Kangaroos Look To Clinch Spot In Summit League Tourney With Win Over Mavs
11/7/2012 10:12:00 AM | Volleyball
(Kansas City, Mo.) - The Kansas City volleyball team (16-12, 8-7) will look to clinch a spot in The Summit League Championships for the first time since 2009 with a win over Omaha (6-20, 1-13) in the regular season finale On Nov. 8.
The Opponent
UNO is in its second year as a reclassifying Division I school in 2012-13 and officially joined The Summit League in July 2012. The Mavericks enter the weekend with a 6-20 record overall and an 1-13 mark in league play, picking up its lone league win at WIU. This season, senior Natalie Ebke (252) and freshman Kelley Wollak (224) have each notched over 200 kills, while freshman Valerie Hecht and Megan Schmale have 87 and 81 blocks, respectively.
Series History
Last season marked the first two meetings between the 'Roos and Omaha, with the teams each winning in five sets on the road. This season, Kansas City won 3-2 on Sep. 25 in Kansas City.
Last Time Out
The Kansas City volleyball team (16-12, 8-7) moved into a tie for third in The Summit League standings and will clinch a berth in The Summit League Championships with a win on Thursday over Omaha after taking down South Dakota State, 3-1, on Sunday afternoon at the Swinney Recreation Center.
In her final match at the SRC, senior Emily Lucas led the Kangaroos with 18 kills and a season-high 20 digs for her 13th double-double of the season, while fellow senior Ella Meier added 23 assists and three kills on Senior Day in Kansas City.
Offensively, for the Kangaroos, Emma Hagedorn and Jessica Hendin recorded 14 and 12 kills, respectively, while Nicole Wemhoff registered a team-high 24 assists. In the back row, Taryn Miller finished with a career-high 29 digs, while Hendin (10) and Wemhoff (15) each reached double figures for their 11th and fourth double-doubles of the season, respectively. Lindsay Zych, meanwhile, was the final 'Roo with double-digit digs, notching 11.
Kansas City Seniors
Brittney Robers joined the Kansas City volleyball team four years ago out of Allen High School and has appeared in 50 matches for the 'Roos. In her career, she has posted nearly 300 assists and 100 kills, while adding nearly 150 digs. Last season, she posted her first career double-double against Western Illinois with 16 assists and 12 digs.
Emily Lucas came to the 'Roos from Sublette High School and has appeared in 106 matches in her four year career. During her time in the Blue & Gold, she has registered 850 kills, 590 digs, 127 blocks and 54 service aces. This season, she has twice topped 30 kills, including a career-high 34, while her 378 total kills sit 10th in the UMKC record books. Currently, she is leading the Summit League with 269 kills in league matches, while her 28 aces in all matches rank second.
Ella Meier is in her fourth season at UMKC after coming to Kansas City from Hempfield High School. During her time as a Kangaroo, she has recorded 1,925 assists, the third most in school history, while adding 789 digs, 277 kills, 151 blocks and 46 aces. In 2011, she closed out the season with a triple double at North Dakota State, amassing 42 assists, 13 digs and 10 kills, while totaling 26 career double-doubles.
Brittany Fossier joined the 'Roos five years ago out Plano Senior High School and has appeared in 96 matches for the Blue & Gold. In her career, she has totaled 245 block assists, the fifth most in school history, while her nine block assists and 11 total blocks against Southeastern Louisiana State in 2008 are a school record for a five-set match. Offensively, she has recorded nearly 500 kills in the Blue & Gold, winning Summit League Defensive Player of the Week as a freshman.
Winning Ways
This season, the 'Roos have already amassed 15 wins, 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 1,925 career assists, while senior Brittany Fossier is fifth all-time in block assists with 245. Emma Hagedorn, meanwhile, sits second in a career and seventh in a single season with a hitting percentage of .271, Taryn Miller is third in career and fifth in single season digs per set (4.82) and fifth in digs (516) and Emily Lucas is sixth in attacks (1,101) and attacks per set (10.69) in a season, eighth in attacks per set in a career (7.91), ninth in kills per set (3.67), 10th in kills in a season (378), kills per set in a career (2.53) and career attacks (2,628).
'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 378 kills and three times reached her career-high, including registering 34 at South Dakota. 17 times she has led the 'Roos in kills and 18 times reached double figures, while currently, leading the league in kills (269) and is second in kills per set (4.48) in league matches.
Roos In The RPI
Currently, the 'Roos rank 141st in the NCAA's RPI rankings, the fifth best mark in The Summit League behind Fort Wayne (62), South Dakota State (140), Oakland (119) and IUPUI (125).
Winning With Efficiency
This season when the 'Roos hit well, they win. Currently, they have a record of 16-0 when they finish with a higher attack percentage than their opponent and an 0-12 record when they are out-hit.
NCAA Top-100's
For the 'Roos, Emily Lucas ranks 95th in the NCAA in kills per set (3.69), while Taryn Miller is 75th in digs per set (4.86).
Aces High
To date, freshman Taryn Miller has notched a Summit League-high 32 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 0.30 aces per set is tops in the league, with Lucas sixth at 0.27. As a team, the 'Roos are second in the league with 131 aces.
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.
