Nov. 20, 2004 - The Truman volleyball team is headed back to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, its third trip in the last four years. The Bulldogs, ranked third in the country, advanced on Saturday with a 22-30, 30-14, 30-26, 30-24 win over No. 10 Central Missouri in Pershing Arena.
Truman will take a perfect 35-0 overall record into the national quarterfinals. The team will face Queens (N.Y.), the winner of the Northeast Regional. The site of the Elite Eight, which will be held Dec. 2-4, will be determined after all NCAA regionals are completed.
Central Missouri put a scare into the large Bulldog crowd in game one. Truman jumped out to a 5-0 lead early, but the combination of the Jennies hot hitting and strong blocking helped them score 12 of the final 16 points for the win.
Truman turned the tables in game two as it took the lead early and ran away with the game. The Bulldogs hit .360 in the game and held the Jennies to just a .052 mark. Jessica Sears and Sarah Shearman combined for 13 of Truman’s 21 kills in the game.
The match turned into a defensive battle in the third game, as the two teams combined for 59 digs, including 34 for Truman. Again, the Bulldogs jumped out early, leading 10-5 at one point and building on that as the game went on. Truman’s balance was shown in that game as six difference Bulldogs had at least two kills in the game.
The Jennies took the early advantage in the fourth game and led for most of the first-half of the game. Truman trailed 14-13 when it went on a 11-4 run to take over the game. The Bulldogs failed on their first two match points before Sears put a kill down to send the Bulldogs to the next round in the NCAA Tournament.
For the match, Truman’s top hitters Shearman and Sears recorded 22 and 18 kills, respectively. The team’s middle hitters, Micaela Walter and Tiffany Graham were the most effective hitters. Walter had 11 kills and a .333 hitting percentage while Graham had 10 kills and a .320 hitting percentage. Kelsey Wackerman just missed double-figures in kills with nine. Christine Wagener recorded 38 assists and Rebecca Knefelkamp had 21 for the match.
Defensively for the Bulldogs, five players had double-figure digs, led by Lauren Dickbern and Shearman with 22 each. Sears had 18 and Wagener and Knefelkamp each collected 12. Truman had 13 blocks in the match, including seven by Walter.
Central Missouri’s duo of Elyse Mohme and Becky Haug combined for 31 kills, with Mohme having a team-high 16. Kaci Young led the team with 44 assists, Katie Tarka had a game-high 24 digs and Haug had a hand in seven of the team’s 15 blocks.