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MIAA Postseason Tournament Semifinal and Final Game Notes
No. 6 Washburn (34-2, 12-1 MIAA)

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Match 37 No. 18 Pittsburg State (27-7, 8-5 MIAA/3rd East) Date: Friday, November 9, 2007 Time: 5:00 p.m. Place: Pershing Arena; Kirksville, Mo. Live Stats

Championship Match Washburn/Pittsburg State winner vs Truman/Emporia State winner Date: Saturday, November 10, 2007 Time: 7:00 p.m. Place: Pershing Arena; Kirksville, Mo. Live Stats

The No. 6 Lady Blues will continue action in the MIAA Postseason Tournament Friday at 5 p.m. with a semifinal match against 18th-ranked Pittsburg State. The match will take place at Truman's Pershing Arena with the host Bulldogs facing Emporia State at 7:30 p.m. in the other semifinal match. The final will take place Saturday at 7 p.m. at TSU with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
   
Washburn advanced to the second round of the tournament after hosting and defeating Missouri Western, 3-0 Tuesday in the first round. The Lady Blues hit .422 as a team and were led by three players in double figure kills. Monica Miesner had a double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs and Tessa Jones led the team with 16 kills. Mandi Cox had 13 kills and led with a .632 attack percentage.
   
Pittsburg State advanced with a 3-0 win at Central Missouri in the only upset during the four first round matches Tuesday. The Lady Blues are 2-0 against PSU this year, winning both matches in five games.

Lady Blues look for third MIAA title
Washburn was the MIAA West Division champion this year, but in order to be named the MIAA champs, the Lady Blues will have to win the conference tournament. They were crowned conference champions in 2002 and 2005 when it went to the regular season winner. Last year the Lady Blues also won the West but finished second in the tournament, its first year of reinstatement. Washburn's last postseason tournament championship was the 1986 NAIA District 10 tournament.

Already in the 1,000 kills club, Cox looks to leave WU as career attack percentage leader
Senior Mandi Cox started the year as the school's career leader in attack percentage with a .324 mark. She is hitting .329 this year and now .326 overall to keep herself on pace to stay atop the chart as her career nears an end. She has a lot of wiggle room to hold the record. The next closest in the record book is Kate Thomsen, who hit .288 from 1996-97.
   
Cox's finest year was her sophomore season when she set the school record with a .373 attack percentage. She will try this year for the ninth single-season attack percentage above .300 in Washburn history.
   
Cox joined an elite group of Lady Blues on October 6 when she reached 1,000 kills in her career to make her the 12th member of the 1,000 kill club at Washburn. Cox is currently 13th in career kills at Washburn with 1,088. With 344 total career blocks, she is 15 away from moving into the top 10.

Attack percentage records on pace to be shattered
Washburn has three attackers hitting at over .300 this season and only 10 times in school history has a player ended the year hitting .300 or better. Mandi Cox leads the team with a .329 percentage, Stephanie Nitz is hitting .324 and Tessa Jones is attacking at .313. Cox's percentage is currently good enough for the fourth highest total in school history.
   
The Lady Blues are also on pace to break the school record for attack and for total kills. This year they have a .274 team percentage while in 2004 the previous record of .258 was set. With 2,141 total kills this year, they are 13 away from tying the school record set in 2005.

Lady Blues set school-record winning streak this year
The Lady Blues tied their previous school record for a winning streak with 18 straight match wins. They went on the shatter that record by reaching 27 wins before it was snapped earlier at Emporia State. Their previous best was 18 straight matches during 2005.
   
Washburn also set school records this year by winning 29 straight games and by sweeping eight straight opponents. Both of those record streaks were snapped by Rockhurst two weeks ago.
Lady Blues record school's sixth 30-win season

This year's team became just the sixth team in Washburn's history to win 30 or more matches. At 34-2 this year, they are also just the second WU team to do it since joining the MIAA in 1989. Washburn last reached 30 wins when it went 35-3 in 2005 and the school win record is 45 wins in 1985 when the Lady Blues played 63 matches.

Miesner joins 1,000 digs/1,000 kills club
Junior Monica Miesner became the 16th member of  Washburn's 1,000 career digs club earlier in the year and then she became the 13th member of the 1,000 kills club. Now with 1,150 kills and 1,280 digs, she is Washburn's seventh member of the 1,000 kills/1,000 digs club. Miesner is currently 11th at Washburn in career kills and 11th in digs. She is 74 kills from cracking the top 10 in that category and 36 digs from the top 10 in Washburn history.
   
Miesner is second on the team this year with 3.50 kills a game and 4.29 digs.

Jones joins Washburn's 1,000 kill club, nets 500 for the season
Senior All-American rightside hitter Tessa Jones became eighth player to reach 500 kills in a season this year, now with 526, tied for the fifth highest total in school history. Earlier in the year she became the 11th member of Washburn's 1,000 kill club. Jones is fourth all-time in kills per game with 3.87 and second with 4.58 points.

Washburn stands atop the regional poll
The Lady Blues were once again chosen as the top team in the South Central Region in the NCAA ranking released Monday. Right behind the Lady Blues is MIAA member Truman at No. 2 and Gulf South Conference member West Florida.
   
The top team in each of the eight regions hosts an eight-team NCAA regional tournament from November 15-17 with the winners of each regional advancing to the Elite 8 at a site to be determined.
   
The Lady Blues have advanced to the NCAA tournament in each of the last three years and four times in the last five. They hosted the regional in 2002.

Herron moves to the top of the list in coaching victories
WU head coach Chris Herron became Washburn's all-time leading coach by wins when the Lady Blues defeated Panhandle State on October 5. He is currently 180-36 in his sixth year at Washburn. He moved past Linda Moley, Washburn's coach from 1982-86 who went 167-108 in five seasons.
   
Herron is already Washburn's leader in winning percentage, entering the year with an .811 mark in five full seasons. Counting his three years at Benedictine, Herron entered the year with a .778 career winning percentage, which was 10th most in NCAA Division II among active coaches.

Cowhick six digs from second in MIAA history
Senior libero Erica Cowhick has 2,320 digs in her four years at WU and she is six digs away from moving into second all-time in the MIAA. PSU's Dina Wathan had 2,326 from 2000-03. Cowhick holds every dig record at Washburn and she recently completed her 102nd double-figure dig match. Earlier in the year she became the first Lady Blue to reach 2,000 digs and just the fourth in MIAA history.

Washburn earns 51st straight ranking in AVCA poll
After losing their first match in nearly two months, the Lady Blues dropped to sixth in the AVCA national poll, released Monday. Washburn has been ranked in the top 10 for the last nine weeks and they have been ranked 51 straight times now dating back to week one of the 2004 season. They have been in the top 10 in 26 of those weeks.

Lady Blues are 7-1 against ranked teams
The Lady Blues are 7-1 against ranked opponents this year with three wins against top-10 teams. In Chris Herron's sixth year the Lady Blues are 24-25 against ranked teams and 6-13 against the top-10. At home they are 14-10.

Net Notes
• This year the Lady Blues have started every match but three with a win and are 32-1 when doing so. Their one loss when opening with a win came against Nebraska-Kearney. When opening with two straight wins, Washburn is 26-0 with 21 sweeps. They went 24-3 last year when winning the first game of a match and they are 161-9 in Chris Herron's six years as coach.
• The Lady Blues have been to the NCAA tournament three straight years and four times in the last five years.
• Washburn finished second in NCAA II last year in total attendance with 9,195 total fans. The 575 fans per game was sixth most in the nation. The total figure led the MIAA and the average was the second best. This year the Lady Blues are averaging 508 fans a game.

NCAA tournament coming up next for Lady Blues
Following the conference tournament, the Lady Blues will await word on NCAA postseason play. Washburn is currently the top seed in the South Central Region and would host the eight-team NCAA regional November 15-17 if things stay that way. The NCAA will announce its berths on a webcast November 12 at 8 a.m. with www.ncaasports.com linking to the production.