Record: 24-2 Overall, 9-2 MIAA
Current Streak: Won 10
AVCA National Ranking: No. 7
Top 10 battle kicks off weekend for Lady Blues as they host two in Lee Arena
The seventh-ranked Lady Blues will play a ranked team for the sixth straight week when they host No. 10 Truman Friday at 7 p.m. in Lee Arena. Washburn (24-2, 9-2 MIAA) will then host Missouri Western Saturday at 5 p.m. to conclude the week.
The Lady Blues began the week with a 3-0 win at Northwest Missouri State Tuesday night. On Wednesday the Bulldogs (21-6, 8-3 MIAA) fell 3-2 to No. 9 Emporia State and the Griffons (4-23, 1-10 MIAA) snapped a 14-match losing streak with a 3-2 win against Fort Hays State, their first MIAA win of the year.
Washburn enters the weekend on a 10-match winning streak and has not lost since September 26 at Central Missouri. The Lady Blues are 9-0 at home this year and 27-3 in sets.
Notes of Interest
• Washburn has not allowed an opponent to hit better than .100 in the last three games and better than .200 in the last eight games.
•
Monica Miesner is 20 kills away from moving into the top five in WU history. She is looking to become one of two WU players in the top five in kills and digs.
•
Kate Hampson set another WU career record with her 74th 30-plus assist match when she had 33 on Tuesday at Northwest Missouri. She is already Washburn's career assist leader.
About this week's opponents
Truman had an eight-match winning streak snapped in a 3-2 loss against No. 9 Emporia State at home Wednesday. The Bulldogs are now 21-6 overall and fourth in the MIAA at 8-3. The Bulldogs entered the week leading the MIAA in blocking with 2.46 per set and Allie Cherven leads the conference with 1.19 per set. Melissa Keck leads her team with .333 attack percentage and she was fourth in the MIAA entering the week.
Missouri Western earned its first MIAA win this year and snapped a 14-match losing streak with a 3-2 win against Fort Hays State Wednesday. The Griffons are 4-23 and tied for ninth in the MIAA at 1-10. The Griffons were hitting .090 as a team, last in the MIAA, when the week started. Kelli Sicner leads the team with 2.05 kills a set and she's third with 2.44 digs.
Washburn moves up two spots to No. 7 in national poll
The Lady Blues moved from ninth to seventh in the latest AVCA national poll, released Monday. Washburn has won 10 straight and has been in the top 10 for the last 21 weeks. The Lady Blues will take their ranking and winning streak into Lee Arena as they host No. 10 Truman at 7 p.m. Friday before hosting Missouri Western at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Washburn is still the top-ranked MIAA team. Emporia State moved to ninth, Truman is 10th, Central Missouri is 13th and Pittsburg State is 15th.
This is the 21st straight week WU has been in the top 10 and the 63rd straight time being in the top 25, dating back to week one of the 2004 season.
Hampson breaks Washburn's career assists record
With her seventh assist in WU's 3-1 home win over No. 13 Pittsburg State on October 11, Hampson surpassed Lindsey Kersting (1999-2002 -- 3,915) as the school's career leader. The junior has 861 this year and is averaging 10.01 per set. Hampson now has 4,028 in her career and she needs 1,036 to move into the MIAA's career top 10.
Hampson also broke another WU record when she got her 74th career match with 30 or more assists. Kersting held the record with 73 30-plus assist matches until Hampson got 33 assists at Northwest Missouri State Tuesday.
Lady Blues continue dominance in Lee Arena
Washburn went 17-1 in home matches last year and is 9-0 this year. The Lady Blues went 52-12 in sets at home last year with 11 three-set sweeps. The only loss was a four-set defeat from Western Washington in the NCAA national semifinal.
This year Washburn is 27-3 in sets at home this year. The Lady Blues are hitting .257 while opponents have a .135 attack percentage.
Ashley Shepard leads the team in home matches with 3.64 kills per set and
Stephanie Nitz is hitting .384 with 1.04 blocks a set.
The Lady Blues are 39-4 in the last three seasons in Lee Arena and 85-12 in the building in seven seasons under
Chris Herron.
Washburn finished third in the nation last year with 688 fans per match and second with 12,381 total fans. Those totals were the highest in the MIAA. This year Washburn is averaging 519 fans through nine matches.
Defense strong during winning streak
The Lady Blues have held opponents to a .121 attack percentage during their current 10-match winning streak and they haven't allowed an opponent to hit better than .100 in the last three matches. Only Midwestern State has managed to hit better than .200 (.203) and five of the 10 opponents hit lower than .100 during the streak.
The Lady Blues are averaging 18.42 digs per set during the streak and
Molly Smith is leading with 4.73 per set. Molly Lacy is averaging 1.17 blocks per set, almost twice her season average.
On offense
Ashley Shepard is leading with 3.48 kills per set and
Stephanie Nitz is leading with a .345 attack percentage. Washburn is hitting .243 as a team during the streak.
Herron earns 200th win at Washburn
Washburn head coach
Chris Herron is 208-40 in his seventh season with the Lady Blues, making him the third active coach in the MIAA with at least 200 wins. He got his 200th win on October 3 against Midwestern State. He is already the school's career leader in wins and his .839 winning percentage is also the school's highest.
Overall, Herron is 283-69 in 10 seasons with an .804 winning percentage. He is currently the third winningest active coach in the MIAA and the 34th winningest coach among active NCAA II coaches. Herron went 75-29 in three seasons at Benedictine.
Only two other active MIAA coaches have more than 200 wins at their school. Peggy Martin, in her 33rd and final year at Central Missouri, has over 1,000 and Rose Shires, the 19-year coach of MIAA newcomer Nebraska-Omaha, has over 375 wins.
Miesner nears top five in WU career kills
Monica Miesner is sixth in career kills at Washburn, now with 1,471. She's 20 kills away from tying Dani McHenry in fifth with 1,491 total kills. Miesner is 261 kills away from the school record, held by Jill Gassen with 1,732 from 1998-01.
Earlier in the year Miesner moved to second in career digs at Washburn and she currently has 1,702.
Erica Cowhick is the school's leader with 2,464 from 2004-07.
Miesner has 60 career double-doubles and needs seven more to tie assistant coach and All-American Dani (McHenry) Schmidt for first in WU history. She already has 91 double-figure dig matches, the second most in school history, and she's third with 73 career double-figure kills matches.
The two-time All-American became Washburn's seventh member of the 1,000 kills/1,000 digs club last year. She is looking to become one of two Lady Blues to be in the top five in both kills and digs at WU, joining Angie (Simon) Bittner.
Miesner earned AVCA second team honors in both 2007 and 2005. She also earned first team all-MIAA honors those two years.
Freshman Lacy near the top amongst MIAA hitters
Freshman middle hitter
Mollie Lacy is leading the Lady Blues with a .344 attack percentage and that total is the third highest in the MIAA. Lacy also led the Lady Blues during the Fall Classic with a .439 percentage, the third highest amongst the tournament field, and she got a spot on the all-tournament team.
Lacy has started every match and is averaging 2.73 kills per set. In MIAA matches she is averaging 2.85 kills with a .326 attack percentage. Lacy has led Washburn in attack percentage 10 times this year
Lacy was named an AVCA High School Senior All-American her final year at Lincoln Pius High School (Neb.) and her team won two state championships her final two years. He club team, NVA 17 Red, was the 2007 national champion and she was named to the all-tournament team.
Shepard leading the team in in kills
Sophomore outside hitter
Ashley Shepard leads the team with 3.09 kills per set. She has been the team leader in points eight times and in kills 10 times this year. Shepard has nine double-figure kill matches this year and four double-doubles.
Shepard has reached double figures in kills in three of the last four and she's averaging 3.85 kills during that stretch.
Net Notes
•
Stephanie Nitz moved to 12th at WU with 329 career blocks. She needs 30 to move to 11th and 35 to move into the top 10.
• The Lady Blues are 23-0 this year when opening with a win and they have 18 three-set sweeps.
• Washburn has had a higher attack percentage than its opponents in all but one match and more kills in all but two.
• Washburn has 244 wins this decade. The school's winningest decade was the 1980s when the Lady Blues won 249 matches. However, WU had a .487 winning percentage that decade.
Coming up next
The Lady Blues will play twice next week starting October 29 at Nebraska-Omaha. They will then return home October 31 to host No. 13 Central Missouri.
