Women's Volleyball 11/20/2019 7:41:00 AM

Bronchos Ready For MIAA Tournament

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Sixth-seeded Central Oklahoma opens play in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Postseason Tournament Thursday in Kansas City, Mo. when the Bronchos take on No. 10-ranked Central Missouri.

UCO, 18-12 on the season, plays the third-seeded Jennies (21-8) at 2:30 p.m. in the second of four first-round games at Hy-Vee Arena.

"We're excited about getting to play in the conference tournament and look forward to the challenge of taking on an excellent Central Missouri team," head coach Edgar Miraku said. "Our team has had some ups and downs this season, but we've grown a lot and the players have worked hard."

ABOUT THE MIAA TOURNEY: The champion of the eight-team single-elimination tournament earns the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division II national tournament.

Four of the eight teams are ranked in the top 20 nationally, with three in the top 10. Regular-season champion Nebraska-Kearney is No. 2, Washburn No. 3, Central Missouri No. 10 and Northwest Missouri No. 20.

Other first-round games Thursday pit No. 2 seed Washburn (26-2) against seventh-seeded Pittsburg State (14-15) at noon, top-seeded UNK (30-0) against eighth-seeded Missouri Southern (13-17) at 5 p.m. and fourth-seeded NWMSU (20-8) against No. 5 seed Missouri Western (17-12) at 7:30 p.m.

Friday's semifinals will have the UNK-MSSU and NWMSU-MWSU winners playing at 5 p.m. before the WU-PSU and UCM-UCO winners face off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday's finals are set for 6 p.m.

UCO IN THE MIAA TOURNEY: The Bronchos have qualified for the MIAA Postseason Tournament every year but one since joining the conference in 2012. No tournament was held in 2014.

UCO has a 6-5 record in MIAA tourney play, having won all five of its first-round matches. The Bronchos lost to Central Missouri in the 2015 finals and were eliminated in the semifinals in 2013, '16, '17 and '18.

SERIES WITH UCM: The Jennies own a 16-4 lead in the series with UCO and won both regular season meetings this season.

ABOUT THE BRONCHOS: UCO has two individual national statistical leaders in Dominique Lipari and Amanda Desch.

Lipari tops NCAA Division II in digs per set with 6.84 and she's second nationally in total digs with 718, which ranks fourth on the school's single-season list. The senior libero has had seven matches with 30-plus digs this season.

Desch leads Division II in triple-doubles, having recorded nine matches with double-digit kills, assists and digs. The versatile sophomore paces the team in assists (607), blocks (52) and attack percentage (.257) while sharing the lead in service aces (23) and ranking second in digs (344) and kills (243).

Freshman Courtney Lane has a team-high 259 kills along with 189 digs. She's had 14 matches with 10-plus kills and piled up 44 in UCO's last three regular-season matches, averaging 14.7 kills per match and 2.93 per set.

Sophomore Lauren Jenkins has contributed 213 kills and rookie Bailey Combs 198. Junior Malia Kaaiohelo has 99 kills and 40 blocks despite having missed significant action because of injury.

Junior Ericka Scholl is tied for the team lead in aces with 23 while ranking second in assists (471) and third in digs (235).

ABOUT THE JENNIES: Central Missouri has won eight of its last 10 matches, the lone losses in that streak coming against Nebraska-Kearney and Washburn.

Audrey Fisher is hitting an MIAA-best .367 with 282 kills and also has 31 service aces to lead the Jennies. Sydney Lierz has 275 kills, while Hannah Engelken has 231 kills and 103 blocks, which ranks third in the conference.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

#7 Malia Kaaiohelo: MB; 6' 1"; Junior

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

#4 Ericka Scholl: S; 5' 7"; Junior

#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

#7 Malia Kaaiohelo
: 6' 1"; Junior
: MB

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

#4 Ericka Scholl
: 5' 7"; Junior
: S

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

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