Nov. 5, 2008 – Senior Dana Hanselmann recorded a career-high in both kills (15) and digs (18), while senior Melissa Keck added 15 kills of her own to help No. 10 Truman hold home-court against 14th-ranked Central Missouri, 3-1 (21-25, 27-25, -15, -15) on Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs (26-7, 13-4 MIAA) now sit in sole possession of third place in the competitive MIAA and hold a one-game lead on UCM (25-9, 12-5).
Both teams came out firing, as UCM hit a blistering .432 (19-3-37) in the opening frame to take a 1-0 advantage. Brooke Butler had five first-set kills for the visiting Jennies while the red and black out-dug the Bulldogs by six.
Central appeared to have the Bulldogs in a hole again in the second set, leading 24-22. However, kills by freshman Johanna Ruff and sophomore Kristen Nissen knotted the score at 24 and prompted a UCM timeout. Allie Huffman came out of the timeout and recorded a kill for Central, but three straight Bulldog points sent the teams to the intermission tied at one set apiece.
Sets three and four were all Truman, as the Bulldogs hit .350 in the final two frames combined to take each by ten-point margins. Eli Medina combined for nine kills in the final two sets, alongside Hanselmann, who nearly made her double-double in those two sets alone with a combined eight kills and nine digs.
Hanselmann (15-3-35) and Keck (15-1-33) hit .382 as a duo, while
Sophomore setter Ashley Petak also finished the night with a new season-high 38 assists and led the team with two service aces, while senior libero Whitney Boehler paced all Bulldogs with 21 digs. It marked her program-leading 27th career 20+ dig performance.
With the win, Truman moved to 20-1 in their last 21 matches against UCM dating back to 2000.
Truman will visit Nebraska-Omaha and on Saturday afternoon at 5:00 p.m., before returning home for the final two regular season matches of 2008 against