EMPORIA, Kan. – The Central Missouri Jennies (15-7, 12-2) defeated the Emporia State Hornets (11-10, 5-8) by a final score of 3-2 (25-18, 19-25, 26-24, 20-25, 15-12) on Saturday, Oct. 21, inside White Auditorium in Emporia, Kan.
For the second consecutive match, UCM jumped out to an early 5-1 lead thanks to a pair of kills from middle blocker
Elinor Engel (15 kills, six blocks, and a career-high four digs overall) helping them take a 1-0 lead. After dropping the second set and trailing 23-19 in the third, the Jens went on a 7-1 run taking a 2-1 lead in the match highlighted by three kills from redshirt senior
Sydney Lierz (15 kills, 13 digs, and three service aces overall).
The Hornets responded with a 25-20 win in the fourth set as a fifth was needed to decide a winner. In the final set of the match with the score tied at six, Central Missouri took the lead for good thanks to an
Emma Siron (career-high three digs and two kills overall) kill from setter
Olivia Olson (match-high 55 assists, eight kills, seven digs, and a career-high seven blocks overall) as the Jens improve to 12-2 in MIAA play.
Redshirt senior
Kersti Nix led the Jens offensively with a match-high 22 kills on 42 swings (.357 attack percentage), while middle blocker
Rachel Ziesman added seven kills, a career-high six digs, and five blocks for good measure. Defensively, UCM outhit the Hornets by a margin of .259 to .198 in the match as libero
Grace Winkelmann (career-high three aces) and junior
Arley Anderson collected 13 digs each.
The Jens return to the court on Friday, Oct. 27, as they host the Pittsburg State Gorillas with first serve scheduled for 6:00 p.m. inside the Multipurpose Building in Warrensburg, Mo.
