Jennies survive upset-minded West Florida, 3-2

                It wasn’t easy, but the University of Central Missouri Jennies advanced to the NCAA South Central Region title game for the fifth consecutive season. They did it with a 3-2 (28-30, 30-26, 30-14, 26-30, 19-17) win over seventh-seeded West Florida in the semifinal tonight.
            Central Missouri (29-6) had to come from behind to take out the pesky Argonauts (20-15), who knocked off second-seeded Washburn last night, 3-0. UWF, behind the one-pronged attack of Naiara Fernandes, took game one with a tough 30-28 decision. Fernandes had 87 total attacks in the match (the next closest team member was at 42) and generated 34 kills. On the other side though, she had 15 attacking errors.
            The Jennies came back to win the next two games by forcing the Argonauts into a host of errors. The third game was dominated by UCM and it looked as if the Jens would cruise from there but UWF showed what they were made of to force a decisive fifth game. After an 11-8 lead by Central Missouri, West Florida came back with five consecutive points to take command, 13-11. The Jens fought back for a 13-13 tie and UCM was able to stave off three match points and grab a 17-16 lead. They eventually grabbed the 19-17 decision and the finals berth.
            Lauren Nuckolls scored early for the Jens and tallied a team-high 20 kills before Jillian Ohrman became the target late in the match when UCM needed points. She finished the day hitting a match-high .417 and had 19 kills. Katie Tarka had a double-double with 17 kills and a team-high 21 digs as well for the Jens. Setter Caitlin Pankratz also tallied a career-high 62 assists in the match.