By ALLYSON COOK
Sports Reporter

(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) — Jennies volleyball went one and one last weekend on the road.

They took a 3-0 loss to University of Central Oklahoma Friday, Oct 28, and then went 3-1 over Pittsburg State University Saturday, Oct. 29, to move to 17-8 overall and 7-6 in conference play.

The Jennies only hit .168 during the match against UCO, falling to the Bronchos 23-25, 18-25, 19-25.

“It was a pretty good game,” said redshirt freshman Carly Offerdahl. “The score doesn’t show that it was, but even (head coach) Flip (Piontek) said during one of our time outs ‘This is great volleyball, the rallies are long and no one has had any aces on either side so that means the passing is really good.’”

The Jennies only committed six service errors over the Bronchos’ 10. Middle hitter Maddie Jones was the only Jennie to achieve double-digit kills with 12 and senior setter Kourtney Thompson returned from her injury to earn 32 assists. Offerdahl had a game-high tying 16 digs.

The Jennies hosted the Bronchos at home in September, sweeping the match 3-0. At the time, the Jens were just beginning conference play and were not battling injuries or UCO’s home court advantage.

“They definitely have a great home court advantage,” Offerdahl said. “Their students are very vocal during the game, but we did a very good job staying loud on the bench.”

Central Oklahoma was ranked No. 9 before the match, making it UCM’s fourth loss to a top-10 team this season. Offerdahl said the team didn’t dwell on the loss to UCO.

“The next morning we were kind of making light of the game and talking about the good things, the funny things,” Offerdahl said. “It was a new day and we didn’t even think about it during the Pitt game.”

Offerdahl said the Jens have been taking this season one game at a time.

“To get to the end goal you have to do well in each step,” she said.

The Jens’ short memory showed in their match against the Gorillas, with the team winning the match 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-17, 25-20) and hitting .300. Kasey Hohlen and Mackenzie Harding each had double-digit kills, Hohlen with 13 and Harding with 10. Thompson added nine digs along with 38 assists. Offerdahl led UCM’s defense with 18 digs.

Offerdahl said the Jens were more confident in each other going into the match.

“I felt like we were the better team and we showed that,” she said.

Jennies volleyball will be back home against Emporia State 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4, in the Multipurpose Building. They have five more conference games left to play this year.