Complete Game Notes in PDF

No. 16 Washburn Lady Blues (0-0) at Nova Southeastern Sharks Classic
University Center Arena - Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Match 1 vs Augustana College (0-0) Date: Friday, Aug. 24 Time: 10:00 a.m. (Central) Live Stats: None Live Video: None Series Record: 0-1

Match 2 vs Lynn (0-0) Date: Friday, Aug. 24 Time: 6:00 p.m. (Central) Live Stats: None Live Video: None Series Record: 0-0

Match 3 at Nova Southeastern (0-0) Date: Saturday, Aug. 25 Time: 11:00 a.m. (Central) Live Stats: None Live Video: None Series Record: 0-0

Match 4 at Palm Beach Atlantic (0-0) Date: Saturday, Aug. 25 Time: 2:00 p.m. (Central) Live Stats: None Live Video: None Series Record: 0-0

The Lady Blues will start their 39th season of volleyball with four matches Friday and Saturday at the Nova Southeastern Sharks Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Washburn will be entering the match ranked No. 16 in the CSTV/AVCA preseason poll after posting a 27-9 (9-4 MIAA) record last year with a first-place finish in the MIAA West Division and a third straight trip to the NCAA tournament.

Senior Tessa Jones returns after earning honorable mention All-America honors last year. She and Monica Miesner also earned All-American honors in 2005 and Miesner will return for her junior year after earning a medical redshirt last year. Jones joined seniors Mandi Cox and  Erica Cowhick on the AVCA all-region team last year and all three earned all-MIAA accolades.

Cowhick became WU's career digs leader last year in the final match and will add to that this year as the libero. Rightside hitter Jones and middle hitter Cox will both enter the season nearing the 1,000 kill mark with Jones needing 146 and Cox needing 220.

About this week's competition
The Lady Blues will take on four programs they have little experience against. Washburn and Augustana (South Dakota) will both travel to the east coast to face each other for just the second time in history and then Washburn will play three up-and-coming Florida teams it has never faced before.

Augustana and the Lady Blues will both open their seasons against each other. The Vikings, who return four starters, went 15-14 last year and are picked to finish fourth in the North Central Conference this year. This will be the second all-time meeting between the two schools with AC sweeping the Lady Blues in 1993 in Topeka.

Lynn went 15-13 last year and 8-8 in the Sunshine State Conference. The Fighting Knights were picked to finish sixth this year in the conference. This will be the first meeting between Washburn and Lynn.

Nova Southeastern and Washburn will meet Saturday for the first time. The Sharks went 11-20 last year and were picked to finish eighth in the SSC.

Palm Beach Atlantic, playing as an independent in its first year as a full and active member of the NCAA Division II, will play the Lady Blues for the first time. The Sailfish went 25-15 last year and finished second in the National Christian College Athletic Association national tournament. They won the championship in 2004.

Lady Blues picked to win MIAA championship
Picking up six of the 10 first-place votes, the Lady Blues were chosen by the MIAA coaches to win the league in the preseason poll. Washburn edged Truman, last year's champions, by four points in the voting with Central Missouri coming in third.

The Lady Blues went 9-4 last year to finish first in the West Division. They hosted the postseason tournament and defeated Northwest Missouri State and Central Missouri before falling to No. 1 Truman in the final.

Washburn earns 41st straight ranking in CSTV/AVCA poll
Coming off a 27-9 season and with two returning All-Americans, the Lady Blues earned a No. 16 ranking in the CSTV/American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason poll.

Washburn was one of three MIAA teams ranked with Truman earning a No. 7 vote and Central Missouri coming in at 12th. Tampa was picked to repeat after winning the national championship last year.

The Lady Blues have been in the weekly poll every week since the first week of the 2004 season, a total of 41 consecutive weeks. In that time they have been in the top 10 17 times, peaking at No. 7 four times. Last year they finished 23rd overall.

Jones and Miesner return as All-Americans
The Lady Blues will once again return All-Americans Tessa Jones and Monica Miesner, and this year they will both start the season healthy. Jones earned AVCA honorable mention All-America status last year and third team status in 2005. Miesner received a medical redshirt last year after earning second team All-America honors in 2005.

Jones, a senior rightside hitter, led the team with 396 kills last year and 3.74 per game, fourth best in the MIAA. Aside from her All-America status, she was also named first team all-region and second team all-conference. She enters the year 146 kills away from joining the WU 1,000 kills club.

Miesner, a junior outside hitter played in six matches last year before being pulled out of the lineup with an injury. In 2005 she led the team with 505 kills and 3.85 per game and earned first team all-region and first team all-MIAA honors. She will enter the year needing 266 kills to reach 1,000.

Cowhick enters her senior year as WU's digs leader
Senior libero Erica Cowhick holds every one of Washburn's digs records. She set the school's career digs record last year with 1,642 when she had 15 in the final match of the year. This year she will add to that total as she resumes her spot on the Lady Blues back line.

Her 901 digs last year was also a school record and was the second most in MIAA history. She led the MIAA and broke her own school record with 6.93 digs per game last year and that total was fourth most in the nation. She also holds the school's career digs per game record with 5.49 at the start of the season.

Raynes and Hampson look for time at setter spot
Junior Carolyn Raynes and sophomore Kate Hampson will both return this year after splitting time as setter. Hampson started 29 of the 36 matches and led the team with 1,272 assists and 11.26 per game. In one year she moved into ninth all-time at Washburn in career assists and second in assists per game. Raynes played in 24 matches with seven starts and totaled 387 assists and 7.90 per game. She is 11th all-time at WU with 790 career assists.

Net Notes
• The Lady Blues went 24-3 last year when winning the first game of a match and are 130-8 in Chris Herron's five years as coach.
• Senior middle hitter Mandi Cox is currently first all-time at Washburn with a .324 career attack percentage.
• 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.
• Head coach Chris Herron is nine wins away from tying for second in all-time wins at Washburn. He has 146 wins in his five years and he's chasing Kelly Stauffer-Osburn, who totaled 155 wins in 10 years. Herron holds the school's coaching record with a .811 winning percentage.

Coming up next
The Lady Blues will head to Wichita, Kansas, to take on Newman August 28 at 7 p.m. and then August 31 and September 1 they will play in the Rockhurst Fall Classic in Kansas City, Missouri. At Rockhurst Washburn will match up with Nebraska-Kearney, Minnesota State, Missouri-St. Louis and Colorado-Colorado Springs.