WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Oct. 17, 2019) - Central Missouri Jennies Volleyball takes their season-long four game winning streak on the road for another AVCA top-25 battle this weekend.
Opponents
No. 4 Washburn Ichabods (15-2, 7-2 MIAA)
Emporia State Hornets (5-12, 1-8 MIAA)
When
Friday - Saturday, Oct. 18-19
Friday, Oct. 19 - 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 20 - 7 p.m.
Where
Friday, Oct. 19 at Washburn - Topeka, Kan.
Saturday, Oct. 20 at Emporia State - Emporia, Kan.
How to Watch
• This weekend's match will have live video that will be available on the Jennies BlueFrame portal page at www.themiaanetwork.com/ucmmules. Live stats for each match can be found at www.ucmathletics.com
First Serve
• Central Missouri plays three matches this week all on the road.
• The Jennies started their week with a 3-0 sweep at Northwest Missouri. They took down the Bearcats 25-20, 25-14, 25-18.
• Last week, UCM went 2-0 with home wins over Newman and Central Oklahoma.
• Central Missouri cracked the AVCA top-10 this week and come in at No. 9 in the rankings. It is the Jennies highest ranking this season.
Story Lines
• On the road this season, the Jennies are 6-1. They are 4-0 in conference road matches after defeating Northwest Missouri.
• Central Missouri has more than 50 all-time wins against both Emporia State and Washburn. They are 53-7 all-time against the Hornets and 53-17 against Washburn.
• The Jennies last loss to Emporia State came at home in October of 2014. They swept the Hornets in 2018.
• UCM and Washburn have had a heated rivalry of late, with the Jennies winning eight of the last 15 since 2011, splitting in 2018.
• The Jens win over Northwest Missouri gave them their first four-game winning streak of the season. UCM hasn't won five straight since a nine match winning streak in 2018.
Quick Hits
Last Time Out
• Central Missouri went on the road to defeat No. 14 Northwest Missouri in straight sets (25-20, 25-14, 25-18). The Jens hit .277 while holding the Bearcats under .100. Aubrell Bell had a double-double with 12 kills and 12 digs.
Ally Offerdahl passed out 34 assists.
Previously Against Washburn/Emporia State
• The last time UCM went to Topeka to take on a Washburn team ranked in the top-10, they swept them, 3-0.
Ally Offerdahl had 41 assists,
Kylie Hohlen and
Hannah Engelken 12 kills each and the Jens put down nine blocks. Following that win, they almost suffered a set back, needing five sets to defeat the Hornets after getting ahead 2-0. Hohlen landed 19 kills and
Audrey Fisher 18 with sick blocks.
UCM in the Polls
• In the American Volleyball Coaches Association Preseason Poll, the Jennies moved up four spots into the top-10 at number nine. It is their 432nd 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
•
Ally Offerdahl is closing in on the UCM all-time top-10 in assists. Tenth place is 3,627. Offerdahl needs 261 more to get into the top-10. She is also 23 digs away from 900.
•
Aubree Bell is nearing 500 digs needing 16 more.
•
Hannah Engelken will get to 200 blocks with seven more.
•
Abby Skrastins needs two more service aces for 50 in her career.
•
Rylee Neigenfind will hit 500 kills with 26 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 116-0 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 .488 in their win over Newman and they hit better than .300 in two straight matches.
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. The Jennies are off to a 3-5 start this season against ranked opponents. The Jennies will play one more top-25 opponent this week at No. 4 Washburn.
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 five matches to four sets and five to five sets.
• Of their 70 sets, 33 have been decided by just five points or less. The Jens are 17-16 in those 33 sets.
MIAA Leaders
• In MIAA only games, the Jennies have the best attack percentage in the league at .277. They also average the most kills with 14.91 and assists with 13.59 while sharing the lead for the most aces at 1.53.
•
Audrey Fisher is in the MIAA top-10 in both hitting percentage and aces. She leads the league both in MIAA only matches hitting .429 and .381 overall. She's seventh overall with 0.33 aces per match with 0.38 in conference matches, fourth-highest.
• Four is a popular number among the Jennies.
Hannah Engelken is fourth with 0.94 blocks per set,
Abby Skrastins is fourth with 5.13 digs per set and
Ally Offerdahl is fourth with 10.80 assists per set. Offerdahl is also 20th in the league with 3.00 digs per set while Engelken is 16th hitting .273.
•
Sydney Lierz ranks 12th with 2.79 kills per set overall and third in MIAA games with 3.56.
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
No. 4 Washburn Ichabods (15-2, 7-2 MIAA)
• So far this season, Washburn has two losses to Nebraska-Kearney and zero against everybody else. The Ichabods are 15-2 and 7-2 in the MIAA. Their only loss, both sweeps against the Lopers
• Noone in the MIAA this season has more kills than Washburn. They average 14.27 kills per set. Their also the best at stopping opponent kills, allowing just 9.05 kills per set.
• Individually, Genna Berg, two-time MIAA Player of the Week, leads the team with 211 kills. her 3.84 kills per set rank second in the MIAA. Berg also plays a hand on defense with 172 digs, second most on the team and 34 blocks.
• The Ichabods have three others in the MIAA top-20 in kills pet set: Kelsey Gordon is 15th (2.68), Allison Maxwell is 17th (2.63) and Erica Montgomery is 20th (2.55).
• The offense runs through setter Allison Sadler. She is second in the MIAA in assists per set with 11.02. Sadler also leads the team with 23 service aces.
• Kelsey Gordon and Allison Maxwell do the most damage up the middle. They both have more than 40 blocks this season with Gordon at 0.89 and Maxwell at 0.83.
• Faith Rottinghaus is third in the league in digs with 5.40 digs per set. She averaged more than 10 digs per set in the Ichabods loss to Nebraska-Kearney.
Player to Watch
Genna Berg (5-9 - OH - Jr. - Blue Springs, Mo.) - 3.84 kills per set, .287 attack %, seven straight 10+ kill matches
Emporia State Hornets (5-12, 1-8 MIAA)
• Emporia State has lost two straight and 11 of 12 matches after starting out 4-1. They sit at 5-12 this season with just one conference win in nine matches.
• The Hornets are led by Yuchen Du who can (and has) done a little bit of everything. She is playing more outside this season after seeing plenty of time at setter in 2018. She is 11th in the MIAA in kills per set in 2019 with 2.87 and has 68 assists and 129 digs. Last season, Du had five triple-doubles.
• The Hornets are hitting .161, next to last in the MIAA this season. However Aliyah Bernard is fifth individually hitting .347 in 61 sets with 134 kills and just 26 errors. She is also 10th in the league in blocks with 0.79 per set.
• Two Hornets are in the MIAA top-15 in digs per set. Shelby Innes leads the team with 224 and has 3.56 in 63 sets. Rylie Fornelli is 14th in the MIAA with 161 in 47 sets and 3.43 digs per set.
• The primary setter this season has been Emma Dixon. She averages 7.57 assists per set. Riley Bernskoetter has also seen time with 3.50 assists per set in 24 sets played.
• The Hornets have both scored and allowed exactly 68 service aces. Mikayla Simons and Innes each have 12. They've done better in conference season with 1.06 aces per set, up from 1.01 overall.
• Emporia State opponents are hitting .207 this season with 856 kills.
Player to Watch
Yuchen Du (6-0 - S/OH - Jr. - Beijing, China) - 13 double-figure kill matches, 6 double-doubles
