WARRENSBURG, Mo. – No. 23 Central Missouri Jennies (4-5, 0-0 MIAA) defeated the Drury Panthers (6-3, 0-0 GLVC) by a final score of 3-1 (27-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-22) on Friday, Sept. 20, in the opening match of the UCM Challenge from Dr. Peggy Martin Court inside the Jerry M. Hughes Athletics Center in Warrensburg.
Trailing 24-20 in the opening set, Central Missouri began a 7-1 run with a middle blocker
Rachel Ziesman (11 kills and three blocks overall) kill from
Kayla Baer (career and match-best 55 assists and three digs overall) before ending it with the fifth kill of the set from
Elinor Engel giving UCM a 1-0 advantage.
Engel, a sophomore from Shawnee, Kan., ended the night with a career and match-high 22 kills adding five digs and three blocks for good measure.
After dropping the second set highlighted by a 5-0 Jennies run, Drury responded in the third with a 25-19 win cutting the UCM lead to one.
In the fourth, the Jens began the set on a 7-1 run and never relinquished picking up their fourth victory of the season. Central Missouri had four players end the match with double-digit digs including 20 from freshman
Brenna Kelly, 19 from libero
Grace Winkelmann (match-high four service aces), while seniors
Tiffany Little (nine kills and two blocks) and
Arley Anderson collected 15 each.
Freshman
Grace Wagers had nine kills on 20 swings (.350 hitting percentage) adding five blocks, plus, outside hitter
Gillian Bachali had five kills on the night.
The Jens return to the court on Friday, Sept. 27, as they begin conference play against No. 4 Nebraska-Kearney (11-0, 0-0 MIAA) beginning at 6:00 p.m. from Dr. Peggy Martin Court inside the Jerry M. Hughes Athletics Center in Warrensburg.
