Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks (14-11, 4-9 MIAA) Sapp Fieldhouse Omaha, Neb. Tuesday, Oct. 26 7 p.m. Live Stats

#7 Central Missouri Jennies (22-3, 12-1 MIAA) Lee Arena Topeka, Kan. Friday, Oct. 29 7 p.m. Live Stats

Complete Game Notes

Previewing Washburn
    The No. 6-ranked Lady Blues have two key conference matchups this week. Washburn will travel to Omaha, Neb. on Tuesday night for a showdown with the Mavericks. Central Missouri will come to Lee Arena on Friday night for a battle of the top two teams in the MIAA standings. Both games will also have regional implications. UNO is ranked No. 7 in the first NCAA-II South Central Regional rankings, while UCM is No. 1. The Lady Blues were third in the first poll released last week.
    Breanna Lewis leads the Lady Blues with 2.77 kills per set and is hitting .343. Mollie Lacy leads the team with a .361 hitting percentage. Amanda Guess is dishing out 9.04 assists per set, while Abby Wittman chips in 4.18 assists per frame. Molly Smith is averaging 5.15 digs per set.
    
Scouting the Mavericks
    Nebraska-Omaha enters the week at 14-11 overall and 4-9 in MIAA play. The Mavericks are ranked No. 7 in the first set of NCAA-II South Central Regional rankings. UNO went 1-1 last week. The Mavericks were swept by Missouri Southern before rebounding for a 3-1 win over Pittsburg State.
    Kayla Uhing leads the team averaging 3.17 kills per set, while hitting .171. Natalie Ebke is averaging 2.88 kills per frame and hits .174. UNO is hitting .196 as a team. Emily Myers leads the Mavericks with 9.86 assists per set, while Angie Reicks is averaging 4.34 digs per set.   

The Series: Washburn vs. Nebraska-Omaha
    Washburn leads the overall series with the Mavericks 5-4. The Lady Blues have won the past three meetings after a 3-2 win in Topeka back on September 21. the Lady Blues took two of three games last year, including a 3-1 win in the first round of the NCAA-II South Central Regional.

Scouting the Jennies
    Central Missouri enters the week of competition at 22-3 overall and 12-1 in MIAA play and ranked No. 7 in the country. The Jennies also sit atop the South Central Regional rankings. UCM has won 13 in a row since losing to the Lady Blues back on September 24. The Jennies will host Emporia State on Wednesday before traveling to Topeka on Friday.
    Paula Harris leads UCM with 2.91 kills per set followed by Abby Gruenbacher and Bradye Peniston at 2.82 and 2.72, respectively. Julia Bates is dishing out 10.95 assists per set and Rachel Fister is averaging 5.51 digs per frame.

The Series: Washburn vs. Central Missouri
    The Jennies lead the overall series 43-10. Washburn's 3-1 win in Warrensburg in September snapped a three-game losing streak in the series. UCM knocked WU from the South Central Regional in the first round in 2008 and scored a pair of wins last year. UCM won 3-2 in Topeka and 3-0 in Warrensburg later in the season.

Opposing Coaches
    Rose Shires is in her 21st season leading the Maverick program. She has compiled a 421-240 record during her tenure. Last season, she led UNO to a 20-14 record and a spot in the NCAA-II South Central Regional. She led the Mavs to the 1996 National Championship.
    Flip Piontek is in his second season as the head coach for UCM, but his 25th season overall with the program. He led the Jennies to a 34-5 mark in 2009 and won the MIAA title in his first season as head coach. Central Missouri is 785-182 during his time at CMSU as an assistant and now head coach.

Last Time Out
    Oct. 23, 2010 - TOPEKA, Kan. -- The No. 2 ranked Lady Blues cruised to a 3-0 sweep of Missouri Western on Saturday night at Lee Arena. Washburn won the three sets by counts of 25-23, 25-22, 25-16. The Lady Blues are back in action on Tuesday night at Nebraska-Omaha.
    Washburn (23-2, 11-2 MIAA) used a 6-2 run early in set one to grab the lead and maintained it throughout. The Griffons (10-12, 6-7 MIAA) closed to within one a couple of times, but the Lady Blues finished off the first set winning four of the final six points.
    The second set had 10 ties and three lead changes with the Lady Blues rallying from five down to tie the score at 19-all. With the score tied at 20-20 Washburn scored five of the final seven points to take a two sets to none lead.
    The Lady Blues jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the third set. The lead grew to as many as 10 as Washburn rolled to the 25-16 win and 3-0 sweep.
    Jessica Kopp came off the bench to lead Washburn with 11 kills. Amanda Guess (23) and Abby Wittman (19) combined for 42 assists while Molly Smith had a game-high 15 digs. The 15 digs moves Smith into second place all-time on Washburn's career digs list with 1,871 career digs.
    Alexandra Behnke led the Griffons with 11 kills, while Justine Buskirk added 10. Stephanie Hattey had 29 assists and 10 digs.

Smith named MIAA Specialist of the Week
    Washburn senior libero Molly Smith was named the MIAA's Specialist of the Week for her performance last week. Smith averaged 6.42 digs per set during the three games. She had game-highs in digs in all three matches. Against NWMSU, she had 30 digs with three assists. In the win over No. 11 Truman she had 32 digs and five assists and finished out the week with 15 digs and two assists against Missouri Western. Smith is raised her average to 5.15 digs per set, including 5.62 digs/set during MIAA play.

Lady Blues fall four spots in AVCA rankings
    The Lady Blues went 2-1 last week, suffering an upset at Northwest Missouri. That loss dropped Washburn back to No. 6 in this week's AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll. Central Missouri is the next MIAA team at No. 7. Truman, who comes to Lee Arena on Friday night, stayed at No. 11 and Emporia State stayed put at 12th.
    This is the 91st straight week that Washburn has been ranked in the AVCA top 25 and the 21st straight week in the top 10.

Lady Blues: Statistically speaking
    Washburn ranks second in the MIAA as a team with a .267 hitting percentage, but the Lady Blues rank first in the conference holding their opponents to a .120 hitting percentage. WU also leads the MIAA in assists per set at 13.31 and digs per set at 17.65. Washburn is third in the league averaging 14.16 kills per set, but leads the league with 2.31 blocks per set.
    Individually, Mollie Lacy is fourth in the MIAA with a hitting percentage of .361 and Breanna Lewis is sixth at .343. Amanda Guess is eighth in the league averaging 9.04 assists per set and Molly Smith is second in digs at 5.15 per set.
    Jessica Fey is eighth in the league averaging 0.89 blocks per set and Hillary Hughes' 0.34 service aces per set rank her fifth in the MIAA.
    Additionally, Breanna Lewis' 23 kills against Emporia State is the fifth highest individual total in the MIAA this season, followed by Aubri Renshaw's 22 against Northwest Missouri.

Can you dig it?
    Senior libero Molly Smith moved into second place on Washburn's career digs list over the weekend. She now has 1,871 career digs. Erica Cowhick is WU's all-time leader with 2,464 career digs.
    Smith also moved into the top 10 on the MIAA's career digs list moving into 10th place in conference history. She is 53 digs shy of ninth place, which is held by Jill Quast of NWMSU.

Lady Blues third in first regional rankings
    Washburn was third in the first set of NCAA-II South Central Regional rankings that were released last week. Central Missouri held the top spot followed by Truman State, Washburn and Emporia State. Abilene Christian rounded out the top five.
    The MIAA held six of the top eight spots in the rankings. The top eight teams in the final regional rankings will advance to the NCAA-II South Central Regional to be held at a campus site yet to be determined.

Herron against ranked opponents
    The Lady Blues are 3-1 this season against ranked teams after their 3-1 win over then-No. 11 Truman last Friday night. Washburn won 3-2 over then-No. 15 Emporia State on October 15. 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 on September 24.
    The Lady Blues 42-38 overall against ranked teams under Herron. The Lady Blues are 27-12 against ranked opponents inside Lee Arena and 14-18 against teams ranked in the top 10.

Herron in ninth season at Washburn
    Washburn head coach Chris Herron is 270-51 (.841) 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 tournament and they had a .389 winning percentage in 12 years as an NCAA-II school. Herron has won 84 percent of his games and has led WU to the NCAA postseason seven of his first eight years, including the last six in-a-row, and he has led WU to the first two MIAA titles in school history.

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. 6 in this week's 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 91 straight polls.
• The No. 2 ranking last week matched the highest in school history. Washburn was ranked No. 2 in the 2008 preseason poll and held that ranking through the first two weeks of the season.

Coming up next
    The Lady Blues start the month of November with a home match against Missouri Southern next Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Washburn will then hit the road for two games over the weekend. The Blues travel to Bolivar, Mo. on November 5 to take on Southwest Baptist before heading to Pittsburg, Kan. for a date with the Gorillas of PSU on Saturday the 6th.