Jennies Hit the Road for Midweek Tilt

WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Oct. 1, 2019) - Central Missouri Jennies Volleyball plays the first of three matches this week on the road tonight.

Opponent
William Jewell Cardinals (5-8, 1-1 GLVC)

Where
Liberty, Mo.

When
Tuesday, Oct. 1 - 7 p.m.

How to Watch
• Tuesday's match will have live video that will be available on the Cardinals BlueFrame portal page at www.glvcsn.com/jewell. Live stats for each match can be found at www.ucmathletics.com

First Serve
• Central Missouri Jennies Volleyball will play three matches this week. They'll be on the road for a midweek match at William Jewell before coming home to play Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State in MIAA contests.
• Central Missouri is slotted at No. 14 this week in the AVCA top-25 poll. They had been ranked 12th for the previous two weeks. 
• Last week, UCM went 2-0 on the road at Missouri Southern and Pittsburg State picking up sweeps in each win.

Story Lines
• The Jennies are 8-0 against the Cardinals all-time. They have swept William Jewell each of the last three seasons.
• This match will be the Jennies final regular season non-conference match for 2019. They are 5-3 thus far in non-conference matchups.
• The Jennies haven't lost a match on a Tuesday during Coach Piontek's tenure. UCM is 40-0 all time when playing on Tuesday's. They are also 118-7 under Piontek taking on opponents from the state of Missouri. 
• The 65 mile drive from Warrensburg to Liberty will be the Jennies shortest road trip of the season.
• So far UCM has played six true road games in their first 12 contests. They are 4-2 in those four games and 8-3 overall away from Warrensburg.
• The Jennies picked up their first MIAA Player of the Week award this week as Ally Offerdahl was named the MIAA Specialist of the Week.

Quick Hits
Last Time Out
• Central Missouri swept a pair of MIAA road matchups last weekend going 3-0 against Missouri Southern and Pittsburg State. The Jennies hit a season-best .361 against Missouri Southern with 55 kills and 11 errors. Sydney Lierz set a career-high with 19 kills. Ally Offerdahl passed out 43 assists in three sets. Against the Gorillas, Lierz also led the Jens with 13 kills. Audrey Fisher hit .440 with 12 kills. 

Previously Against William Jewell
• The Jennies swept the Cardinals on the road last year, 25-14, 25-16, 25-16. UCM hit .328 for the match with just seven errors. Audrey Fisher led the team with 14 kills on just 19 attempts, hitting .737 for the match. Ally Offerdahl passed out 34 assists and Kylie Hohlen had 21 digs.  

UCM in the Polls
• In the American Volleyball Coaches Association Preseason Poll, the Jennies moved up one spot to number 13. It is their 430th time ranked in the top-25, by far the most in Division II.  
• In the MIAA preseason poll, the Jens were picked to finish third behind Washburn and Nebraska-Kearney. They finished with 83 points and two first place votes. 

Individual Milestones
• Rylee Neigenfind needs four more digs to get to 300 for her career. 
• Ally Offerdahl needs five more blocks for 100 and 10 more digs for 800.
• Aubree Bell is approching 500 kills needing five more. 
• Hannah VanBuskirk needs just 11 more kills to reach 500. 

.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 113-0 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 a season-high .361 in their win at Missouri Southern last Friday. 

Top-25 Opponents
• Last season, the Jennies played 12 top-25 ranked teams among their 33 matches. They went 5-7 in those games. Things weren't much different to start 2019. Eight of the first 10 teams they faced were ranked or receiving votes in the top-25, including No. 1 overall, and defending champions Tampa. Their next ranked opponent is likely to be Nebraska-Kearney Oct. 4. UCM is 2-4 against ranked opponents this season.

Drama Club
• Facing a number of tough opponents, it's not hard to see why so many of their matches have gone to four and five sets. They've played four matches to four sets and four to five sets. 
• Of their 48 sets, 25 have been decided by just five points or less. The Jens are 13-12 in those 25 sets. 

MIAA Leaders
• Thus far, Central Missouri is in the MIAA top-five in hitting percentage (4th), assists (4th), kills (4th), service aces (3rd), opponent kills (4th) and opponent aces (5th).
• Speaking of assists, Ally Offerdahl has moved to third in the league with 10.52 assists per set. She has 505 which is second in the conference.
• Audrey Fisher sees her name a bunch of times in the MIAA top-10. She ranks fourth in hitting percentage at .344. She is also just outside the top-10 in service aces with 0.29 per set to rank 13th. Fisher is also in the MIAA top-20 in kills.
• On the defensive end, Abby Skrastins is fourth in the league with 5.02 digs per set. She is also second with 241 total digs.
• Hannah Engelken is seventh with 0.85 blocks per set. Her 41 total are also fourth. 

50 Years of Excellence 
• The 2019 season will mark the 50th in the storied history of Jennies Volleyball. All season long the Jennies will be celebrating that history with special events.
• Similar to the Silver Anniversary Team of 1994, the Jennies came out with a Gold Anniversary Team, adding 18 players from the past 25 years to the Silver Anniversary Team.
• The biggest event will be Oct. 12 during homecoming, when members of the 50 year team are invited back for a special celebration, including an on-court ceremony. 
• During each home match this season, UCM will recognize two of the newest members of the 50 year team. 

Scouting the Opposition
William Jewell Cardinals (5-8, 1-1 GLVC)
• William Jewell began their GLVC schedule last week and went 1-1 at home with a loss to Southern Indiana before a 3-0 sweep of McKendree.
• For the season, the Cardinals are 5-8. In their three matches against MIAA opponents, WJC is 0-3 having lost to Washburn, Emporia State and Northwest Missouri, winning just one set in the three matches.
• As a team this season, William Jewell is hitting .210 while averaging 12.3 kills per set. They've landed 601 kills while opponents have hit 629 with a .212 attack percentage.
• The Cardinals rank high in blocks with 2.0 per set. They've put back exactly 100 this season and their opponents are at 70.
• William Jewell has two players averaging more than three kills per set. Tori Vogt leads the team with 3.08 kills per set while Paityn Hardison is at 3.03.
• Elizabeth Quinn has 57 of the teams 100 blocks. Six of them are solo blocks with 51 block assists.
• Kennedy Ruckh is the teams primary defensive specialist. She averages 3.78 digs per set and is the only Cardinal with more than 100 digs this season at 185. She is second on the team with 190 service receptions.
• William Jewell commonly deploys two setters. Lauren Castaneda averages 5.97 which is a team-best. Megan Rhule is right behind her with 4.92. Rhule is more of an offensive threat with 16 kills.
• The Cardinals do not score much on the serve, they have just 31 aces this season, 0.6 per set. Ruckh leads the team with six. They have given up more than double that number, allowing 64, 1.31 aces per set.