Fort Hays State Tigers (7-12, 0-7 MIAA) Gross Memorial Coliseum Hays, Kan. Tuesday, Oct. 12 7 p.m. Live Stats

#15 Emporia State Hornets (15-3, 6-1 MIAA) Lee Arena Topeka, Kan. Friday, Oct. 15 7 p.m. Live Stats

Complete Game Notes

Previewing Washburn
    The No. 4-ranked Lady Blues battle two in-state foes this week as they take on Fort Hays State and Emporia State. Washburn will travel to Hays on Tuesday night to take on the Tigers before returning home to host Emporia State in the season's first installment of the Turnpike Tussle on Friday night.
    Junior Breanna Lewis is leading the Lady Blues with 163 kills and is averaging 2.63 kills per set, while hitting .371. Junior Mollie Lacy tied with Lewis with a team-high .371 hitting percentage. Lacy has 160 kills. Junior Amanda Guess leads the team with 616 assists and averages 9.48 per set. Senior libero Molly Smith is averaging 4.75 digs per set to lead the team.
    
Scouting the Tigers
    Fort Hays State comes into the contest winless in the MIAA at 0-7 and has a 7-12 overall record. The Tigers were 0-2 last week dropping a 3-2 decision to Missouri Southern and falling 3-1 to Southwest Baptist.
    Tracie Hileman is leading FHSU with 3.54 kills per set. Whitney Liggett is leading the team averaging 9.82 assists per set in 68 sets played. Kirsten Chamberlin leads Fort Hays State with 4.02 digs per set.

The Series: Washburn vs. Fort Hays State
    The Tigers lead the overall series with Washburn 44-30. The Lady Blues have won eight straight in the series and nine of the last 10. WU is 9-2 against Fort Hays State under Chris Herron.

Scouting the Hornets
    Emporia State enters the week at 15-3 overall and 6-1 in conference action and ranked No. 15 in the country. The Hornets were 2-0 last week beating Pittsburg State 3-0 and Missouri Southern 3-1.
    Brittney Miller is leading ESU with 4.08 kills per set. She has 261 kills in 64 sets played and his hitting .412 on the season. Ting Liu dishes out 11.30 assists per set, while adding 1.11 kills and 2.06 digs per set. Meg Schwartz leads the team with 4.16 digs per set.

The Series: Washburn vs. Emporia State
    Emporia State holds a 77-25 lead in the Turnpike Tussle. The teams split last season's series with each team winning on their own home floor. The season series has been split the past four years.

Opposing Coaches
    Kurt Kohler is in his second season leading the Fort Hays State program. The Tigers are 14-39 during that time after going 7-27 a season ago.
    Bing Xu is in his sixth season at Emporia State. The Hornets were 29-6 last season, including 16-4 in the MIAA and reached the NCAA-II South Central Regional. ESU is 144-45 under Xu's tutelage.

Last Time Out
    Oct. 9, 2010 - TOPEKA, Kan. -- The No. 6 -ranked Washburn Lady Blues volleyball team improved to 19-1 and 7-1 in the MIAA after a 3-0 win over Pittsburg State winning 25-22, 25-21, 25-16 in Lee Arena Saturday afternoon. Washburn will be back in action on Tuesday at Fort Hays State.
    In the opening set, neither team would lead by more than three as there were 12 tie scores and nine lead changes in the opening set as the Lady Blues took the 25-22 win closing out the set on a kill by Jessica Fey.
    The second set saw the Lady Blues fall behind by scores of 10-4 and 12-5 before going on a 8-1 run on the serves of Molly Smith and Amanda Guess with Guess pushing Washburn on a 6-1 run and a 19-15 lead. The Gorillas would battle back to pull within three at 24-21 before Jessica Kopp finished off the second set with a kill.
    In the third set, Washburn pounded out 20 kills compared to eight for the Gorillas cruising to the 3-0 win.
    Hillary Hughes led Washburn with 12 kills in 25 swings and Fey finished with 10 in 20 attempts. Guess recorded 24 kills and Molly Smith had 11 digs.
    Brooke Fay led the Gorillas with seven kills.
    Washburn had 49 kills overall wrapping the night with a .287 hitting percentage while the Gorillas were limited to a .125 average with 31 kills. Washburn also outblocked the Gorillas 7-5.

Lady Blues jump two spots into Top 5
    Three sweeps last week propelled the Lady Blues up two spots to a tie for No. 4 in this week's AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll. Central Missouri also went undefeated last week and moved up to No. 7 this week. Truman and Emporia State both stayed put this week at Nos. 10 and 15, respectively.
    This is the 89th straight week that Washburn has been ranked in the AVCA top 25.

Lady Blues: Statistically speaking
    Washburn ranks second in the MIAA as a team with a .278 hitting percentage, but the Lady Blues rank first in the conference holding their opponents to a .109 hitting percentage. WU also leads the MIAA in assists per set at 13.23 and digs per set at 17.06.
    Individually, Breanna Lewis and Mollie Lacy rank fourth in the MIAA with hitting percentages of .371. Amanda Guess is sixth in the league averaging 9.48 assists per set and Molly Smith is third in digs at 4.75 per set.

Can you dig it?
    Senior libero Molly Smith has moved into third place on Washburn's career digs list with 1,742 career digs. She is 115 digs shy of second place on the career list, which is held by Monica Miesner. Erica Cowhick is WU's all-time leader with 2,464 career digs.
    Smith is closing in on the MIAA top 10 for career digs as well. She is 72 digs shy of 10th place on the conference's career top 10 list.

Herron against ranked opponents
    The Lady Blues are 1-1 this season against ranked teams after splitting a pair of 3-1 matches. Washburn fell to then-No. 16 Truman 3-1 on September 17 in Kirksville and beat then-No. 7 Central Missouri 3-1 in Warrensburg last Friday.
    The Lady Blues 40-38 overall against ranked teams under Herron. The Lady Blues are 25-12 against ranked opponents inside Lee Arena.

Herron in ninth season at Washburn
    Washburn head coach Chris Herron is 266-50 (.842) in his ninth 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 seven of his eight years, including the last six in-a-row, and he has led WU to its first two MIAA titles.

Notes of Interest:
• Chris Herron improved to 9-0 in season openers and WU has won its last 13 dating back to 1997.
• The last time Washburn lost its season-opener was a 3-1 defeat to Mesa State in 1997.
•The Lady Blues improved to 36-0 in season-opening tournaments under Chris Herron.
• Washburn is ranked No. 4 in the AVCA coaches' poll. The Lady Blues finished the 2009 season ranked No. 8 in the nation. The Lady Blues have been ranked in the top 25 in 89 straight polls.

Think Pink game set for Friday, October 22
    Washburn's home match with Truman State on Friday, October 22 has been dubbed the “Think Pink” game to raise breast cancer awareness. Pink Washburn volleyball t-shirts will be handed out to the first 100 fans through the doors and there will be a silent auction to help raise money for the American Cancer Society.

Coming up next
    The Lady Blues begin the second half of their MIAA schedule with three games on the docket. Washburn will head to Maryville, Mo. on Tuesday to take on Northwest Missouri before returning home for two games. WU will host Truman State on Friday night in the Think Pink game and Missouri Western on Saturday. Friday's match is set for 7 p.m., while the MWSU game on homecoming Saturday is slated for 6 p.m.