East Central Lady Tigers (2-2) Kitty Magee Arena Denton, Texas Fri., Sept. 4 1:30 p.m.

Texas Woman's Pioneers (1-3) Kitty Magee Arena Denton, Texas Fri., Sept. 4 6:30 p.m.

Tex. A&M-Kingsville Javelinas (4-0) Kitty Magee Arena Denton, Texas Sat., Sept. 5 9:30 a.m.

SW Okla. State Bulldogs (0-5) Kitty Magee Arena Denton, Texas Sat., Sept. 5 2:30 p.m.

Complete Game Notes

Previewing Washburn
    The 10th-ranked Washburn Lady Blues continue their season-opening road swing with a trip to the Lone Star State and the Texas Woman's University Tournament. The Lady Blues enter the tournament 4-0 after sweeping through the Colorado Mines Oredigger Classic last weekend.
    Junior outside hitter Ashley Shepard leads the Lady Blues with 2.73  kills per set. Sophomore rightside hitter Breanna Lewis and sophomore middle hitter Mollie Lacy lead WU with .354 and .319 attack percentages, respectively. Senior setter Kate Hampson is averaging 10.67 assists per game as she closes in on 5,000 career assists. Junior libero Molly Smith was named to the Oredigger Classic All-Tournament team after averaging 5.17 digs per set.
    Washburn will open the Texas Woman's Tournament against East Central and the host-school Texas Woman's on Friday, then play Texas A&M-Kingsville and Southwestern Oklahoma State on Friday. For Tournament website click HERE

Scouting the Texas Woman's Opponents
    The four teams that Washburn will play in the 2009 Texas Woman's Tournament are a combined 7-10 after one weekend of action.
    WU's first opponent, East Central, enters the TWU tournament with an even 2-2 record. The Lady Tigers split four games at the Angelo State tournament last weekend recording wins over Southern Arkansas (3-0) and New Mexico Highlands (3-0). Senior setter Holly Hicks leads the Lady Tigers with 3.47 kills/set, she also averages 4.27 assists per set. She recorded a triple-double with 18 kills, 20 assists and 16 digs in a 3-2 loss to St. Edwards a the Angelo State Tournament. Shayla May leads ECU in assists at 5.47 per set.
    Texas Woman's enters the weekend of competition 1-3 overall. The Pioneers' lone win came against Colorado State-Pueblo at the Colorado-Colorado Springs tournament. Junior outside hitter Alyson Harlan leads TWU with 35 kills and is averaging 2.92 kills/set. Senior setter Jessica Crow is averaging 8.18 assists per set.
    Texas A&M-Kingsville enters play this weekend at 4-0 on the season. The Javelinas swept through the competition at the Carson Newman Tournament in Jefferson City, Tenn. Junior outside hitter Sha Tramble leads the Javelinas with 2.75 kills/set, while sophomore middle blocker Amanda Waclawczyk sports a .386 attack percentage.
    The Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs are 0-5 on the season after winning just two sets at the West Texas A&M Classic. SWOSU lost to Arkansas-Fort Smith 3-0 on Tuesday night. Sophomore middle blocker Emily Walter leads the offensive attack for SWOSU with 1.75 kills/set. Senior outside hitter Tara Gibby is averaging 2.57 digs/set and also has six service aces.

The Series: Washburn vs. Texas Woman's Tournament Opponents
The Lady Blues have a combined 3-4 record against this weekend's competition. Washburn is 1-0 against East Central after a 3-0 win at the Lady Blues Fall Classic in 2008. Texas Woman's holds a slight edge 3-2, but WU has won the past two meetings with the last one taking place in 2004. The Lady Blues are 0-1 all-time against Texas A&M-Kingsville losing in four sets in 1999. Washburn and SWOSU have never met. Washburn is 15-10 all-time against the Lone Star Conference and 10-0 under Chris Herron.

Last Time Out:
    The 11th-ranked Washburn Lady Blues volleyball team kicked off the 2009 season with four victories at the Colorado School of Mines Oredigger Classic on Friday and Saturday. Washburn posted 3-0 sweeps in each of the four matches.
    The Lady Blues (4-0) won their eighth straight season-opener under eighth year head coach Chris Herron with a 25-19, 25-16, 25-20 victory over Western State on Friday morning. Sophomore Mollie Lacy led the way for WU with 11 kills and only two errors on 19 attempts for a .474 attack percentage. Senior Kate Hampson recorded 35 assists in the match to go along with nine digs. Freshman Tessa Brophy led the Lady Blues with 13 digs in the match.
    Washburn recorded straight set win number two of the tournament with a 25-9, 25-23, 25-8 drubbing of Adams State on Friday afternoon. Lacy led the Lady Blues in kills once again with 10, while Hampson recorded 32 assists and junior Molly Smith had 17 digs. WU had a combined attack percentage of .307 as a team in the first two games of the Classic.
    Junior Ashley Shepard led the way with 10 kills in game three, a 25-16, 25-22, 25-21 win over Mesa State on Saturday morning. Hampson had 27 assists and Smith recorded 16 digs.
    The Lady Blues wrapped up the tournament with a 26-24, 25-22, 25-20 win over Fort Lewis College on Saturday night. Shepard once again led the way with 12 kills. Smith had 20 digs and Hampson recorded 34 assists.
    Washburn hit .227 as a team for the tournament, while Hampson averaged 10.67 assists/set and Smith averaged 5.17 digs/set. Smith also named to the Oredigger Classic All-Tournament team.

The Opposing Coaches:
    East Central is led by David Thorn. He is the first and only coach in the program's short two year history. In his first season at the helm, he led the Lady Tigers to a 12-22 record and a 10th place finish in the Lone Star Conference. His career record sits at 126-190 in his 11th season as a head coach.
    Shelly Barberee is in her seventh season leading the Pioneers of Texas Woman's University. She has a 108-98 record in her six plus seasons at the helm. Her career mark in this, her 12th season, stands at 310-179. Last season she led the Pioneers to a 20-13 overall record, including 8-5 in the LSC.
    Shannon Alvarado is in the midst of her third season at Texas A&M-Kingsville. She has evened her career record at 29-29 with a 4-0 start to the season. Her best record was a 14-12 mark in her first season.
    Bo Pagliasotti is in his fifth season leading the Bulldogs. He is the only coach in school history (2005). His career mark stands at 43-91. His best season was a year ago when the Bulldogs finished 14-19 overall.

Movin' on Up: Lady Blues creep into Top 10 in AVCA Rankings
    After starting the season out of the top 10 in the rankings for the first time since the 2007 season the Lady Blues crept back into the top 10 at number 10 this week.
    The Lady Blues received 519 points, just 13 points behind ninth-ranked Tampa. Emporia State was still the highest ranked MIAA team at No. 4 with 706 points, Central Missouri stayed put at No. 12, while Truman dropped out of the top 10 to 13th. Pittsburg State came in at No. 17 to give the MIAA five top-20 teams.
    2009 opponent and 2008 NCAA South Central Regional participant West Texas A&M jumped over ESU and moved into fourth.

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.

Herron begins eighth season at Washburn
    Washburn head coach Chris Herron improved his record to 218-44 (.832) 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.

Never Defeated: Herron remains unbeaten in season openers
    Chris Herron is 8-0 in season openers at Washburn after a 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-20) victory over Western State at the Colorado School of Mines Oredigger Classic last weekend. The Lady Blues have dropped just four sets in those eight season openers. Herron has won all eight of his season-openers in tournaments on the road. Washburn has won its last 12 season openers with the last loss coming in 1997 against Mesa State.

Notes of Interest:
• The Lady Blues have seven players with at least 12 kills
• All 16 active players have played in at least one set, with 13 seeing action in at least three.
• 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 is ranked No. 10 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 70th straight week that Washburn has been ranked in the AVCA Top 25.
• Washburn opens the season with 12 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 wrap up their 12-game season-opening road swing at the Rockhurst Fall Classic. Washburn will take on Midwestern State and Upper Iowa on Friday before closing out the tournament against Eastern New Mexico and Illinois-Springfield on Saturday.