Kansas City Set To Welcome In A Trio Of League Foes For Opening Homestand
9/20/2012 9:33:00 AM | Volleyball
The Opponents
Oakland enters the match with an 8-5 record overall and a 1-1 mark in Summit League play after falling to Western Illinois on Monday. This season, senior Meghan Bray, who was named The Summit League Offensive Player of the Week on Sep. 3, leads the Golden Grizzly offense with 235 kills, while fellow senior Alli Kirk captured league defensive player of the week honors on Sep. 10 and has a team-high 272 digs.
IPFW enters the weekend with a league best 11-3 overall record and a 1-1 mark in league play after beating IUPUI in its Summit League home opener on Monday. After taking on South Dakota on Friday, the Mastodons will head to Kansas City behind senior Tessa McGill, the league's first defensive player of the week this season, and her team-high 314 digs. Offensively, sophomore Emily Spencer leads the 'Dons attack with 196 kills, while four others have topped the 100 kill mark. Setting up the offense is 2011 Second Team All-Summit League selection Megan Steenhuysen with 598 assists this year.
UNO, who battles Drake and Kansas State this weekend before taking on the 'Roos, 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 5-7 record overall and an 0-2 mark in league play after falling to South and North Dakota State last weekend. This season, senior Natalie Ebke (113) and freshman Kelley Wollak (101) have each notched over 100 kills, while freshman Valerie Hecht has a team high 49 blocks.
Series History
Kansas City leads the all-time series with Oakland 17-11, despite dropping the last four contest, including an 0-3 decision in Rochester and a 1-3 match in Kansas City in 2011. IPFW, meanwhile, leads the series, 7-3 with the Kangaroos winning 3-2 at the SRC in the last meeting. Last season marked the first two meetings between the 'Roos and Omaha, with the teams each winning in five sets on the road.
Last Time Out
Last weekend, the 'Roos opened Summit League play on the road with a 3-1 loss to IUPUI before knocking off Western Illinois, 3-2 in Macomb, Ill. In the matches, senior Emily Lucas led Kansas City with 41 kills, including a career-high 29 at Western Illinois. Freshman Emma Hagedorn, meanwhile, added 27, while freshman Taryn Miller finished with 41 digs.
'Roos In Five
This season, the Kangaroos have played in four five-set matches, coming out victorious in the matches against George Washington, Gardner-Webb and Western Illinois, while falling to Charlotte. In the matches, UMKC out-hit its opponents .207 to .194, while registering more kills, aces, digs and blocks.
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.
Aces High
Freshman Taryn Miller is off to a hot start serving in 2012 for the Kangaroos. To date, the Blue Springs, Mo., native has notched a Summit League-high 20 aces in 14 matches, including twice landing four. Overall, her 0.38 aces per set ranks second in the league.
Last Season
In 2011, the Kangaroos finished the season with an overall record of 12-17 and a 6-12 mark in Summit League play to place eighth in the standings. The 'Roos, however, closed out the season winning six of eight league games, including five straight. During the course of the season, the squad finished 3-0 at a preseason tournament for the first time since 2002, while five separate players made all-tournament teams.
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.
Senior Leaders
The UMKC volleyball will feature a quartet of seniors this season that will provide leadership to the eight newcomers on this year's squad. Leading the way for the 'Roos in their final seasons are Ella Meier, Emily Lucas, Brittany Fossier and Brittney Robers.
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 2012 edition of 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 (Pittsburgh, Kan.) are from Kansas.