Record: 18-2 Overall
Current Streak: Won 1
AVCA National Ranking: No. 8

Day	Date	Opponent	Time	Location	Arena	Series Record	Video	Live Stats
Wed	Oct. 8	at Missouri Southern (6-11, 1-4 MIAA)	7 p.m.	Joplin, Mo.	Leggett & Platt Athletic Center	MSSU 34-24	none	Here
Fri	Oct. 10	Southwest Baptist (9-9, 1-4 MIAA) | Game Notes	7 p.m.	Topeka, Kan.	Lee Arena	WU 32-4	Here	Here
Sat.	Oct. 11	No. 13 Pittsburg State (18-3, 4-2 MIAA)	5 p.m.	Topeka, Kan.	Lee Arena	WU 44-20	Here	Here

Lady Blues return to MIAA action with trip to MSSU and two home matches this weekend
After going 4-0 over the weekend in their final non-conference matches of the season, the Lady Blues will return to MIAA action with a 7 p.m. contest at Missouri Southern State. No. 8 Washburn (18-2, 3-2 MIAA) will then return home to host Southwest Baptist Friday at 7 p.m. and then No. 13 Pittsburg State Saturday at 5 p.m.
   
The Lady Blues enter the week fifth in the MIAA while PSU (18-3 overall) is third at 4-2. The Bearcats and Lions are tied for eighth in the league at 1-4 and SBU is 9-9 overall and MSSU is 6-11.
   
Washburn has won 17 straight against SBU and 13 straight against MSSU. PSU won the last meeting against the Lady Blues but WU has won six of the last seven.

Notes of Interest
• Kate Hampson moved to second in career assists at Washburn and needs 66 more to tie for first.
• The Lady Blues are 6-0 at home this year and 36-4 at home in the last three seasons.
• Monica Miesner moved into second in Washburn career history, now with 1,663 digs. She is 74 kills away from moving into the top five.
• The match against PSU will be the fourt against a ranked team in as many weeks.

About this week's opponents
Missouri Southern enters the week on a two-match losing streak after getting swept twice at a tournament at Pittsburg State. The Lions did pick up a win Friday against Abilene Christian. The Lions are 6-11 this year and 1-4 in the MIAA. Jeanna Feldman leads the team with 2.66 kills per set and Amelia Judge leads the team with a .286 attack percentage.
   
Southwest Baptist is also 1-4 in the MIAA. The Bearcats are ninth in the league with 11.80 kills per set but third with 2.31 blocks. Freshman Ashley Jurgensmeyer is sixth in the MIAA with 3.67 points per set and ninth with a .304 attack percentage.
   
Pittsburg State leads the MIAA with a .271 attack percentage, 13.77 assists per set and 14.79 kills. Linda Igbinigie is first in the conference with a .391 attack percentage and Sammie Williams is third with 3.53 kills per set. The Gorillas have won seven straight and their last two losses have come to Central Missouri.

Lady Blues jump one spot to eighth in AVCA national poll
After winning all four of their matches in the Washburn Fall Classic over the weekend, the Lady Blues jumped up one spot to eighth in the AVCA national poll released Monday. Washburn, 18-2 and 3-2 in the MIAA, will take its ranking on the road to Missouri Southern Wednesday at 7 p.m. before returning home Friday to host Southwest Baptist at 7 p.m. and then Pittsburg State Saturday at 5 p.m.
   
Saturday's match against the 13th-ranked Gorillas will mark the fourth match against a ranked team in as many weeks.
   
Washburn remains the highest-ranked MIAA team with Emporia State at 11th, Truman 12th, PSU 13th and Central Missouri 14th.
   
This is the 19th straight week WU has been in the top 10 and the 61st straight time being in the top 25, dating back to week one of the 2004 season.
   
Hampson moves to 2nd in career assists; is 66 from WU's top spot
Junior setter Kate Hampson moved to second in career assists as she had 150 during the Lady Blues Fall Classic last weekend. She now has 3,849 and needs 66 more to tie Lindsey Kersting, who had 3,915 from 1999-02.
   
Hampson, the only junior on the team, set a school single-season record with 1,928 assists last year. This year she has 649 and is averaging 9.69 per set, the third highest average in the MIAA. She entered the year as the school leader with 12.55 per set.
   
Hampson has 70 30-plus assists matches, the second highest total at Washburn while Kersting holds the record with 73.

Lady Blues continue dominance in Lee Arena
Washburn went 17-1 in home matches last year and is 6-0 this year after winning all four in the Lady Blues Fall Classic last week. 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.
   
The Lady Blues are 36-4 in the last three seasons in Lee Arena and 82-12 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 399 fans through six matches.

Herron earns 200th win at Washburn
Washburn head coach Chris Herron is 202-40 in his seventh season with the Lady Blues, making him the third active coach in the MIAA with at least 200 wins. He is already the school's career leader in wins and his .835 winning percentage is also the school's highest.
   
Overall, Herron is 277-69 in 10 seasons with an .801 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 moves up career digs and kills chart
Monica Miesner moved to second in career digs at Washburn after she had 43 during the Lady Blues Fall Classic. She currently has 1,663 as she passed Shanna Haslett, who had 1,627 from 1988-90. Erica Cowhick is the school's leader with 2,464 from 2004-07.   
   
Miesner is seventh in career kills at Washburn, now with 1,417. Four more will move her to sixth and she's 74 kills away from tying Dani McHenry in fifth with 1,491 total kills.
   
Miesner is 315 kills away from the school record, held by Jill Gassen with 1,732 from 1998-01.
   
Miesner has 59 career double-doubles and needs eight more to tie assistant coach and All-American Dani (McHenry) Schmidt for first in WU history. She already has 87 double-figure dig matches, the second most in school history, and she's tied for third with 70 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 .354 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 2.64 kills per set. In MIAA matches she is averaging 2.65 kills with a .340 attack percentage.
   
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 named to all-tournament team; tied for team lead in kills per set
Sophomore outside hitter Ashley Shepard is tied for the team lead with 2.94 kills per set after she averaged 3.46 per set during the Lady Blues Classic. She has led Washburn in kills in seven of the 20 matches and in MIAA matches she leads the team with 48 kills and 3.2 per set.

Net Notes
• Stephanie Nitz moved to 12th at WU with 314 career blocks. She needs 45 to move to 11th.
• Jessica Wade has a .374 attack percentage this year but has not played enough sets to qualify as team leader in the category. She does, however, lead the team with a .377 percentage through the first five MIAA matches.
• The Lady Blues are fifth in the MIAA at 3-2, right behind Pittsburg State and Truman State at 4-2. All MIAA teams are taking a break from conference matches this week.
• Washburn has 238 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 have another ranked team on their schedule next week. They will play at Fort Hays State October 15 and then host 11th-rankeed Emporia State October 17 at Lee Arena. The match will be the fifth in as many weeks against a ranked team.