Bronchos End Regular Season In Missouri

Central Oklahoma wraps up the regular season Saturday when the Bronchos trek to St. Joseph, Mo. to take on Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association rival Missouri Western in a 3 p.m. match.

The teams are tied for fifth in the conference standings at 10-9, while UCO is 18-11 on the season and the Griffons are 15-12. Saturday's winner will finish fifth and the loser sixth in the final league standings.

The eight-team MIAA Postseason Tournament is set for Nov. 21-23 in Kansas City, Mo. First-round pairings will pit No. 1 vs. No. 8, No. 2 vs. No. 7, No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5.

Nebraska-Kearney has clinched the regular season title and will be the top seed for the league tournament.

"We've played pretty well the last few weeks and want to finish strong this weekend," said head coach Edgar Miraku, who picked up his 200th career win last Saturday when the Bronchos upset No. 14-ranked Northwest Missouri in the home finale. "Our team has really improved during the course of the season and I'm proud of how hard they've worked."

ABOUT THE SERIES: Central owns a 12-5 lead in the rivalry with MWSU. The Bronchos won this year's first meeting, claiming a sweep on Oct. 18 in Edmond as sophomore Amanda Desch had 11 kills, 13 digs and 15 assists.

ABOUT THE BRONCHOS: Youthful UCO has featured a balanced offensive attack all season and three underclassmen have reached the 200-kill mark, with another right behind.

Freshman Courtney Lane paces the Bronchos with 243 kills and has also had a team-high 13 matches with 10-plus kills. Sophomore Amanda Desch is right behind with 240 kills, sophomore Lauren Jenkins has 207 and freshman Bailey Combs 192.

The versatile Desch leads NCAA Division II in triple-doubles, having recorded double digits in kills, assists and digs in nine matches. She tops the team in assists (591), blocks (50), hitting percentage (.259), is tied for first in service aces (23) and is second in kills and digs (325).

Senior Dominique Lipari earned MIAA Specialist of the Week honors earlier this week for the second time this season and is enjoying a spectacular final season. She had 75 digs in two matches last week, collecting a career-high 41 – the seventh-best match in school history – in UCO's upset of Northwest Missouri.

Lipari is the national leader in both total digs (702) and digs per set (6.88). The 702 digs ranks fourth on UCO's single-season list.

ABOUT THE GRIFFONS: Missouri Western beat Newman in four sets Thursday to pull even with the Bronchos in the conference standings.

Ali Tauchen is one of the top players in the MIAA and leads the Griffons. She ranks fourth in the league in blocks (0.97/set), fourth in kills (3.43/set) and sixth in attack percentage (.302).

Sam Duncan has contributed 242 kills and Tiana Butler has 594 digs, ranking second in the conference behind Lipari with 5.96 per set.

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Players Mentioned

#15 Amanda Desch: S; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#10 Lauren Jenkins: OH/RS; 6' 0"; Sophomore

#1 Dominique Lipari: DS/L; 5' 1"; Senior

#2 Bailey Combs: RS/OH; 5' 10"; Freshman

#11 Courtney Lane: OH/RS; 6' 0"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#15 Amanda Desch
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: S

#10 Lauren Jenkins
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: OH/RS

#1 Dominique Lipari
: 5' 1"; Senior
: DS/L

#2 Bailey Combs
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: RS/OH

#11 Courtney Lane
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: OH/RS