Bronchos Head To Missouri

11/3/2016 8:46:00 AM

Live Stats - Missouri Southern	Live Stats - Southwest Baptist
Live Video - Missouri Southern	Live Stats - Southwest Baptist

Central Oklahoma continues a lengthy Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association road-swing this weekend when the No. 9-ranked Bronchos head to Missouri for matches against Missouri Southern and Southwest Baptist.

UCO, 26-2 on the season and 12-2 in the league, goes to Joplin, Mo. to face the Lions (5-22, 2-12) at 6 p.m. Friday before moving on to Bolivar, Mo. to take on the Bearcats (3-25, 0-14) at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The Bronchos are tied for second in the conference standings and need just one more win to clinch a first-round home match in the MIAA Post-season Tournament. UCO ends the regular season schedule next weekend with matches at Emporia State and Washburn.

The top-four teams in the final standings host first-round matches in the MIAA Post-season Tournament on Nov. 15 before the semifinals and finals are held at the site of the highest remaining seed on Nov. 18-19.

Central beat MSSU 25-11, 25-18, 25-22 in this year's first meeting on Oct. 7 and owns a 16-7 lead in the series, having won the last eight matches between the two.

The Bronchos, who have scored three-set sweeps in 23 of their 26 wins, rank second in the MIAA behind No. 3 Nebraska-Kearney in seven team categories – hitting percentage (.265), opponent hitting percentage (.118), assists (12.80/set), kills (13.62/set), service aces (1.36/set), opponent blocks (1.42/set) and digs (16.99/set).

Sophomore Taylor Bevis is one of five UCO players with 140-plus kills on the season and leads the conference with 4.14 kills per set, having racked up 356 behind a solid .271 hitting percentage. The sophomore standout is also second on the team in digs with 270 (3.14/set).

Senior Katy Davis tops the league in assists with 11.77 per set. She has 1,036 on the season and ranks third on the school's all-time list with 4,226.

The Bronchos also have the MIAA leader in service aces in freshman Mehana Fonseca (0.36/set), while freshman Dominique Lipari is third in digs (4.68/set) and sophomore Jordan Spence fourth in blocks (1.02/set).

UCO beat Southwest Baptist 25-14, 25-10, 25-17 on Oct. 8 in this year's earlier meeting. The Bronchos have taken the last five matches between the teams and have a big 14-2 lead in the series.

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