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Truman State University Athletics

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Tim Barcus - University Photographer

Women's Volleyball Tyler Madsen, AMR Assistant Director

#17 Spikers Hit the Road for Three

(#17 AVCA) Truman Volleyball Weekly Notes (Matches 17-19)
Full Notes (PDF)
Match 17 (Live Stats):
Truman (11-5, 5-1 GLVC) at Quincy (6-9, 2-4 GLVC)
Date: Tuesday, October 8 (7:00 PM)
Series Record: Truman leads, 39-18.
Last Meeting: September 25, 2012 – Truman won, 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-16) in Kirksville, Mo.
 
Match 18 (Live Stats):
Truman at Rockhurst (11-3, 5-1 GLVC)
Date: Friday, October 11 (7:00 PM)
Series Record: Truman leads, 6-2.
Last Meeting: September 21, 2005 – Truman won, 3-2 (16-30, 22-30, 30-27, 30-21, 15-12) in Kansas City.
 
Match 19 (Live Stats):
Truman at William Jewell (1-14, 0-6 GLVC)
Date: Saturday, October 12 (5:00 PM)
Series Record: Truman leads, 2-0.
Last Meeting: October 4, 1985 – Truman won, 2-0 (15-10, 15-13), in Canton, Mo.
 
Social Media: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanVB || #TSUGameDay
Opening Serve:
Winners of five in a row and co-leaders atop the GLVC West division, the 17th-ranked Truman volleyball squad hits the road for three league matches this week.
 
The Bulldogs (11-5, 5-1 GLVC) open up play on Tuesday night (7pm) at Quincy, before venturing to Missouri's western border to face Rockhurst and William Jewell on Friday (7pm) and Saturday (5pm). Truman enters the week as one of two teams at 5-1 in the West division in league play – sharing that distinction with Rockhurst in advance of the only scheduled match between the teams this season.
 
Truman is coming out of a 3-0 week that included a four-set weeknight win at former MIAA-rival Missouri Western and a pair of home sweeps against Missouri-St. Louis and Maryville during the weekend. The Bulldogs hit .211 as a team in the 10 sets, led by four players (Allie Brak, Abby Heise, Emilee Walters, and Ali Patterson) who all reached or topped 2.00 kills per set. Truman also tallied 2.80 blocks per set – paced by two of the GLVC leaders in that category (Walters and Patterson).
 
The winner of this week's GLVC Defensive Player of the Week award, setter Meghan Zimmerman, led the Bulldogs in assists and co-led the team in digs, while also serving three aces and putting down 13 kills at a .290 clip.
 
Ben Briney is in his fifth season as the program's head coach and has a career record of 107-47 (.695).
 
Following the Bulldogs:
Full coverage of Truman volleyball is available online at TrumanBulldogs.com, including results, upcoming match information and weekly updates.
 
When available, links to free online live stats are added to the Bulldog volleyball schedule page as well as the top of each weekly update.
 
Keep up with the Bulldogs by tracking in-match updates (when available). Follow Truman Athletics on Twitter (@TrumanAthletics). Also be sure to sign up for Text Caster and Newsletter updates on the TrumanBulldogs.com homepage.
 
Zimmerman Named GLVC Defensive Player of the Week:
Following Truman's 3-0 week of play from Sept. 30-Oct. 6, junior setter Meghan Zimmerman averaged 9.90 assists, 3.20 digs, and 1.30 kills per set for the nationally-ranked Truman volleyball team. She led the team in assists and tied for the team-lead in digs per set during a week that began with a 46-assist, eight-dig effort at former MIAA-rival Missouri Western on Wednesday, Oct. 2.
 
Then, she posted her 32nd and 33rd career double-doubles at home during the weekend in a pair of three-set sweeps against Missouri-St. Louis and Maryville. She recorded six kills, 28 assists, and 12 digs against UMSL on Friday, Oct. 4 before posting four kills, 25 assists, and 12 digs against Maryville on Saturday, Oct. 5. She added a service ace in all three matches, and was the server behind a 15-0 Bulldog second set run against Maryville.
 
Monday's announcement marked the third time that Zimmerman has been named a conference player of the week, having earned MIAA Specialist of the Week honors in back-to-back weeks last season. She is the second Bulldog to be named a GLVC volleyball player of the week this season, following Allie Brak's award on Sept. 9.
 
Opponent Quick Glance:
Quincy checks in for Tuesday's match having started 2-4 in league play – including a 1-1 home weekend against Maryville (W 3-0) and Missouri-St. Louis (L 0-3). As Truman's travel partner in league scheduling, the teams have played the same six GLVC opponents to this point, as well as Missouri Western (QU lost 3-1 on Sept. 6). As a team, QU is hitting .190 while allowing its opponents to hit .199. Briann Joslin (3.48) and Samantha Haegele (3.15) are the team leaders in kills per set.

Rockhurst visits William Jewell prior to its match with Truman on Friday night, as the Hawks are out to an 11-3 start in 2013. RU is 4-0 at home, where it has dropped just one set in four GLVC matches. As a team, Rockhurst is hitting .235 on the year and holding opponents to a .145 mark. Morgan Rietzke leads the squad with a 3.35 kill/set mark, while three other players are atop 2.25 kills/set. Both Emily Ready and Maggie Hummel are at or above the 1.00 blocks/set line.
 
William Jewell hosts Rockhurst and Quincy prior to Truman's visit on Saturday night, as the Cardinals are trying to snap a 13-match losing streak dating back to day one of the 2013 season. WJC is hitting .103 as a team this year, while giving up a .224 line to opposing offenses. Kaylee Marquardt is the team's offensive leader at 2.33 kills/set.
 
Win, and Leave No Doubt:
The Bulldogs are 16-4 in individual sets through their first six GLVC matches, en route to a 5-1 overall conference mark. In those 16 set wins, Truman has given up just four in which the opponent scored 20 points – all coming last weekend.
 
In league-only play, the Bulldogs are hitting .219, compared to a league-low .081 mark for its opponents. Truman has also put down 63 more kills and committed nearly 40 fewer errors.
 
Middles Up Top:
In league-only play, sophomore MH Ali Patterson is the GLVC's top hitter by a mile – blasting her way to a .467 (48-5-92) line in 19 sets. That is more than 80 points higher than the current second-place mark, which just a shade better than sophomore OPP Abby Heise's line of .379 (51-12-103).
 
Meanwhile, sophomore MH Emilee Walters is the league-leader in blocks per set at 1.42, having accumulated three solo blocks and 24 block assists in 19 sets.
 
Brak Rises to Competition:
The Bulldogs have played five matches this season against teams ranked in the top-25 at the time of the match, and junior Allie Brak has put up high-level numbers in the 19 total sets. The two-time all-MIAA player has averaged 4.00 kills per set and hit .291 on the offensive side, while also posting 2.16 digs per set in the team's matches against SW Minnesota, Concordia-St. Paul, Nebraska-Kearney, Regis, and Central Missouri.
 
Zimmerman, Moser Continue Upward Climbs:
Junior specialists Meghan Zimmerman and Abby Moser continue to move up the Truman all-time career charts with their play through the first two-plus seasons in a Bulldog uniform.
 
Zimmerman ranks sixth all-time in career assists at 2,569, having passed Nancy Hoerner last week. Next in line are a pair sitting close together in fourth and fifth, with Kelly Mangels (1996-98) holding the No. 5 spot at 2,828 and Christine Wagener (2003-06) landing fourth with 2,847. Zimmerman is also up to a 7.98 assists/set mark and trails Theresa Huff's (1992) mark of 9.02/set for third place.
 
Moser, meanwhile, trails Monica Marlowe (1999-2002) by just 18 for seventh-place all-time on the career digs chart. At 1,453, Moser currently holds the number eight spot, while the previously-all-MIAA libero still holds the top spots in the digs/set (4.67), 20+ dig matches (32), and 30+ dig matches (3) categories. She is nine behind Marlowe's career total of 80 for sixth place in the 10+ dig matches category.
 
'Dogs Up One to No. 17:
The Oct. 7 version of the AVCA top-25 coaches' poll moved the Bulldogs up to No. 17 after the squad's 3-0 record in matches last week. Truman picked up 42 points to leap-frog Grand Valley State and also continue to hold off No. 18 Colorado School of Mines by 31 points.
 
Truman continues to be the top-ranked team out of the GLVC and is once again the coaches' choice as the top Midwest region team. Ferris Statee (No. 20), Grand Valley (No. 21) and Indianapolis (No. 25) also represent the Midwest region in the poll.
 
Overall, the Bulldogs have nine opponents on their 2013 schedule who are listed either in the top-25 or are receiving votes in this week's poll.
 
As a program, Truman has now been in the top-25 168 total times, good for 17th-most all-time in NCAA Division II history. The Bulldogs are closing in on Northern Colorado's mark of 172 for 16th place.
 
Up Next:
The Bulldogs get nearly a full week off before returning to Pershing Arena for Homecoming weekend on Oct. 18-19. Truman will host Missouri S&T on Friday, Oct. 18, at 7:00 pm before welcoming Drury on Saturday, Oct. 19 – also at 7:00 pm.
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