they had three: Bradye Peniston, Paula Harris and Abby Gruenbacher.
MIAA Championships
• Central Missouri has won 14 MIAA Tournament titles in their history.
• The Jennies have never failed to qualify for the MIAA Championship tournament.
• The Jennies last MIAA Tournament win came in 2015.
• Central Missouri has advanced to the semifinals each of the last two seasons, where they were knocked out by Nebraska-Kearney.
Scouting the Opposition
Northwest Missouri Bearcats (22-7, 14-4 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 4.24 kills per set and her 432 total kills leads MIAA. Hallie Sidney is eighth in the league with 3.17 kills per set.
• Maddy Ahrens is the team's primary setter. She averages 11.44 assists per set to lead the MIAA.
• Northwest's .248 attack percentage ranks first in the MIAA. Bruder is hitting .233 off of 1182 attempts and Sofia Schleppenbach is hitting .355 with 258 kills and 58 errors on 563 attempts.
• With 152 service aces, the Bearcats rank second in the MIAA. Schleppenbach leads the way with 35. She is one of four Bearcats with more than 20 aces. Olivia Nowakowski has added 39 and Ahrens 33.
• Nowakowski is also the team's leader with 471 digs, averaging 4.62 digs per set. She is also 335/338 in service receptions. Bruder has added 316 digs and is second on the team.
• Bethany Elkins is coming up with 0.96 blocks per set to lead the team and has eight solo blocks.
