Northwest Missouri Bearcats (7-5, 0-0 MIAA) Bearcat Arena Maryville, Mo. Wednesday, Sept. 16 7 p.m.

#19 Truman State Bulldogs (9-3, 0-0 MIAA) Lee Arena Topeka, Kan. Friday, Sept. 18 7 p.m.

Missouri Western Griffons (7-5, 0-0 MIAA) Lee Arena Topeka, Kan. Saturday, Sept. 19 2 p.m.

Complete Game Notes

Previewing Washburn
    The sixth-ranked Washburn Lady Blues open MIAA play on the road, Wednesday against Northwest Missouri State before returning home for their first home contest of the season. Washburn will host Truman State on Friday night at 7 p.m. and Missouri Western on Saturday at 2 p.m.
    Sophomore middle hitter Mollie Lacy leads the team with 101 kills, 2.97 kills per set and a .462 attack percentage. Sophomore rightside hitter Breanna Lewis averages 2.73 kills per set and boasts a .375 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Ashley Shepard averages 2.69 kills per set. Senior setter Kate Hampson leads the team with 360 assists, good for 10.29 assists per set. Junior libero/defensive specialist Molly Smith averages 4.15 digs per set (137 digs).

Scouting the Bearcats
    Northwest Missouri enters the week of competition with a 7-5 overall record. NWMSU was 1-3 last weekend at the Wisconsin-Parkside Tournament. The Bearcats and Washburn have played one common opponent in the non-conference, both recorded 3-0 wins over Illinois-Springfield.
    Alex Hanna and Sara Falcone lead NWMSU with 109 and 108 kills on the season, respectively. The Bearcats are hitting .243 as a team, while limiting their opponents to a .170 attack percentage. Laira Akin averages 10.19 assists per set.

The Series: Washburn vs. Northwest Missouri
    The Lady Blues hold a 31-18 advantage in the series with Northwest Missouri. Washburn has won five straight in the series and 15 of the past 16 meetings.

Scouting the Bulldogs
    Truman State enters the week 9-3 overall and ranked 19th in the AVCA national poll. The Bulldogs and Washburn both have posted victories over Eastern New Mexico. Truman will host third-ranked Emporia State on Wednesday before traveling to Topeka. Megan Sharpe leads TSU with 136 kills and a 3.24 kills per set average. Ashley Petak and Kyle Easlon average a combined 10.32 assists per set for the Bulldogs.

The Series: Washburn vs. Truman State
    Truman holds a 34-8 advantage in the series with Washburn. The teams split last season's meetings with each team winning on their own home floor. The Lady Blues have won three of last four meetings.

Scouting the Bearcats
    The Griffons enter play with a 7-5 overall record. MWSU has a 3-1 record against common opponents in the non-con. Missouri Western dropped a 3-1 decision to Upper Iowa at the Rockhurst Fall Classic. The Griffons will host Fort Hays State on Wednesday to open MIAA play, the travel to Emporia State on Friday before heading to Topeka for Saturday's matchup with WU. Kelli Sicner is averaging 3.73 kills per set and Meghan Voelz chips in 2.59 per set for the Griffons. Madison Benton averages 9.20 assists per set. MWSU has three players with at least 115 digs.

The Series: Washburn vs Missouri Western
    Missouri Western holds a 43-27 advantage in the series, but the Lady Blues have won 14 consecutive meetings.

The Opposing Coaches:
    Anna Tool is in her fourth season at Northwest Missouri State after spending two years as the head coach at Virginia Wesleyan College. Her record at NWMSU is 48-63.
    Ben Briney is in his first season as the head coach at Truman State after serving as an assistant for four seasons.
    Cory Frederick is in his first season as the head coach at Missouri Western. He was a Griffon assistant coach for three seasons before becoming the head Men's Volleyball coach at Park University, a position he held for five seasons.

For Starters
    The Lady Blues are 7-0 in MIAA openers under Chris Herron, including 1-0 against Northwest Missouri. Washburn is 6-1 in MIAA road openers under Herron, including 2-0 to open MIAA play at NWMSU. The lone loss came last season at Truman State. The Lady Blues are 7-0 in MIAA home openers during Herron's tenure.

Last Time Out:
    The No. 6 ranked Washburn Lady Blues volleyball team stayed unbeaten with a 3-0 win over Eastern New Mexico at the Rockhurst Fall Classic on Saturday morning. In the process, the Lady Blues gave head coach Chris Herron his 300th career win as a college coach.
    With the victory, Herron is now 300-73 (.804) in his 11th season as a college head coach. In his eighth season at Washburn his record stands at 225-44 (.836). Herron has led the Lady Blues to their first two MIAA titles, their first six NCAA Tournaments and has won at least 26 games seven straight seasons.
    Washburn (11-0) cruised to the three-set win with a 25-13, 25-15, 25-15 victory over the Zias. All 16 players on the active roster saw playing time, with 12 players recording at least one kill. Freshman outside hitter Hillary Hughes led the way with eight kills, while fellow freshman Jessica Fey chipped in seven. Senior setter Kate Hampson had 30 assists and Molly Smith recorded 11 digs.
    The Lady Blues hit .385 for the match, including a .429 hitting percentage in the first set. They held ENMU to just an .063 attack percentage and a set two percentage of -.054.
    The sixth-ranked Lady Blues volleyball team improved to 12-0 on the season with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-19) win over Illinois-Springfield to close out the Rockhurst Fall Classic on Saturday afternoon. All 16 players saw action in the game and 13 players recorded at least one kill.
    Kate Hampson, Mollie Lacy and Ashley Shepard each recorded six kills to lead the balanced Washburn attack. Hampson had 30 assists and 10 digs in addition to her six kills. She was named to the All-Tournament team for her play over the four games.
    The Lady Blues held the Prairie Stars to a .075 attack percentage and UIS had only one set with a hitting percentage above .000.
    The 12 straight wins away from Lee Arena to open the season is a school record. Last season, the Lady Blues won 11 straight away from home to open the campaign.

Holding Pattern: Lady Blues standing pat in AVCA Rankings
    The Lady Blues remained in the top 10 in the rankings staying put at No. 6 in this week's AVCA national poll. Washburn has now been ranked in the top 10 of the AVCA poll 26 of the last 30 weeks.
    The Lady Blues received 637 points, 28 points behind fifth-ranked Tampa. Emporia State is still the highest ranked MIAA team at No. 3 with 731 points, Central Missouri dropped three spots to 11th, while Truman moved up from 21st to 19th. Nebraska-Omaha climbed three spots to No. 20 and Pittsburg State reentered the rankings at No. 22 to give the MIAA six teams in the top 25.
    2009 opponent and 2008 NCAA South Central Regional participant West Texas A&M stayed right behind the Lady Blues at No. 7 in the rankings. The Buffs will travel to Topeka for the Lady Blues Classic on October 2 and 3.

300 Wins
    Washburn head coach Chris Herron recorded career win No. 300 with Washburn's 3-0 win over Eastern New Mexico on Saturday. His career mark now stands at 301-73 in this, his 11th season as a college head coach. Herron is 226-44 in his eighth season at Washburn.

Approaching History
    Senior setter Kate Hampson is inching closer to the MIAA top 10 for career assists. She currently has 4,808 career assists, 256 assists shy of 10th place all-time in the MIAA, which is held by Megan Danek, who played for Northwest Missouri from 19990-2002 with 5,064 assists.
    Hampson is also second all-time at Washburn in service attempts with 1,771. She is nearing the top-10 at Washburn in matches played, currently in 13th place with 123 and she is 13th with 98 career service aces.

Herron in midst of eighth season at Washburn
    Washburn head coach Chris Herron improved his record to 226-44 (.837) record 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.

Washburn picked second in MIAA preseason coaches poll
    The Lady Blues were picked to finish second in the MIAA in the preseason coaches poll. Washburn returns 12 letterwinners and experience at every position from a team the went 30-6 last year and advanced to the school's fifth straight NCAA tournament. Emporia State was voted to win the league with 94 points and five first place votes while Washburn received 92 points and five first place votes. Central Missouri was third, with Nebraska-Omaha coming in fourth and receiving the other first place vote.

Notes of Interest:
• The Lady Blues have nine players with at least 20 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. 6 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 72nd straight week that Washburn has been ranked in the AVCA Top 25.
• All 16 active players have played in at least seven sets, with 15 seeing action in at least 10.
• 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 opens the season 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
    The Lady Blues continue MIAA play with two key matches next week. Wednesday, September 23 WU will travel to Omaha, Neb. to take on the 20th-ranked Mavericks of UNO  at 7 p.m. before returning home to host No. 11 Central Missouri on Friday, September 25 at 7 p.m.
    Washburn will host the Holiday Inn/Lady Blues Regional Crossover Invitational on Friday October 2 and Saturday October 3.