No. 21-ranked Central Oklahoma heads to Missouri this weekend for a pair of Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association matches.

The Bronchos of 12th-year head coach Edgar Miraku are 16-3 on the season and 7-2 in league play. UCO travels to Maryville, Mo. Friday for a 6 p.m. meeting with Northwest Missouri (9-8, 4-5) before moving on to St. Joseph, Mo. to take on Missouri Western (13-5, 6-3) at 6 p.m. Saturday.

"It will be another tough road trip that will definitely challenge us," Miraku said. "We've played pretty well the last couple of weeks and this team keeps working hard at getting better every day. We just need to focus on us and what we do best."

ABOUT THE BRONCHOS: UCO is third in the highly-competitive MIAA standings behind Central Missouri (9-0) and Nebraska-Kearney (8-1), the two teams that have handed the Bronchos their only conference losses.

Central ranks in the top 10 nationally in six statistically categories – second in assists (943), fourth in kills (1,002), fifth in digs (1,206), fifth in assists/set (13.67), seventh in kills/set (14.52) and eighth in digs/set (18.78).

Defensive whiz Jaedynn Evans paces the defense from her libero post. She's been named MIAA Defensive Player of the Week three times already and leads Division II in digs per set with 6.13.

Evans has had five matches with 25-plus digs and has racked up 343 on the season despite missing the first four matches of the season.

Jenna Karp leads the offense with a .383 attack percentage that tops the MIAA. The middle blocker has 209 kills along with 47 total blocks and is second in the league in points per set (3.86).

Karp has moved into ninth place on UCO's career list for solo blocks with 50.

Addison Wimmer is right behind with 208 kills, having amassed 58 in the last four matches. Three other players have 100-plus kills – Sydney Huck (197), Mallorie Koehn (147) and Mikiah Perdue (117).

Perdue tops the Bronchos in blocks (48) and Koehn has served up a team-high 25 aces, which ranks fourth in the conference.

Lindsey Houran directs the offense and has 557 assists, a 9.77 per-set average that is fourth-best in the MIAA. The sophomore already ranks 10th on the school's career assists list with 1,957.

ABOUT THE BEARCATS: Northwest Missouri fell to league leaders Central Missouri and Nebraska-Kearney last weekend and is tied for sixth in the standings at 4-5.

The Bearcats are led by Avery Kemp (153 kills), Abby Brunssen (139 kills, 52 blocks) and Payton Kirchhoefer (123 kills)

UCO owns a 17-5 lead in the series, though NWMSU has won three of the last four meetings.

ABOUT THE GRIFFONS: Missouri Western has won six of its last seven matches and is tied for fourth in the conference at 6-3.

Holly Heldt tops the Griffons with 187 kills, while Danielle Moje is hitting .308 with 155 kills and Lily Kurz ranks third in the MIAA with 66 blocks (1.16/set).

The Bronchos have won the last four matches between the two and has a 17-6 advantage in the series.