Nick Hartley

The Jackrabbits put their 12-game winning streak on the line Sept. 29 against the UMKC Kangaroos, where they played in front of a rowdy Hobo Day crowd of 555. The Jacks’ [15-3, 6-0 Summit] offensive attack proved to be too much as they outperformed the ‘Roos [3-15, 0-4] and dominated them in a three set victory [30-21, 30-22, 30-27].

A block assist by senior Amy Anderson midway through the second game made her the school’s all-time block assist leader, pushing her past Sarah Biggerstaff’s (2001-04) record of 346. Anderson entered the game five block assists shy of the record and had seven total on the game, putting her career total at 349. Anderson also added 11 kills and had a solid .381 hitting percentage in the match.

“I think it feels like it came very fast,” Anderson said. “Out on the court I didn’t realize I broke it. It was kind of a surprise. It happened early in the season and it felt like it crept up on me.”

Along with Anderson, seniors Samantha Pearson and Kristina Martin are also approaching the point of breaking school records.

“The fact that all three of us could do this in one year says a lot for Coach [Palileo] and his recruiting and the players that he is bringing in,” Anderson said.

“I am happy for them and I knew that Amy (Anderson) would get one [record] for me,” Martin said.

Martin had 14 kills and eight digs in the match, upping her career kills total to 1,491, only 19 behind third place Wendy Windschitls [1985-87] total of 1,510 kills and 37 kills shy of second place Shauna Sturm’s [1998-2001] career total of 1,528 kills.

Pearson had 16 digs to move her total to 1,605, only 10 behind Liz Archer’s [1998, 2000-02] school record of 1,615.

Freshman Melia Iwamoto had 42 set assists in the match, increasing her career total to 816 to solidify her in tenth place halfway through her freshman season.

“I thought [playing at home on Hobo Day] would kind of make us too excited at times and make us start off like that,” Martin said. “We have had that before, like when we played NDSU last year that we got too hyped up and it just kind of fell apart after that.”

“We had a target number that I thought it would take to win the Summit League and a target number what I thought it would take to finish in the top four,” said head coach Andrew Palileo. “We never expected to be undefeated having played some of the teams we have played already.”

“My sophomore year, when I broke the single season one, I was wondering out of curiosity what it [career record] would be” Anderson said, “so I looked it up and did the math and was like ‘Oh, I can probably erase that’.”

The Jacks return to action Oct. 3 at Xavier in Cincinnati, Ohio, at 6:00 p.m., before traveling to IPFW on Oct. 5 for another 6:00 p.m. game. They finish the weekend with a game at Missouri State on Oct. 9 at 2:00 p.m.

The Jackrabbits will be putting their 13 game winning streak on the line, when they travel to Cincinnati, Ohio.

#1.883246:1413314948.jpg:volleyball.jn.jpg:Samantha Pierson (15), Kristina Martin (4) and Amy Anderson (7) lead the 2007 Jackrabbit varsity team through a human tunnel before their game on Saturday, Sept. 30. The Jacks beat UMKC 3-0. :John Damen