WARRENSBURG, Mo. (Oct. 28) – Central Oklahoma picked a bad time to have its worst offensive outing of the season.
The No. 17-ranked Bronchos hit a season-low .139 and were swept by Central Missouri 25-14, 25-16, 25-20 in a battle between the two teams tied for the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association lead.
UCO had a nine-match winning streak snapped in falling to 23-4 on the season and 13-3 in league play. The Jennies improved to 17-7 and 14-2 to assume sole possession of the MIAA lead in completing a series sweep of the Bronchos.
"We came out a little tentative and didn't play our best, which we certainly needed to do today against a great Central Missouri team," head coach Edgar Miraku said. "It's a disappointing loss, but we just have to put it behind us."
UCO committed 15 errors in 115 attacks with just 31 kills in the lopsided loss. The Jennies, meanwhile, had a .330 attack percentage with 46 kills and nine miscues in 112 attempts.
Jenna Karp's nine kills led the Bronchos, while Sydney Huck had eight, Addison Wimmer seven and Mallorie Koehn six. Lindsey Houran handed out 26 assists to go along with 11 digs and Jaedynn Evans also had 11 digs.
UCO led 4-2 early in the first set only to see Central Missouri go on a 7-1 run to take the lead for good at 9-5. The Bronchos pulled within 9-8, but UCM scored three straight points and pulled away from there.
The Jennies never trailed in the second set to put UCO on the ropes.
The Bronchos tried to rally in the third set, scoring six unanswered points to turn a 2-2 tie into an 8-2 lead. Karp had two kills in that stretch and she added another to keep UCO on top 11-6.
It was still a 17-13 Broncho lead following a Huck kill, then the Jennies scored four straight points to tie it. Huck's kill put UCO on top 18-17, but Central Missouri finished the set with an 8-2 run to end the match.
UCO wraps up its final road swing of the regular season next weekend with matches at Washburn and Emporia State before finishing at home Nov. 10-11 against Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri.
The eight-team MIAA Tournament is set for Nov. 16-18 in St. Joseph, Mo.
