No. 8 ranked University of Central Missouri Jennies defeated MIAA foe Southwest Baptist, 3-0 (25-20, 25-11, 25-18) at home Wednesday evening. The Bearcats (5-4, 0-1 MIAA), entered Wednesday night’s matchup hitting .207 as a team (seventh best in the conference). They would not improve that statistic against the Jennies. For the fifth consecutive match, UCM (7-2, 2-0 MIAA) held their opponent under a .200 hitting percentage.
Both sides struggled to find a handle in the first set. UCM spotted the Bearcats with 13 points in the set, consisting of nine attack errors and four serving miscues. Southwest Baptist had their woes as well, but hung onto a 10-9 lead. Sophomore Bradye Peniston (Wichita, Kan.), led the Jens on an 11-3 run with a pair of kills to bring the score to 21-13 UCM. They would hang on and win the set from there.
UCM picked up the tempo through the remainder of the match. They forced a side out 90% of the time in the second set, while hitting .342 with only 3 errors. SBU managed to out-block the Jens five to one. Abby Gruenbacher (Wichita, Kan.), earned double figure kills (13) to lead the attack. Peniston (12) and Paula Harris (Conway Springs, Kan.) (10), also achieved double-digit kills. Julia Bates (Leavenworth, Kan.) reached 40 assists, while Rachel Fister (Labadie, Mo.), led the defense with 23 digs, a team-season high.
