Caitlin Pankratz and Allie Huffman received All-Tournament honors

The No.12 ranked Jennies (6-2) faced the cream of the NCAA D-II crop over the weekend at the Colorado Premier Challenge. On Friday they picked up two wins, first over No. 19 Lewis, 3-0 (25-14, 26-24, 29-27), then Flip and the Jens came from down two sets to beat No. 3 West Texas A&M, 3-2 (24-26, 15-25, 25-19, 25-21, 15-11). In Saturday’s semi-final round, UCM defeated No. 15 West Florida for the second time this season, 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-19). UCM would drop the championship match to No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul, 3-0 (19-25, 26-28, 22-25).

Going back to last weekend’s West Florida Invitational, the Jennies have faced six top-20 teams in a row, including No. 1 ranked Concordia-St. Paul twice, and No. 3 ranked West Texas A&M. The Golden Bears are responsible for both UCM losses thus far.

Against Lewis in the first match, Allie Huffman led the team in kills (11), and came through with a pair of service aces. Redshirt Freshman Bradye Peniston had a match high 3.5 total blocks to go along with her seven kills, hitting .462

The ‘match of the tournament’ for the Jennies was a five-game, come from behind, upset of No. 3 West Texas A&M. The Jens led in game one, 19-14, but would let that lead slip through the cracks after the Lady Buffs tied the score 24-24. 15 of the team’s 33 total match errors came in set two, disabling any UCM offensive rhythm. Four Jens hit over .500 on their way to winning the third set (25-19). Abby Gruenbacher tallied six kills and led the team in hitting that set (.714). The Jennies held control of the scoreboard from that point on. “We rotated two spots to match up with their hitters. Our girls handled the minor changes very well and were very aggressive serving, bringing them out of their offensive system,” Head Coach Flip Piontek said.

Huffman, Gruenbacher, Paula Harris, and Peniston all reached double-digit kills in the five-set match, 18, 14, 11, and 10 respectively. Caitlin Pankratz set 50 of the teams’ 59 total assists and 14 digs for the double-double.

Saturday brought the Jens two repeat opponents from last weekend. West Florida fell in three sets again.  UCM hit their best percentage of the tournament in the championship match, .252. Gruenbacher led the way with 11 kills. However, Concordia-St. Paul would prove to be too efficient on the attack tallying 55 kills, 51 of which were assisted by Maggie McNamara, tournament MVP and last year’s AVCA Player of the Year.

Two UCM players made the All-Tournament team, Huffman and Pankratz. Huffman averaged 12.25 kills and Pankratz averaged 38.25 assists and 10.75 digs per match in the tournament.