SE Okla. State Savage Storm (13-6) Lee Arena Topeka, Kan. Fri., Oct. 2 2 p.m.

#6 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs (15-2) Lee Arena  Topeka, Kan. Fri., Oct. 2 6:30 p.m.

Tarleton State TexAnns (6-11) Lee Arena  Topeka, Kan. Sat., Oct. 3 1 p.m.

Angelo State Rambelles (9-7) Lee Arena  Topeka, Kan. Sat., Oct. 3 5 p.m.

Complete Game Notes

Tournament Website

Previewing Washburn
    The ninth-ranked Washburn Lady Blues look to get back on the winning track when they host the Holiday Inn/Lady Blues Fall Classic this weekend. They will try to rebound after suffering their first two defeats of the season, both 3-2 setbacks to Nebraska-Omaha and Central Missouri.
    Washburn will play Southeastern Oklahoma State and No. 6 West Texas A&M on Friday before finishing up the tournament on Saturday against Tarleton State and Angelo State.
    The Lady Blues enter the weekend with four players having at least 107 kills. Sophomore middle hitter Mollie Lacy leads WU with 152 kills and a 2.81 kills per set average. Junior OH Ashley Shepard and sophomore RH Breanna Lewis each have 114 kills, while freshman OH Hillary Hughes has 107.
    Senior setter Kate Hampson continues her climb towards the MIAA's Top 10 for career assists with 571 on the season. Junior Molly Smith and freshman Tessa Brophy lead the Lady Blues with 206 and 182 digs, respectively.

Scouting the Savage Storm
    Southeastern Oklahoma State enters the weekend with a 14-6 overall record after a 3-0 defeat of Southern Arkansas on Monday night. The Savage Storm are led by junior outside hitter Jordan Jesberg and sophomore outside hitter Lunden Azuara with 235 and 234 kills, respectively. They are averaging 2.90 and 2.89 kills per set each. Freshman setter Alex Cassell leads SOSU with 821 assists and averages 10.14 assists per set. Five players have at least 135 digs, led by junior libero Raelynn Beatty with 286 or 3.67 digs per set.

The Series: Washburn vs. SE Oklahoma State
    This is the first ever meeting between Washburn and Southeastern Oklahoma State.

Scouting the Lady Buffs
    West Texas A&M enters the tournament with a 15-2 overall record and ranked No. 6 in the latest AVCA poll. WTAMU's two losses were 3-2 setbacks against Central Missouri and Metro State.
    Senior rightside hitter Laura Prinsen leads the Lady Buffs with 208 kills on the season. She is averaging 3.25 kills per set. Senior setter Katie Rickwartz leads WTAMU with 703 assists, good enough for 10.82 assists per set.

The Series: Washburn vs. West Texas A&M
    Washburn holds a 1-0 series lead against West Texas A&M. The Lady Blues defeated the Lady Buffs 3-0 during the 2007 Fall Classic.

Scouting the TexAnns
    Tarleton State enters the weekend of competition 6-11. The TexAnns are led by senior middle blocker Shay Gracy and her 183 kills. She averages 3.05 kills per set. Sophomore setter Jessie Hartman leads Tarleton State with 443 assists on the season, that's good for 7.38 assists per set. The TexAnns enter the tournament after beating fellow Fall Classic participant, Southwestern Oklahoma State 3-0 on Saturday.

The Series: Washburn vs. Tarleton State
    This is the second meeting all time between the Lady Blues and Tarleton State. The TexAnns lead the series 1-0 after winning the only other meeting in 1998.

Scouting the Rambelles
    The Angelo State Rambelles enter the Fall Classic 9-7 overall after falling 3-0 at Abilene Christian last Thursday. Senior MB/OH Alaina Sivells leads ASU with 173 kills on the season (3.20 kills/set). Freshman setter Alex Woolsey leads the squad with 507 assists and a 9.75 assists per set average. There are four Rambelles with at least 100 digs.

The Series: Washburn vs. Angelo State
    This will be the third meeting between these two schools with Washburn holding a 2-0 series lead. The Lady Blues beat ASU 3-0 in the opening tournament of the 2008 season.

The Opposing Coaches:
    Skip Freeman is in his third year leading the Savage Storm of Southeastern Oklahoma State. His career record now stands at 40-40. Last season, he led the Savage Storm to a school-record 19 wins.
    Jason Skoch is in his first season at West Texas A&M after leading MIAA foe Truman State for four years. His career record now stands at 152-24. He was 137-22 in his four years in Kirksville.
    Mary Schindler is in her fifth season at the helm of the Tarleton State volleyball program. Her career record stands at 71-69.
    Chuck Waddington has a career mark of 29-21 in his second season as the head man at Angelo State. The Rambelles were 20-14 in his first season. Waddington was an assistant coach at Florida Southern for five years before taking over at Angelo State.

Last Time Out:
    The sixth-ranked Washburn Lady Blues volleyball team dropped their second straight five-set match, 3-2 (22-25, 25-16, 25-20, 16-25, 13-15) to No. 9 Central Missouri on Friday night at Lee Arena. Washburn led two sets to one, but UCM rallied for the five-set win.
    Washburn (15-2, 3-2 MIAA) staked UCM to an early 6-1 lead and couldn't recover in falling in set one. The Lady Blues rallied to win set two in convincing fashion 25-16. WU took set three 25-20 for a 2-1 lead.
    Washburn led 3-0 in set four, but UCM (14-3, 4-1 MIAA) scored six straight points and 18 of the next 25 to win set four 25-16. Set five went back-and-forth before UCM took control scoring four of the final six points to get the win.
    Freshman outside hitter Hillary Hughes led Washburn with 16 kills and 11 digs. Sophomore rightside hitter Breanna Lewis added 13 kills, while senior setter Kate Hampson dished out a season-high 55 assists to go along with 19 digs. Freshman libero Tessa Brophy led WU with a career-high 31 digs.

Against Ranked Opponents
     The Lady Blues are 1-2 this season and 33-34 under Chris Herron when facing ranked opponents. Washburn defeated then-No. 19 Truman State 3-1, but fell in a pair of 3-2 matches to then-No. 18 Nebraska-Omaha and ninth-ranked Central Missouri last week. Washburn is 20-12 against ranked teams at Lee Arena, but 7-16 when facing a ranked opponent on the road. The Lady Blues are also 11-15 when playing a team ranked in the Top 10. WU will face sixth-ranked West Texas A&M on Friday in Lee Arena.
    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 drop three spots in AVCA Rankings
    The Lady Blues dropped three spots to No. 9 in this week's AVCA national poll. Washburn has now been ranked in the top 10 of the AVCA poll 28 of the last 32 polls.
    Central Missouri moved up four spots to number five and is the highest ranked MIAA school. Emporia State dropped three spots into a tie for sixth with West Texas A&M. Nebraska-Omaha moved up three spots to 15th, while Truman and Pittsburg State stayed put at Nos. 20 and 21, respectively, to give the MIAA six teams in the top 25.

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 304-75 in this, his 11th season as a college head coach. Herron is 229-46 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 5,019 career assists, 45 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 1,874. She is nearing the top-10 at Washburn in matches played, currently in 12th place with 128 and she is 12th with 102 career service aces.

Herron in midst of eighth season at Washburn
    Washburn head coach Chris Herron is 229-46 (.833) 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 10 players with at least 29 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 74th 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 13-0 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
    The Lady Blues resume conference play on Tuesday, October 6 when they host Missouri Southern at 7 p.m. Washburn will hit the road over the weekend traveling to Southwest Baptist on Friday and Pittsburg State on Saturday.