#20 Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks (18-8, 8-5 MIAA) Lee Arena Topeka, Kan. Wed., Oct. 28 7 p.m.

#4 Central Missouri Jennies (26-3, 12-1 MIAA) UCM Multipurpose Warrensburg, Mo. Fri., Oct. 30 7 p.m.

Complete Game Notes

Previewing Washburn
    The No. 8-ranked Washburn Lady Blues have two key MIAA matches this week. The Lady Blues will try to avenge their first two losses of the season against Nebraska-Omaha and Central Missouri. Washburn will host Nebraska-Omaha on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and travel to Warrensburg to take on the Jennies on Friday at 7 p.m. The Lady Blues are coming off an undefeated 3-0 week. Washburn beat Northwest Missouri State 3-1 on Tuesday then went on the road to gain a couple of sweeps. WU beat No. 19 Truman 3-0 on Friday in Kirksville and Missouri Western 3-0 on Saturday in St. Joe.

Scouting the Mavericks
    Nebraska-Omaha enters the week of competition with an 18-8 overall record, including an 8-5 mark in conference action and sits at No. 20 in this week's AVCA national poll. Ellen Thommes leads the Maverick offense with 321 kills and a 3.21 kills per set average in 100 sets played. Thommes also leads the team with 103 total blocks. Three other plays have at least 210 kills; Kelli Goeser (292), Sara Kampschnieder (263) and Lizzy Mach (210). Emily Myers has 1097 assists and a 10.97 assists/set average. Angie Reicks leads the team with a 4.23 digs per set average with 423 digs in 100 sets played.
    UNO was 1-2 a week ago falling 302 to Missouri Southern and 3-1 at Pittsburg State before snapping their four-game slide with a 3-0 sweep of Southwest Baptist on Saturday in Bolivar, Mo.

The Series: Washburn vs. Nebraska-Omaha
    The Mavericks hold a 4-2 lead in the overall series with Washburn. UNO is 2-1 against the Lady Blues since joining the MIAA last season. The Mavericks handed WU its first loss of the season, a 3-2 thriller, back on September 23 in Omaha. The two teams split last season's series with each team winning on their own home floor.

Scouting the Jennies
    Central Missouri enters the week of play with a 26-3 overall mark and the Jennies lead the MIAA with a 12-1 conference record. UCM is ranked fourth in this week's AVCA coaches poll. The Jens lost their first conference game of the season 3-0 to Pittsburg State, but have rattled off 18 straight wins since that game. UCM will travel to Emporia on Wednesday to battle the Hornets before hosting the Lady Blues on Friday night in Warrensburg.
    Sophomore Allie Huffman leads the Jennies with 319 kills on the season and a 3.32 kills per set average. Three other players have at least 200 kills for UCM; Paula Harris (281), Abby Gruenbacher (224) and Bradye Peniston (213). Senior Caitlin Pankratz runs the UCM offense and has 1053 assists on the season and a 10.74 assists per set average. The Jennies have five players with at least 212 digs and are led by Rachel Fister with 525. Fister boasts a 5.36 digs/set average.

The Series: Washburn vs. Central Missouri
    Central Missouri holds a 43-9 series lead over the Lady Blues and the Jennies have won two straight in the series and three of the past four. Four of Washburn's wins in the series have come since 2006. UCM beat Washburn 3-2 back on September 25 in Topeka. The teams split the regular season series a year ago with each school winning on their own home floor. The Jennies beat Washburn 3-0 in the first round of the South Central Regional to end the Lady Blues' season.

The Opposing Coaches:
    Rose Shires is in her 20th season leading the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks program. Her career mark stands at 405-223. UNO is 35-17 since joining the MIAA last season. Shires is the winningest coach in Maverick history and ranks 21st all-time in NCAA Division II history in wins.
    Flip Piontek is in his first season leading the Jennies after spending 23 years as the head assistant for former coach Peggy Martin. UCM is 26-3 overall under Piontek and the Jens sit atop the MIAA standings with a 12-1 conference mark. Central Missouri has won 18 straight matches entering the week of play.

Last Time Out:
    The ninth-ranked Lady Blues finished up their weekend road trip with a 3-0 sweep of Missouri Western on Saturday night in St. Joseph, Mo. Washburn will be back in action on Wednesday against Nebraska-Omaha at 7 p.m. in Lee Arena.
    The Lady Blues (26-3, 9-1 MIAA) cruised to a 25-13 win in set one. WU scored the first three points and 14 of the first 17 on their way to the opening set win.
    Sets two and three were much of the same with Washburn winning 25-20 and 25-18 to finish off the sweep.
    Senior Kate Hampson had 38 assists to lead the Lady Blues attack. Freshman Jessica Kopp had a team-high and career-high 10 kills, while sophomore Mollie Lacy had nine kills and sophomore Breanna Lewis added seven. 11 Lady Blue players recorded at least one kill.
    Kelli Sicner led Missouri Western with eight kills.

Against Ranked Opponents
     The Lady Blues are 3-3 this season and 35-35 under Chris Herron when facing ranked opponents after dropping No. 19 Truman 3-0 in Kirksville last Friday night. WU dropped a 3-2 decision to No. 8 Emporia State on October 16. Washburn defeated then-No. 6 West Texas A&M 3-1 at the Holiday Inn/Lady Blues Fall Classic to even the season record at 2-2. Washburn beat then-No. 19 Truman 3-1 on September 19 before dropping consecutive 3-2 decisions to then-No. 18 Nebraska-Omaha and then-ninth-ranked Central Missouri.
    Washburn was 5-5 against ranked teams last season. The Lady Blues were 5-2 against ranked teams at one point in 2008, but dropped their final three matches of the season against ranked foes.

Lady Blues jump one spot in AVCA Rankings
    The Lady Blues moved up one spot to eighth in this week's AVCA national poll after a 3-0 week that included a 3-0 sweep at then-No. 19 Truman. Washburn has now been ranked in the top 10 of the AVCA poll 32 of the last 36 polls.
    Central Missouri stayed at number four and is the highest ranked MIAA school. Emporia State fell two spots to ninth, while Truman moved up one spot to 18th and Nebraska-Omaha fell four spots from 16th to 20th. The MIAA has five teams ranked in this week's poll.

Washburn in the Regional Rankings
    The Lady Blues were fourth in the first NCAA South Central Region Rankings that were released on October 15. Central Missouri was ranked first followed by West TexasA&M and Emporia State. The top eight teams in the regional rankings will qualify for the South Central Regional November 20-22. The next regional rankings will be released on Thursday, October 29.

Hampson earns MIAA weekly award
    Senior setter Kate Hampson earned her third MIAA Specialist of the Week award after helping the Lady Blues to a 3-0 record, including a 3-0 sweep of No. 19 Truman. Hampson averaged 12.00 assists per set and moved into a tie for sixth all-time on the MIAA's career assist list with 5,521. In the win over Northwest Missouri, Hampson recorded a double-double with 54 assists and 14 digs.

Climbing the charts
    Senior setter Kate Hampson continues to move up the MIAA top 10 list for career assists. She has 5,521 career assists, which is good for sixth place all-time in the MIAA. She is 71 assists shy of fifth place on the all-time list.
    Hampson is also Washburn's all-time leader in service attempts with 2,054. She is tied for sixth all-time at Washburn in matches played with 140 and 10th all time having played in 471 sets. She is is nearing the top 10 in several other categories, including 11th in career service aces with 114.

300 Wins
    Washburn head coach Chris Herron recorded career win No. 300 with Washburn's 3-0 win over Eastern New Mexico at the Rockhurst Fall Clasic. His career mark now stands at 315-76 in this, his 11th season as a college head coach. Herron is 240-47 in his eighth season at Washburn.

Herron in midst of eighth season at Washburn
    Washburn head coach Chris Herron is 240-47 (.836) in his eighth season at Washburn after moving into first in career wins at WU in 2007. He is a three-time MIAA coach of the year and was named AVCA South Central Region coach of the year in 2007
    Herron has been a huge part of the Lady Blues program turn-around. Before he came to WU in 2002 the Lady Blues had never gone to the NCAA national tournament and they had a .389 winning percentage in 12 years as an NCAA-II school. Herron has won 83 percent of his games and has led WU to the NCAA postseason six of his seven years, including the last five in-a-row, and he has led WU to its first two MIAA titles.

Notes of Interest:
• The Lady Blues have nine players with at least 50 kills
• The Lady Blues set a school-record by winning nine matches to open the season without dropping a set. WU dropped the first set to Upper Iowa before rallying for a 3-1 win. The longest streak before was five matches in 2005.
• Washburn is ranked No. 9 in this week's AVCA national poll. The Lady Blues finished the 2008 season ranked 13th in the nation. It was the first time Washburn had been ranked outside the top 10 since the week one poll of the 2007 season.
• This is the 78th straight week that Washburn has been ranked in the AVCA Top 25.
• All 16 active players have played in at least 14 sets, with 13 seeing action in at least 32.
• Chris Herron is 8-0 in season openers and WU has won its last 12.
• Washburn is 32-0 in eight season-opening tournaments under Herron. The Lady Blues have lost just 14 sets in those 32 matches and only one set in the past two seasons (3-1 win over Dixie State in 2008 season-opener).
• The last time Washburn lost its season-opener was a 3-1 defeat to Mesa State in 1997.
• Washburn opened the season with 13-0 with 13 straight matches away from Lee Arena, the most to start a season in school history. Last season, the Lady Blues started the season 11-0 with 11 straight road contests.

Coming up next
    Washburn continues down the homestretch of the MIAA schedule traveling to Missouri Southern on Tuesday at 7 p.m. before returning home to host Southwest Baptist on Friday and Pittsburg State on Saturday. The SBU match will be a 7 p.m. start, while Saturday's matchup against PSU will begin at 2 p.m. in Lee Arena. The Lady Blues will finish up the regular season the following week with a road game at Fort Hays State on Wednesday and the annual Turnpike Tussle with Emporia State on Friday in Topeka.