Northwest Missouri Bearcats (15-14) UCM Multipurpose Warrensburg, Mo. Thurs., Nov. 18   2:30p.m. Live Stats Free Webcast

#18 Truman Bulldogs (25-7) UCM Multipurpose Warrensburg, Mo. Fri., Nov. 19   5 p.m. Live Stats Free Webcast

#23 Abilene Christian Wildcats (26-5) UCM Multipurpose Warrensburg, Mo. Fri., Nov. 19   5p.m. Live Stats Free Webcast

Complete Game Notes

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Previewing Washburn
    The No. 5-ranked Lady Blues enter the NCAA-II South Central Regional hosted by Central Missouri as the No. 2 seed. Washburn will take on seventh-seeded Northwest Missouri State on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. The winner will advance to the regional semifinals on Friday at 5 p.m. against either No. 3 seed Truman State or sixth-seeded Abilene Christian. The winner of that game will advance to the South Central regional final on Saturday night to take on one of Central Missouri, St. Mary's, Emporia State or West Texas A&M. There will be a FREE webcast for all the games at the South Central Regional, which may be accessed through the links provided above.
    Breanna Lewis leads the Lady Blues with 2.60 kills per set and 278 kills on the season. Mollie Lacy hits a team-high .364 and averages 2.34 kills per set. Amanda Guess (8.35) and Abby Wittman (4.64) combine to dish out 12.99 assists per set. Molly Smith leads the team and is second in the MIAA with 5.42 digs per set.

Scouting the Bearcats
    Northwest Missouri State will be making the first NCAA tournament appearance in school history. The Bearcats finished the regular season 15-14 overall and 11-9 in MIAA play finishing in fifth place. NWMSU went 1-2 last week to close out the regular season. The Bearcats beat Missouri Western 3-0, before falling 3-0 to Truman and 3-1 to Missouri Southern. NWMSU is the No. 7 seed.
    Alex Hanna leads NWMSU with 339 kills and a 3.17 kills per set average. Sara Falcone adds 2.75 kills/set, while Laira Akin averages 9.93 assists per set. Paige Spangenberg averages 4.88 digs per set.

The Series: Washburn vs. Northwest Missouri State
    The Lady Blues hold a 33-19 advantage in the series with the Bearcats. The two teams split the regular season series with each school winning on their own home floor. Washburn had won eight straight in the series before falling 3-2 in Maryville on October 19. WU is 18-2 against the Bearcats under Chris Herron.

Scouting the Bulldogs
    Truman State enters the NCAA-II South Central regional at 25-7 overall after finishing third in the MIAA with a 14-6 mark. The Bulldogs beat their first round opponent, Abilene Christian, 3-2 at the Lady Blues Fall Classic in October. TSU will be the No. 3 seed in the South Central Regional.
    Allison Barker leads TSU with 2.70 kills per set, while Megan Sharpe adds 2.56 per game and has a team-high .330 hitting percentage. Ashley Petak and Kylie Easlon combine to dish out 10.27 assists per set. Casey Bruno leads the team with 4.59 digs per set.

The Series: Washburn vs. Truman State
    The Bulldogs lead the overall series 35-11. The teams split the regular season series with each team winning 3-1 on their own home floor. Washburn has won four of the past five meetings with the Bulldogs and six of the last eight.

Scouting the Wildcats
    Abilene Christian enters the South Central regional at 26-5 overall. The Wildcats finished second in the Lone Star conference at 13-1 and have won 12 of their last 13 games. ACU fell to Truman State, their first round opponent, 3-2 at the Lady Blues Fall Classic back in October. The Wildcats are the No. 6 seed in the South Central Regional.
    Shawna Hines leads Abilene Christian with 2.88 kills per set, while hitting .325. Jennie Hutt adds 2.79 kills/set. Ijeoma Moronu dishes out 10.16 assists per set, while Kelsie Edwards leads the team with 4.16 digs per set. Three players average at least 3.11 digs per set for ACU.

The Series: Washburn vs. Abilene Christian
    The Lady Blues lead the overall series 2-1 with the last meeting coming in 2006, a 3-1 Washburn win. WU is 2-0 against ACU under Chris Herron.

Opposing Coaches
    Jessica Rinehart is in her first season leading the Northwest Missouri program. She has the Bearcats in their first ever NCAA tournament after leading NWMSU to a 15-14 record in her first year.
    Ben Briney is in his second season as the head coach of Truman State.  He has a career record of 43-16. Last season, he led the Bulldogs to a 24-13 record and a spot in the NCAA-II South Central Regional.
    Kellen Mock is in her fifth season leading the Wildcat program. Her career mark stands at 86-42. She also led ACU to the regional back in 2006.

Last Time Out
    Nov. 12, 2010 - EMPORIA, Kan. -- The fifth-ranked Lady Blues rallied for a 3-2 (23-25, 25-13, 24-26, 25-20, 15-7) win over Emporia State on Friday night at White Auditorium to claim a share of their third MIAA championship. The Lady Blues tied with Central Missouri with identical 18-2 conference records, but by virtue of their season sweep of the Jennies, the Lady Blues receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA-II South Central Regional. The pairings will be released on Sunday night at 9 p.m.
    The Hornets (21-9, 12-7 MIAA) used an 8-0 run to grab control of the first set. The lead grew to as many as seven before the Lady Blues (30-2, 18-2 MIAA) rallied to tie the set at 22-all. However, ESU won three of the final four points to claim the opener.
    Washburn steamrolled to a win in the second set holding the Hornets to a .021 hitting percentage. The Lady Blues opened the set on an 8-2 run and won 12 of the first 16 points. WU led by as many as 13 before tying the match at one set apiece with a 25-13 win.
    The Lady Blues jumped out to another big lead in the third set only to see the Hornets rally to within a point at 9-8. A 10-4 run by Washburn gave the Blues a 20-13 lead, but back came ESU again and this time they closed out the set 26-24.
    The Hornets took a 3-1 lead early in set four, but the Lady Blues took the lead for good at 6-5. WU extended the lead to as many as eight and went on to win the set 25-20 to force a fifth and deciding game.
    Emporia State won the first point in the fifth set, but after that it was all Washburn. The Lady Blues used an 8-0 run to grab a 10-3 lead and finished off the match on a service ace by Jessica Fey.
    Hillary Hughes recorded her eighth double-double of the season with a match and career-high 19 kills to go along with 14 digs. Three other Lady Blues finished with double-figure kills. Fey had 15 followed by Breanna Lewis with 12 and Mollie Lacy with 10. Fey and Lacy had five blocks apiece to lead WU.
    Molly Smith accounted for 35 of Washburn's 110 digs on the night. The 35 digs led four Washburn players with at least 10 and moved Smith into seventh place on the MIAA's career digs list with 2,029 for her career. Abby Wittman had a career-high 16 to go along with 27 assists and Amanda Guess had a career-high 15 to go along with 31 assists.
    Brianne Boner led ESU with 18 kills, while Katelyn Schmidtberger had 10. Meg Schwartz led four Hornets in double figures with 30 digs and Ting Liu had a match-high 41 assists to go along with 12 digs.
    Washburn held Emporia State to an .072 hitting percentage, including -.050 in the fifth and deciding set.
    The MIAA championship is Washburn's third under Chris Herron after having won the conference crown back in 2002 and 2005, in addition to capturing West Division crowns in 06 and 07. The 18 conference wins also set a new school record.

Lady Blues capture third MIAA championship
    With Washburn's 3-2 win at Emporia State in the regular season finale the Lady Blues captured a share of the MIAA championship, it is the third MIAA title in school history. WU tied with Central Missouri with identical 18-2 conference marks, but by virtue of their two head-to-head wins over the Jennies, the Lady Blues received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Lady Blues in the NCAA Tournament
    The Lady Blues are making their seventh straight trip to the NCAA's and eighth overall under Chris Herron. Washburn is 7-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 6-6 in South Central Regional play. Washburn was 1-1 last season beating UNO in the first round before falling to the eventual national runner-up West Texas A&M in the semifinals. The Lady Blues are 4-3 in first round games in the NCAA tournament.

Lady Blues sweep MIAA Player of the Week
    The Lady Blues swept the MIAA Player of the Week awards this past week. Hillary Hughes was named MIAA Hitter of the Week and Molly Smith was named MIAA Specialist of the Week.
    Hughes had match-highs of 10 kills against FHSU and a career-high 19 against Emporia State, while Smith had 7.12 digs per set as WU held both opponents to under .075 hitting percentages.

Lady Blues stand pat in AVCA rankings
    The Lady Blues went 2-0 last week, including a thrilling 3-2 win at No. 17 Emporia State to claim a share of the MIAA championship and are No. 5 in this week's AVCA Top 25 Coaches' Poll. Central Missouri is the next highest MIAA team at No. 8. Emporia State fell five spots to No. 17 while Truman fell two spots to 18th.
    This is the 94th straight week that Washburn has been ranked in the AVCA top 25 and the 24th straight week in the top 10.

Lady Blues: Statistically speaking
    Washburn ranks second in the MIAA as a team with a .264 hitting percentage, but the Lady Blues rank first in the conference holding their opponents to a .117 hitting percentage. WU is second in the MIAA in assists per set at 13.26 and first in digs per set at 18.09. Washburn is second in the league averaging 14.11 kills per set, but leads the league with 2.20 blocks per set.
    Individually, Mollie Lacy is second in the MIAA with a hitting percentage of .364, Breanna Lewis is seventh at .328 and Jessica Fey is eighth with a hitting percentage of .323. Amanda Guess is eighth in the league averaging 8.35 assists per set and Molly Smith is second in digs at 5.42 per set.
    Jessica Fey is 10th in the league averaging 0.86 blocks per set and Hillary Hughes' 0.27 service aces per set rank her 10th 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.
    Molly Smith's 36 and 35 dig-games against Emporia State are the two highest single-match totals in the MIAA this season.

Can you dig it?
    Senior libero Molly Smith currently sits in second place on Washburn's career digs list. She now has 2,029 career digs. Erica Cowhick is WU's all-time leader with 2,464 career digs. Her 591 digs this season is the seventh highest single-season total in school history.
    Smith also moved into the top 10 on the MIAA's career digs list moving into seventh place in conference history. She is 91 digs shy of sixth place, which is held by from Truman Bulldog Neely Forbes.

Herron against ranked opponents
    The Lady Blues are 5-1 this season against ranked teams after their 3-2 win over No. 17 Emporia State last Friday. WU defeated No. 7 Central Missouri on October 29. Washburn beat then-No. 11 Truman 3-1 back on October 22. 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 44-38 overall against ranked teams under Herron. The Lady Blues are 28-12 against ranked opponents inside Lee Arena and 15-18 against teams ranked in the top 10. Washburn is 10-19 against ranked opponents on the road and 6-7 when playing a ranked opponent on a neutral court.

Herron in ninth season at Washburn
    Washburn head coach Chris Herron is 277-51 (.845) 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:
• The Lady Blues are playing in their seventh straight NCAA Tournament and eighth overall, all under Chris Herron.
• The Lady Blues are 7-7 overall in the NCAA tournament and 6-6 in regional play.
• Washburn is 4-3 in the first round in seven previous trips to the NCAA tournament.
• Washburn is ranked No. 5 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 94 straight polls.
• The No. 2 ranking earlier this season 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.
* 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.

Coming up next
    The winner of the South Central Regional will advance to the NCAA-II Elite Eight in Louisville, Kentucky, December 2-4. Bellarmine University is hosting the Elite Eight.