#23 Bulldogs Close Regular Season in St. Louis

(#23 AVCA) Truman Volleyball Weekly Notes (Matches 30-31)
Full Notes (PDF)

Match 30 (Live Stats | Live Video):
#23 Truman (20-9, 13-3 GLVC) at Maryville (8-23, 1-15 GLVC)

Date: Friday, November 15 (7:00 PM)
Location: St. Louis, Mo. (Moloney Arena)

Series Record: Truman leads, 2-0.
Briney vs. MU: 2-0 (+6 set differential)
Last Meeting: October 5, 2013 – Truman won, 3-0, in Kirksville.

Match 31 (Live Stats):
#23 Truman at Missouri-St. Louis (16-13, 9-7 GLVC)

Date: Saturday, November 16 (1:00 PM)
Location: St. Louis, Mo. (Mark Twain Building || Chuck Smith Court)

Series Record: Truman leads, 30-26.
Briney vs. UMSL: 2-1 (+2 set differential)
Last Meeting: October 4, 2013 – Truman won, 3-0, in Kirksville.

Social Media: @TrumanAthletics || @TrumanVB || #TSUGameDay

Opening Serve:
Conference tournament and potential regional seeding is on the line during the final weekend of the regular season, as the 23^rd-ranked Truman volleyball squad visits The Lou for a pair of matches at Maryville and Missouri-St. Louis this Friday and Saturday.

The Bulldogs (20-9, 13-3 GLVC) have won six straight sets to hold steady at No. 2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference West division, one match behind division-leading Rockhurst at 14-2. Currently in the middle of re-match week, Truman dropped Quincy for the second time this season on Tuesday night with a 3-0 home sweep and will be looking to match earlier home sweeps against both MU and UMSL.

Truman is 3-1 in its last four contests, having lost a five-setter at Indianapolis on Nov. 9 before rebounding with a 3-0 sweep at Saint Joseph's (Ind.) on Nov. 10. The Bulldogs and UIndy Greyhounds see-sawed in their five-set battle, as UIndy took sets 1, 3 and 5 while Truman came out on top in sets two and four. Meanwhile, since that match, the Bulldogs have rattled off a perfect 6-for-6 mark in set play against SJC and QU.

On the season, the Bulldogs are hitting .221 as a team while holding opponents to just a .178 mark. Truman is averaging 13.1 kills per set, 15.9 digs per set and 2.2 blocks per set, while also having dealt 155 aces (1.42/set). Opponents are averaging 12.3 kills, 16.1 digs, and 1.8 blocks per set while acing the Bulldogs 113 times (1.04/set).

Individually, junior OH Allie Brak leads the team in kills (397/3.68 per set) and points per set (4.11), while sophomores Abby Heise (2.54 kills/set), Ali Patterson (2.35 kills/set) and Emilee Walters (1.98 kills/set) are all hitting better than .265. Junior Meghan Zimmerman is the team's setter and is averaging 10.60 assists per set to go alongside 2.56 digs per set, while fellow junior Abby Moser is gone on a recent tear to raise her team-leading digs per set average to 4.13.

Both Patterson and Walters are at or above 1.00 blocks per set, with Heise checking in at 0.78.

Ben Briney is in his fifth season as the program's head coach and has a career record of 116-51 (.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.

Opponent Quick Glance:
Maryville
The Saints currently sit eighth in the GLVC West division with an 8-23 overall (1-15 GLVC) record. MU is in the midst of a five-match losing skid and is 3-9 in home matches in 2013.

Maryville is hitting .139 on the season while allowing its opponents to connect at a .201 mark. Mikaela Lahm (2.26 k/s) and Laura Welling (2.12 k/s) are the team's top offensive threats, while Ali Lampen has patrolled the back line to a tune of 5.57 digs/set.

Earlier this season, the Bulldogs hit .337 and got a dozen kills from Allie Brak in a 3-0 (-19, -7, -21) sweep in Pershing Arena. Lahm led the Saints with eight kills, while Julia Graves added seven.

Christine Phillips is in her third season at the helm of the MU program.

Missouri-St. Louis
The Tritons – who host Quincy on Friday night prior to Truman's visit on Saturday – are currently third in the GLVC West division with a 16-13 overall (9-7 GLVC) record. UMSL picked up a 3-0 win at Maryville on Tuesday night and is 6-3 at home this season.

Mo.-St. Louis is hitting .188 as a team this season while allowing its opponents to hit just a sliver higher at .189. Chelsea Burkle is the team's top offensive threat at 3.57 kills per set, while Hannah Miller is hitting .288 with 1.67 kills per set. Emily Bragaw is the team's libero and is the squad leader at 4.35 digs per set.

Earlier this season, Truman hit just .143 but held UMSL to an .024 attack line in a tight three-set (-23, 26-24, -20) Bulldog win in Pershing Arena. Ali Patterson hit .471 with nine kills, while Meghan Zimmerman came close to a triple-double with six kills, 28 assists and a dozen digs.

Ryan Young is in his third season at the helm of the UMSL program and has a record of 47-40 at the school.

GLVC Tournament Outlook:
The Bulldogs currently sit second in the GLVC West division – one match behind division-leading Rockhurst at 14-2. The top three teams from each division plus two "wild card" teams will qualify for the conference tournament – to be held at the top seed on Nov. 22-24.

Both Truman and the Hawks – along with Southern Indiana (14-2), Lewis (14-2), and Indianapolis (13-3) out of the East division – have punched tickets to the conference tournament. UMSL needs just one win this weekend to clinch the No. 3 seed out of the West, while UW-Parkside, Bellarmine, McKendree, Missouri S&T, and Drury are all still alive for the Nos. 7 and 8 "wild card" bids.

The winner of the eight-team, three-day tournament will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Midwest regional, to be held Dec. 5-7 at the top seed.

Bulldogs Advancing Up Career Charts:
Junior OH Allie Brak continues her moves up Truman's career charts, as she currently sits sixth in both kills per set (3.36) and double-doubles (40), eighth in both total attempts (3,347) and 20+ kill matches (7), and 10+ kill matches (61). The Texas-native is also just 68 kills away from reaching the program's top-ten in career kills, as Satoko Miyame (1990-93) holds the No. 10 slot at 1,184. Earlier this season, the junior became only the 14^th player in Truman history to reach 1,000 career kills back when she surpassed the milestone in a 3-0 sweep of Drury in Pershing Arena.

Junior S Meghan Zimmerman sits fourth all-time in career assists at 3,094 to trail recent graduate Ashley Petak (2007-10) by 367 for third place. The Nebraska-native is also up to an 8.36 assists/set mark and is closing in on Theresa Huff's third place average of 9.02/set.

Junior DS/L Abby Moser moved up one spot this past week into fifth all-time on the career digs chart, surpassing Jessica Sears' four-year total of 1,624. The Missouri-native – currently at 1,675 – needs just 40 to move past Sarah Shearman (2003-06) into fourth-place, where she would then trail Whitney Boehler (2005-08) by just 20. The previously all-MIAA libero still holds the top spots in the digs/set (4.63), 20+ dig matches (37), and 30+ dig matches (4) categories. She is also just two behind Shearman's career total of 86 for fourth-place in the 10+ dig matches category.

Key Number – 150:
When the Bulldogs as a team have hit below .150 in a match this season, they have posted just a 1-5 record. However, when the Bulldogs hold an opponent below the .150 line, the team has gone 12-0.

Life on the Road:
The Bulldogs have played 19 of their 29 matches away from Pershing Arena this season, but in true road matches, the squad has recorded a 6-2 record.

Regional Poll Due Late Wednesday:

The Bulldogs sat seventh in the first installment of the 2013 Midwest regional poll, announced last Wednesday (Nov. 6) by the Regional Advisory Committee. Truman trailed No. 6 Rockhurst but was in front of No. 8 Indianapolis, as the top eight teams combining to come out of the GLVC, GLIAC and GMAC leagues will qualify for the NCAA Div. II tournament.

The GLVC and GLIAC both receive an automatic bid for their conference champions.

The second (of three) regional polls is due to be released late Wednesday (Nov. 13) afternoon.

'Dogs Slip Two Spots in AVCA Coaches' Poll:
The Nov. 11 version of the AVCA top-25 coaches' poll moved the Bulldogs back two spots to No. 23 after the squad's 1-1 road record last weekend. Truman earned 153 points to sit between Northern (S.D.) State and Ferris (Mich.) State.

Truman is one of two GLVC squads in the top-25, as division-mate Rockhurst held on at No. 25 in Monday's poll. Grand Valley State (No. 15) and No. 24 FSU also represent the Midwest region in the poll.

Overall, the Bulldogs have 10 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-25 173 total times to sit just one back of Cal State-L.A. who currently holds the No. 15 slot all-time in Division II for weeks ranked.

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will begin GLVC tournament play on Friday, Nov. 22, with both site and match time to be determined. Fans are encouraged to check TrumanBulldogs.com throughout the weekend for the most up-to-date information about Truman's post-season plans.

Want to stay up-to-date with what's going on with the Bulldogs? Follow @TrumanAthletics on Twitter,become a fan of Truman Athletics on Facebook, subscribe to your favorite team's newsletters/releases, and receive text alerts of scores and big news to interact with all of Truman's 20 athletic programs. For more information, visit our website – TrumanBulldogs.com.

Print Friendly Version