'Roos To Welcome In Bison On Friday, Jacks On Sunday's Senior Day
11/1/2012 9:47:00 AM | Volleyball
(Kansas City, Mo.) - The Kansas City volleyball team (15-11, 7-6) will host its final homestand of the season when it welcomes in North Dakota State (10-15, 6-7) and South Dakota State (16-10, 8-5) to Kansas City. The match between the Kangaroos and the Bison will get underway at 7 p.m. on Friday, while Sunday's match with the Jackrabbits will feature Senior Day activities with first serve at 2 p.m. Live stats and video for the match will be available at www.umkckangaroos.com.
The Opponents
North Dakota State comes into the match with a 10-15 record overall and a 6-7 mark in league play after falling to Fort Wayne and Oakland last weekend. Senior Brynn Joki leads the Bison with 340 kills, while Megan Lambertson is second on the team with 288. In the back row, senior Andrea Henning has a team-high 437 digs, while Joki is second with 325. At the net, Lambertson's 93 blocks are a team best.
South Dakota State enters the weekend with a 16-10 record overall and a 8-5 mark in Summit League play after sweeping Oakland and Fort Wayne last weekend. This season, the Jackrabbits have produced five league players of the week, including senior Kelli Fiegan who has captured both offensive and defensive honors and leads the team with 326 kills and 155 blocks. Senior Kaitlin Klingemann, meanwhile, claimed the offensive award on Sep. 10 and is second on the team with 264 kills and 82 blocks. In the back row, two-time Summit League Defensive Player of the Week, senior Shay Birath is one of three Jacks with over 300 digs, leading the team with 538 digs.
Series History
South Dakota State leads the all-time series with UMKC 10-3, with the 'Roos winning 3-1 on Oct. 5 in Brookings. North Dakota State, meanwhile, holds a perfect 14-0 mark against the 'Roos including a 3-1 win in Fargo on Oct. 6.
Last Time Out
The Kansas Volleyball team (15-11, 7-5) fell on Friday night, 3-1, to Summit League rival South Dakota (11-14, 5-8) in the annual Think Pink match, despite three Kangaroos reaching double figure kills in the match.
Leading the way on the offensive side were freshmen Emma Hagedorn and Skyler Muff, who each registered a team-high 14 kills, while senior Emily Lucas finished with 12. Defensively, four 'Roos tallied 10 or more digs, including freshman Taryn Miller (25), Zych (17), Lucas (17) and freshman Nicole Wemhoff.
Wemhoff, meanwhile, added a team-high 27 assists to the effort for her 10th double-double of the season, while Lucas nabbed her 11th. Crimmins added eight kills and tied Hagedorn for the team lead in blocks with four, while senior Ella Meier chipped in 24 assists.
Kansas City Seniors
On Sunday afternoon, the Kansas City volleyball team will honor its four seniors, Brittany Fossier, Emily Lucas, Ella Meier and Brittney Robers. In their four years on the court, the quartet has been a part of 63 wins, combining for nearly 1,700 kills, 2,250 assists and 575 blocks, while amassing over 1,500 digs.
Winning Ways
This season, the 'Roos have already amassed 15 wins, tied for the second most all-time, trailing only the 20 wins by the 1999 squad.
Hagedorn Named Summit League Defensive POW
Freshman Emma Hagedorn captures her first career Defensive Player of the Week award after averaging 2.17 blocks per set on the week. The Parkville, Mo., native opened the week tallying four blocks against the league's leading offense, Fort Wayne. She came back in the next match to record nine blocks at Oakland. On the week, Hagedorn recorded 13 blocks, including 11 block assists and two solo blocks, for her 2.17 average, which is nearly .50 blocks per set better than the NCAA leader.
Joining The Record Book
Currently, several 'Roos have placed their names inside the Kansas City record book, including senior setter Ella Meier who has moved into third all-time with 1882 career assists, while senior Brittany Fossier is fifth all-time in block assists with 242. Emma Hagedorn, meanwhile, sits second in a career and seventh in a single season with a hitting percentage of .271, Taryn Miller is second in career and fifth in single season digs per set (4.72) and fifth in digs (467) and Lucas is ninth in kills per set (3.67).
'Roos In Five
This season, the Kangaroos have played in seven five-set matches coming out victorious in six with wins against George Washington, Gardner-Webb, Western Illinois, Oakland, Omaha and South Dakota while falling only to Charlotte. In the matches, UMKC has out-hit its opponents .217 to .191, while registering more kills, assists, aces, digs and blocks.
Killer Lucas
This season, senior Emily Lucas has notched a team-high 349 kills and three times reached her career-high, including registering 34 at South Dakota. 16 times she has led the 'Roos in kills and reached double figures, while currently, leading the league in kills (240) and kills per set (4.62) in league matches.
Roos In The RPI
Currently, the 'Roos rank 136th in the NCAA's RPI rankings, the fifth best mark in The Summit League behind Fort Wayne (61), South Dakota State (129), Oakland (119) and IUPUI (130).
Winning With EfficiencyThis season when the 'Roos hit well, they win. Currently, they have a record of 15-0 when they finish with a higher attack percentage than their opponent and an 0-11 record when they are out-hit.
NCAA Top-100's
For the 'Roos, Emily Lucas ranks 91st in the NCAA in kills per set (3.69) and 97th in points per set (4.19), while Taryn Miller is 86th in digs per set (4.76).
Aces HighTo date, freshman Taryn Miller has notched a Summit League-high 31 aces, including twice landing four, while Sublette, Kan., native Emily Lucas is second with 28, including a career-high five against Omaha. Overall, Miller's 0.31 aces per set is tops in the league, with Lucas fourth at 0.29. As a team, the 'Roos are third in the league with 123 aces and 1.24 aces per set.
Preseason All-Tourney Team Selections
Three members of the Kansas City volleyball team were named to all-tournament teams, led by Skyler Muff who garnered honors at both the UniWyo Cowgirl Classic and the Runnin' Bulldog Classic. Freshmen Taryn Miller, meanwhile, was also named to the UniWyo Cowgirl Classic All-Tournament Team, while Emily Lucas was placed on the North Texas Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Summit League Preseason Poll
The Kangaroo volleyball team was picked to finish seventh in The Summit League's annual preseason poll in a vote by the league's head coaches. The 'Roos, who finished the 2011 season with a 12-17 record overall and a 6-12 mark in league play, garnered 23 points overall to finish just behind South Dakota.
Fresh Faces
The 2012 Kangaroos include eight newcomers, seven of whom are freshman. Sophomore Morgan Voorhes is the only non-freshman first year 'Roo after transferring from Pittsburgh State, while redshirt freshman Sydney Crimmins joins the squad after spending a year with the Kangaroo basketball program. The remaining freshmen consist of Lindsay Zych, Taryn Miller, Emma Hagedorn, Nicole Wemhoff, Jessica Hendin and Skyler Muff.
Kansas City Feel
The Kangaroo volleyball team will have a distinct Kansas City feel to it as six student-athletes come from the area, including Lindsay Zych (Lenexa, Kan.), Taryn Miller (Blue Springs, Mo.), Emma Hagedorn (Parkville, Mo.), Nicole Wemhoff (Kansas City, Mo.), Morgan Voorhes (Overland Park, Kan.) and Jessica Hendin (Overland Park, Kan.). Three others, Sydney Crimmins (Clay Center, Kan.), Emily Lucas (Sublette, Kan.) and Skyler Muff (Pittsburg, Kan.) are from Kansas.