Bulldogs Drop Top-15 Battle

Box Score || Season Stats
KIRKSVILLE - - Five Bulldogs finished with double-figure kills, but it wasn't enough as the 6^th-ranked Central Missouri Jennies escaped Pershing Arena with a 3-1 win against No. 15 Truman volleyball on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Allie Brak put forth a career afternoon, totaling 25 kills and hitting .488.

The two top-15 teams traded punches in the first two sets, as UCM (23-4, 15-1 MIAA) picked up a 27-25 win in the first before Truman (25-5, 13-3 MIAA) rebounded with a 25-18 win in the second. However, UCM hit .379 in the third to earn a six-point win before siding-out at a slightly higher clip in the fourth to pick up a 25-22 fourth set decision.

The match featured 33 ties and 10 lead changes amongst the long-time rivals, with both teams blasting away on the offensive end. Truman hit .327 as a team, while UCM countered with a .287 mark – including .370 or better in the final two frames. The Bulldogs averaged nearly 18 kills per set but had just two service aces compared to eight service errors.

Brak's 25 kills set a new career-high, hitting .488 on 41 swings, while adding 12 digs for a double-double. Megan Sharpe added 13 kills and hit .344, with Ali Patterson (11), Abby Heise (10) and Emily Briseno (10) also hitting the double-digit line. Meghan Zimmerman finished with a new career-high of 60 assists, coupled with 13 digs for a double-double of her own, while Abby Moser dug a match-high 22 attacks.

Truman out-dug UCM by nine but ended on the short side of a 7-4 blocking edge by UCM. The Jennies were paced by a 20-kill outing by Carly Sojka, with Bradye Peniston chipping in 13 kills of her own.

The loss snapped a 16-match winning streak that lasted six weeks, as the Bulldogs sit two matches back in the loss column in the MIAA standings behind a three-way tie of Washburn, Nebraska-Kearney and UCM.

The Bulldogs closed out the home portion of their 2012 regular season with Saturday's match and have just two matches to play before the conference tournament. Truman travels to Emporia State on Friday (Nov. 9) night at 7pm before closing the regular season at Northwest Missouri on Saturday (Nov. 10).

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