CANYON, Texas – No. 15 Central Missouri Jennies (1-1, 0-0 MIAA) split a pair of matches sweeping the West Virginia State Yellow Jackets (0-2, 0-0 Mountain East) by a final score of 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 27-25) before falling to No. 3 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs (2-1, 0-0 LSC) by a final score of 3-1 (15-25, 25-19, 23-25, 22-25) on Friday, Sept. 6, in the opening day of the BritKare Lady Buff Classic.
The Jens return to the court on Saturday, Sept. 7, for a match against the Texas A&M International Dustdevils (1-2, 0-0 LSC) with first serve scheduled for 11:00 a.m. from WTAMU Fieldhouse in Canyon, Texas.
No. 15 Central Missouri 3, West Virginia State 0 (25-17, 25-22, 27-25)
After a tied score at 11 in the opening set, the Jens took the opening set thanks to a 14-6 run highlighted by four kills from middle blocker
Rachel Ziesman (eight kills and a team-high three blocks overall) and 12 assists from freshman
Maddie Wojdyla (match-high 36 assists, four digs, and two service aces overall).
Leading 23-22 in the second set, Central Missouri closed it out with back-to-back kills from sophomore
Maya Fergerson (career, match, and team-high 10 kills and a career-best two blocks overall) and Ziesman (three kills in the set). Sophomore
Emma Siron (match-high 10 kills, career-high nine digs, and two service aces) and Fergerson led the Jens offensively with four kills in the set.
The Yellow Jackets were on the verge of cutting their deficit in half in the third with a 24-20 lead, but UCM responded with a 7-1 run taking advantage of four WVSU attack errors as freshman
Brenna Kelly (nine digs and two assists overall) led the defensive effort with four digs.
The Jens outhit West Virginia State by a margin of .205 to .193 as sophomore
Elinor Engel had nine kills overall, while libero
Grace Winkelmann (match-high three service aces) had a match-high 14 digs. Sophomore
Emma Wheeler collected seven digs adding a career-high two service aces and one kill, plus middle blocker
Grace Wagers recorded four kills in the winning effort.
No. 3 West Texas A&M 3, No. 15 Central Missouri 1 (15-25, 25-19, 23-25, 22-25)
In the opening day finale, the Lady Buffs captured the first set but found themselves tied at 18 in the second set before Central Missouri evened the match at one on a 7-1 run beginning with a kill from
Maya Fergerson (career-high 10 kills, career-best three digs, and career-high three blocks overall) and ending with kill from middle blocker
Rachel Ziesman (match-high four blocks and three kills overall).
WTAMU responded with wins in the third and fourth sets to claim victory highlighted by a double-double performance from Emma Becker (14 digs and 12 kills).
Three Jens finished the match with double-digit kills including a career-high 15 from
Emma Siron (six digs and a career-best three service aces overall) and 12 from
Elinor Engel (three blocks and three digs overall), while libero
Grace Winkelmann collected a match-high 19 digs leading UCM defensively.
Freshman
Maddie Wojdyla recorded a match-high 43 assists adding five digs and one block, while defensive specialist
Emma Wheeler collected nine digs and sophomore
Kirsten Harper had five kills and two service aces for good measure.
