WARRENSBURG — No. 21 Central Missouri volleyball gave a record-breaking home crowd the performance anticipated, and maybe even more, in a match with No. 10 Nebraska-Kearney.
In front of 1,435 fans, the Jennies swept the Lopers 25-21, 25-21, 25-18 to clinch an outright MIAA regular season title Saturday, Nov. 11, on the Multipurpose Building’s main court.
The configuration was special to the last two home matches of the regular season.
“Props to my assistant Christi Lutman and the rest of my staff,” UCM head coach Caitlin Peterson said. “They kind of dreamed up this ... I think it was an incredible opportunity to showcase good volleyball in Division II. I think it’s a great opportunity. I’m really proud they showed up and performed at the level they did to the people that came and invested and really see what it’s all about.”
Central Missouri (21-7, 18-2 MIAA) finished with a match-best .276 hitting percentage that translated to 41 kills.
Three Jennies finished with double-digit kills, anchored by 10 each from redshirt senior outside hitter Kersti Nix, freshman outside hitter Emma Siron and freshman middle blocker Elinor Engel.
Redshirt senior setter Olivia Olson had 35 assists. Kearney (26-4, 16-4 MIAA) hit just .152 in the match, a number boosted by a .216 third set. The Jennies had a .400 attack percentage in the final set.
“We really try to teach them to take big swings in big moments,” Peterson said. “We want to be in those moments. We want to have the confidence to do what we’ve trained to do. They really came out and executed that today.”
UCM tallied 13 blocks and seven aces, both the most to be recorded against Kearney this season.
Sophomore middle blocker Rahel Ziesman had eight blocks, Olson had five blocks and Siron had five blocks. Siron paced UCM with three aces.
The Jennies also benefited from 14 digs from junior Arley Anderson, 11 from Lierz and 10 from Olson.
“That was one of the biggest games they’ve played in for a long time,” Peterson said. “Going into it, I felt good and I felt confident. They had a good serve and pass session this morning. You never know. Kearney is a great team. We knew they were going to give us all we could handle. I’m proud of how they rose to the challenge, stepped up and played their hearts out.”
Central Missouri is just the second team to have swept the Lopers this season, joined by Washburn. UCM last swept UNK in 2015.
Along with clinching its second outright conference title in the last three years, Saturday’s win gave UCM the No. 1 seed for the MIAA Tournament, slated to be played Thursday, Nov. 16, through Saturday, Nov. 18, at the St. Joseph Civic Arena.
The Jennies will open the tournament against No. 8 Emporia State at 5 p.m. Thursday. The winner will face No. 4 Missouri Western or No. 5 Washburn in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
The championship game will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday.
“As happy as I am about this, this is not the end,” Peterson said. “We’ve got bigger goals we want to achieve. I know they are quite capable.”
Joe Andrews can be reached at 660-747-8123.
