AVCA Top-25 Matchup Highlights Homestand

WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Oct. 2, 2019) - This weekend, No. 13 Central Missouri Jennies Volleyball will play a pair of MIAA home matches including a battle with another AVCA top-25 foe.

Opponents
No. 4 Nebraska-Kearney (13-0, 4-0 MIAA)
Fort Hays State (6-7, 3-2 MIAA)

Where
Warrensburg, Mo.

When
Friday, Oct. 4 - 6 p.m. vs. Nebraska-Kearney
Saturday, Oct. 5 - 3 p.m. vs. Fort Hays State

How to Watch
• This weekend's matches 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 Jennies Volleyball will play three matches this week. They've already won a road match at William Jewell and now will be coming home to play Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State in MIAA contests this weekend.
• Central Missouri is slotted at No. 13 this week in the AVCA top-25 poll. They moved up one spot this week from No. 14. They've reach a high of 12 this season. 
• 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 picked up their first MIAA Player of the Week award this week as Ally Offerdahl was named the MIAA Specialist of the Week.
• The Jennies have currently lost seven straight to Nebraska-Kearney with three of those coming in the MIAA Tournament. UCM's last win over the Lopers came in 2015 in the MIAA Tournament semifinals. All-time UCM is 12-13 against the Lopers.
• All-time the Jennies are 26-2 against Fort Hays State and 10-0 when playing in Warrensburg. One of Hays' two wins came in 2016. Their first ever win over UCM in Hays. Their only other win over UCM came in 2003. 

Quick Hits
Last Time Out
• Central Missouri went on the road to pick up a win in their final nonconference match of the season, 3-1 over William Jewell. Sydney Lierz led UCM for the sixth straight match in kills with 14 and picked up her second career double-double with 10 digs. Ally Offerdahl passed out 46 assists.

Previously Against This Weekend's Opponents
• The Jennies were knocked out of the MIAA tournament by the Lopers last season in a 3-0 loss. The Jens hit just .036 but two of the three losses came by four points or less.  Audrey Fisher had 10 kills. The Jens swept Fort Hays State in the regular season last year at home. Fisher hit .452 with 18 kills. Rylee Neigenfind had 10 kills on 17 attempts without an error and hit .588.

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 three more digs to get to 300 for her career. 
• Ally Offerdahl needs three more blocks for 100 and 40 more assists for 3200. When she reaches 3,627, she'll be in the UCM top-10 all-time. 
• Aubree Bell is approaching 500 kills needing five more. 
• Hannah Engelken will get to 200 blocks with 28 more. 
• Audrey Fisher will hit career kill number 900 with 19 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 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 Nebraska-Kearney this weekend who is ranked fourth. 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 52 sets, 26 have been decided by just five points or less. The Jens are 13-13 in those 26 sets. 

MIAA Leaders
• Thus far, Central Missouri is in the MIAA top-five in hitting percentage (4th), assists (3rd), kills (4th), service aces (4th), opponent kills (4th) and opponent aces (5th).
• Speaking of assists, Ally Offerdahl has moved to third in the league with 10.58 assists per set. She has 550 which leads the MIAA.
• Audrey Fisher sees her name a bunch of times in the MIAA top-10. She ranks fifth in hitting percentage at .342. She is also in the top-10 in service aces (16th - 0.27) and kills (17th - 2.62)
• On the defensive end, Abby Skrastins is fourth in the league with 5.04 digs per set. She is also second with 262 total digs.
• Hannah Engelken is sixth with 0.87 blocks per set. Her 45 total are also third. 

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 Nebraska-Kearney (13-0, 4-0 MIAA)
• Nebraska-Kearney is one of seven teams left in Division II yet to be beaten this season. They enter the weekend at 13-0 and 4-0 in the MIAA. Of their 13 wins, 10 have been 3-0 sweeps including their last four matches.
• The Lopers are in the top-five in the nation in two statistical categories. They are third in digs per set with 20.07 and fourth in opponent hitting percentage at .077.
• Individually, their highest nationally ranked player is Madison Squiers who is 32nd in assists per set with 10.35 which is just fourth in the MIAA. 
• The Lopers lead the MIAA in hitting percentage at .259. Only Julianne Jackson has more than 100 kills this season with 109. Five Lopers who have played in at least 20 sets are averaging more than 2.0 kills per set.
• The top-two in the MIAA in service aces are both Lopers. Anna Squires leads the league with 0.46 per set and Emma Benton is right behind her at 0.42 per set. The Lopers have landed 60 total service aces while having allowed just 27.
• As a team, UNK leads the MIAA in digs per set and their libero, Lindsay Nottlemann is fifth with 4.98 digs per set. Madison Squires and Julianne Jackson both average more than three digs per set.
• UNK is only in the middle of the pack in blocking. They are sixth in the MIAA with 1.72 blocks per set. They allow just 1.4 blocks per set against.
• Defensively, the Lopers are only allowing 9.23 kills per set.

Fort Hays State (6-7, 3-2 MIAA)
• Fort Hays State has won two straight matches and are up to 3-2 in the MIAA this season and a game under .500 at 6-7. 
• The Tigers have gone 3-1 in the MIAA after losing their first conference match. They have a pair of wins over Emporia State and one over newcomer, Newman.
• The Tigers are hitting .203 this season and have held opponents under .200 at .192. Tatum Bartels leads the team hitting .332 with 2.52 kills per set.
• Their top offensive hitter has been Delaney Humm. She is third in the MIAA landing 3.61 kills per set. Twice this season Humm has landed more than 20 kills and has five straight double-digit kill matches. Humm is also the team leader in service aces with eight. The Tigers have just 39 aces this season while opponents have hit 70.
• Isabelle Reynolds is approaching 100 kills this season with 95. 
• Katie Darnell has gotten most of the setting work with 386 assists, averaging 8.77 assists per set. Freshman Haley McCorkle has also seen time at setter and has 87 assists and 5.12 assists per set in 17 sets played.
• Abbie Hayes has scooped up 176 digs this season and leads the Tigers with 3.83 per set. She also has 282 service receptions and has a 96.6 reception percentage.
• The Tigers Morgan Christiansen has put back 34 blocks and has 0.83 blocks per set to lead the squad. Bartels also has more than 20, she has 26 and averages 0.62 per set.