#18 Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks (13-3, 3-0 MIAA) Sapp Fieldhouse Omaha, Neb. Wednesday, Sept. 23 7 p.m.

#9 Central Missouri Jennies (12-3, 2-1 MIAA) Lee Arena Topeka, Kan. Friday, Sept. 25 7 p.m.

Complete Game Notes

Previewing Washburn
    The sixth-ranked Washburn Lady Blues continue MIAA play with two key matchups this week. Washburn heads out on the road to take on No. 18 Nebraska-Omaha on Wednesday at 7 p.m. before returning home to host ninth-ranked Central Missouri on Friday night at Lee Arena at 7 p.m.
    The Lady Blues come in having won a school-record 15 straight matches to open the season. The 15 straight wins to open the season broke the old record of 14 that was set in 2004.
    Sophomore middle hitter Mollie Lacy leads the Lady Blues averaging 2.95 kills per set, she has 130 kills on the season. She also sports a .444 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Ashley Shepard is second on the team with 98 kills and is averaging 2.65 kills per set. Sophomore rightside hitter Breanna Lewis is averaging 2.74 kills per set. Senior setter Kate Hampson is averaging 10.29 assists per set, while junior libero/defensive specialist Molly Smith leads WU with 178 digs and a 4.14 digs/set average.

Scouting the Mavericks
    Nebraska-Omaha enters the week with a 13-3 overall record, 3-0 in MIAA play and ranked 18th in this week's AVCA national poll. The Mavericks are riding a seven-match winning streak and are undefeated at Sapp Fieldhouse with a perfect 10-0 record.
    Senior middle blocker Ellen Thommes leads UNO with 198 kills and a 3.36 kills per set average. There are four Mavericks with at least 127 kills on the season. Sophomore setter Emily Myers is averaging 11.20 assists/set with 661 assists in 59 sets of action. Sophomore defensive specialist Angie Riecks leads the team with a 4.31 digs/set average. UNO is hitting .275 as a team and holding opponents to a .176 attack percentage. The Mavericks are also averaging 0.5 blocks more per set than their opponents.

The Series: Washburn vs. Nebraska-Omaha
    The Mavericks hold a 3-2 advantage in the overall series. The two teams split last season's head-to-head matchups with each team winning on their own home floor.

Scouting the Jennies
    Central Missouri enters the week with a 12-3 overall mark and a 2-1 conference record. UCM returned to this week's top 10 in the AVCA rankings, moving up two spots to No. 9. The Jennies will host third-ranked Emporia State on Wednesday night before traveling to Topeka.
    Sophomore Allie Huffman leads UCM with a 3.41 kills/set average and she has a .258 hitting percentage. Sophomore Paula Harris averages 2.76 kills per set with 135 kills on the season. Senior setter Caitlin Pankratz has 536 assists on the season and averages 10.94 per set. Junior libero Rachel Fister averages 5.29 digs/set to lead Central Missouri. The Jennies sport a .230 hitting percentage as a team, while holding opponents to a .162 attack percentage.

The Series: Washburn vs. Central Missouri
    Central Missouri holds a 42-9 advantage in the series. Washburn has won six of the past nine meetings, but the Jennies took two of three last year, including a 3-0 win in the NCAA South Central Regional first round.

The Opposing Coaches:
    Rose Shires is in her 20th season leading the UNO volleyball program. Her career mark stands at 400-218, making her the winningest coach in UNO history by victories. Her carer winning percentage ranks second. Shires ranks 33rd among Division II head coaches with a .647 winning percentage.
    Flip Piontek is in his first season leading the Jennies program after spending 23 years as the head assistant to long-time coach Peggy Martin. His record stands at 12-3 in his first season.

Last Time Out:
    The sixth-ranked Washburn Lady Blues won their school-record 15th straight match to start the year, 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-11) over Missouri Western on Saturday afternoon at Lee Arena. The previous record of 14 straight wins to open the season was set in 2004.
    The Lady Blues (15-0, 3-0 MIAA) won a back-and-forth set one 25-23. There were 10 ties and seven lead changes. The set was knotted at 23, but WU won the final two points to claim the set.
    Washburn jumped out to a 3-0 lead in set two and never looked back, cruising to the 25-14 win and a quick 2-0 lead. Set three was much of the same with the Lady Blues cruising to the 25-11 win.
    Junior outside hitter Ashley Shepard led the offensive attack with eight kills and 1.000 attack percentage. Senior setter Kate Hampson had 19 assists and freshman Tessa Brophy had a team-high 11 digs.

Against Ranked Opponents
     The Lady Blues are 1-0 this season and 33-32 under Chris Herron when facing ranked opponents. Washburn defeated then-No. 19 Truman State 3-1 last Friday. Washburn is 20-11 against ranked teams at Lee Arena, but 7-15 when facing a ranked opponent on the road. The Lady Blues are also 11-14 when playing a team ranked in the Top 10.
    WU will travel to 18th-ranked Nebraska-Omaha on Wednesday and will host No. 9 Central Missouri on Friday.
    Washburn was 5-5 against ranked teams last season, including 1-2 against Central Missouri. 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.
   
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 for the second straight week in the AVCA national poll. Washburn has now been ranked in the top 10 of the AVCA poll 27 of the last 31 polls.
    The Lady Blues received 641 points, 27 points behind fifth-ranked Tampa. Emporia State is still the highest ranked MIAA team at No. 3 with 731 points, Central Missouri moved up two spots to number nine as did Nebraska-Omaha moving up to No. 18. Truman dropped one spot to No. 20 and Pittsburg State moved up one spot to No. 21 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 at the Rockhurst Fall Clasic. His career mark now stands at 304-73 in this, his 11th season as a college head coach. Herron is 229-44 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, 153 assists shy of 10th place all-time in the MIAA, which is held by Megan Danek, who played for Northwest Missouri from 1999-2002 with 5,064 assists.
    Hampson is also Washburn's all-time leader in service attempts with 1,824. She is nearing the top-10 at Washburn in matches played, currently in 13th place with 126 and she is 13th with 99 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 10 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 73rd straight week that Washburn has been ranked in the AVCA Top 25.
• All 16 active players have played in at least eight sets, with 15 seeing action in at least 12.
• 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 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 are off until next weekend when they host the Holiday Inn/Lady Blues Regional Crossover Invitational on Friday October 2 and Saturday October 3.