Record: 14-2 Overall
Current Streak: Lost 1
AVCA National Ranking: No. 9


Washburn Lady Blues Fall Classic • Lee Arena • Topeka, Kan.
Tournament Website
Full Schedule
Ticket Information

Day	Date	Opponent	Time	Location	Arena	Series Record	Video	Live Stats
Fri	Oct. 3	East Central (5-10)	11:30 a.m.	Topeka, Kan.	Lee Arena Court 1	1st meeting	none	Here
Fri	Oct. 3	No. 20 Midwestern State (18-0)	7 p.m.	Topeka, Kan.	Lee Arena Court 1	1st meeting	none	Here
Sat.	Oct. 4	Incarnate Word (9-7)	11 a.m.	Topeka, Kan.	Lee Arena Court 1	1st meeting	none	Here
Sat.	Oct. 4	Central Oklahoma (8-10)	7 p.m.	Topeka, Kan.	Lee Arena Court 1	UCO leads 2-1	none	Here

Herron searches for win No. 200 as Lady Blues host Fall Classic in Lee Arena
Washburn will play its final non-conference matches of the regular season as it hosts the Lady Blues Fall Classic Friday and Saturday on two courts in Lee Arena. Five teams from the MIAA will join teams from the Heartland Conference and Lone Star Conference for 10 South Central Region matchups. Action begins Friday at 9:30 a.m. with two matches and ends Saturday with a 7 p.m. match featuring Washburn (14-2) against Central Oklahoma.

All matches on both courts will have live stats available by clicking on the tournament schedule link at the top of the page.

The Lady Blues will play East Central and undefeated Midwestern State (18-0) Friday and then host Incarnate word Saturday before closing against UCO. Head coach Chris Herron will enter the weekend needing two wins to reach 200 at Washburn.

Notes of Interest
• With the realignment of regions, three of the four teams Washburn faces are new opponents. UCO is the only team the Lady Blues have ever faced amongst this week's opponents.
• The Lady Blues are 2-0 at home this year and 32-4 at home in the last three seasons.
• WU is 8-0 in the last two years during the Lady Blues Fall Classic.
• Head coach Chris Herron is two wins away from 200 wins overall at Washburn.
• Monica Miesner is seven digs away from moving into second in Washburn career history.

About this week's opponents
The Lady Blues will play three teams they have never faced before and one they haven't played since 1998 when they host the Washburn Fall Classic Friday and Saturday.

Midwestern State comes into the tournament with the best record of all the 10 teams and will play Washburn at 7 p.m. Friday. The Mustangs are 18-0 and ranked 20th in the nation. East Central, WU's 11:30 a.m. opponent Friday, is 5-10. Washburn will play Incarnate Word (9-7) Saturday at 11 a.m. and then close against Central Oklahoma (8-10) at 7 p.m. Saturday. All of WU's opponents except MSU play matches this week before coming to Topeka.

ECU, UCO and Midwestern State are out of the Lone Star Conference while UIW is from the Heartland Conference. Those two leagues joined the MIAA in the NCAA South Central Region.

The Lady Blues and UCO played each other three times in the 1990s with the Bronchos winning twice. WU has never played the other three opponents.

Lady Blues fall five spots but remain in top 10 at ninth
The Lady Blues dropped in the polls for the third straight week as they fell to ninth in the nation in the latest AVCA national ranking. Washburn went to 14-2 overall after splitting a pair of matches last week. The Lady Blues, fourth a week ago, swept unranked Nebraska-Omaha Wednesday before getting swept at then-No. 15 Central Missouri Friday.

The Lady Blues will play their third ranked opponent in as many weeks as they host undefeated and 20th-ranked Midwestern State during the Lady Blues Fall Classic Friday at 7 p.m. Washburn is 0-2 against ranked teams.

Washburn remains the highest-ranked MIAA team with Emporia State at 11th, UCM at 14th, Truman at 15th and Pittsburg State 16th

This is the 18th straight week WU has been in the top 10 and the 60th straight time being in the top 25, dating back to week one of the 2004 season.
   
Lady Blues continue dominance in Lee Arena
Washburn went 17-1 in home matches last year and is 2-0 this year after defeating Nebraska-Omaha 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 32-4 in the last three seasons in Lee Arena and 78-12 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 666 fans through two matches.

Herron approaches 200th win at Washburn
Washburn head coach Chris Herron is 198-40 in his seventh season with the Lady Blues, making him two wins away from his 200th. He is already the school's career leader in wins and his .832 winning percentage is also the school's highest.

Overall, Herron is 273-69 in 10 seasons with a .798 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 1,050 and Rose Shires, the 19-year coach of MIAA newcomer Nebraska-Omaha, has 378 wins.

Miesner moves up career digs and kills chart
Monica Miesner is seven digs away from moving to second in career history at Washburn. She enters the week with 1,620 and needs seven more to catch Shanna Haslett, who had 1,627 from 1988-90.

Last week she moved to seventh in career kills at Washburn, now with 1,387. She needs 34 kills to move to sixth and she's 104 kills away from tying Dani McHenry in fifth with 104 total kills.

Miesner has 58 career double-doubles and needs nine more to tie assistant coach and All-American Dani (McHenry) Schmidt for first in WU history. She already has 85 double-figure dig matches, the second most in school history, and she's fourth with 69 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 .348 attack percentage and that total is the third highest in the MIAA. She has led Washburn in attack percentage in seven of the 16 matches this year. She's had double-figure kills five times and has hit .400 or better seven times.

She has started every match and is averaging 2.58 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.

Hampson continues climb up career assists chart
Junior setter Kate Hampson has 3,699 career assists at Washburn, putting her third in school history. She needs 54 to move to second at WU and 216 to catch Lindsey Kersting, the school leader with 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 499 and is averaging 9.42 per set. She entered the year as the school leader with 12.55 per set.

Hampson has 68 30-plus assists matches, the second highest total at Washburn while Kersting holds the record with 73.

Net Notes
• Stephanie Nitz moved to 13th at WU with 302 career blocks. She needs three more to move to 12th.
• Jessica Wade has a .382 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.
• Washburn is second in the MIAA with a .255 attack percentage.
• 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 234 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.

Lady Blues swept at No. 15 Central Missouri
The Lady Blues hit just .134 as they were swept, 25-22, 25-16, 25-20, at 15th-ranked Central Missouri last Friday. Monica Miesner led the offense with nine kills and added 11 digs. Three other Lady Blues reached double figures in digs with Molly Smith leading with 14, Jennifer Kolarik adding 12 and Kate Hampson adding 11. Hampson had 24 assists to record her second straight double-double. She also had five kills and her .333 attack percentage led the team. The Jennies hit .252 as a team with Allie Huffman leading with 16 kills and a .325 attack percentage. The Lady Blues suffered just their second sweep in the last two years and their first to UCM since 2004.

Lady Blues take out MIAA newcomer UNO in three sets
Ashley Shepard had 14 kills and Kate Hampson had her 28th career double-double as the fourth-ranked Lady Blues beat Nebraska-Omaha, 25-22, 25-21, 25-15, last Wednesday in front of 815 fans at Lee Arena. Shepard led the Lady Blues in kills for the fourth time this year and she hit .333 with two errors in 36 attacks. She was the only Lady Blue with double-figure kills as setter Kate Hampson distributed the other 24 kills between seven players. Hampson finished with 34 assists and 11 digs for her first double-double of the year. Mollie Lacy had six kills while Jessica Wade had five with no errors in 11 attempts to hit .455 on the night. Washburn hit .254 as a team while UNO hit .165, led by Kayla Uhing with 13 kills and a .281 percentage. Smith led the back row with 17 digs while Monica Miesner had 14. Both teams had 60 each with UNO also putting three players in double figures. Washburn blocked seven shots with Wade leading with four of them.

Coming up next
Washburn will play three MIAA matches next week, starting October 8 at Missouri Southern. The Lady Blues will then host Southwest Baptist October 10 and Pittsburg State October 11.