Missouri Southern Lions (15-11, 5-9 MIAA) Lee Arena Topeka, Kan. Tues., Nov. 2 7 p.m. Live Stats

Southwest Baptist Bearcats (9-18, 4-11 MIAA) Meyer Sports Complex Bolivar, Mo. Fri., Nov. 5 7 p.m. Live Stats

Pittsburg State Gorillas (10-17, 3-12 MIAA) John Lance Arena Pittsburg, Kan. Sat., Nov. 6 6 p.m. Live Stats

Complete Game Notes

Previewing Washburn
    The No. 6-ranked Lady Blues have three games on the slate this week. Washburn will host Missouri Southern on Tuesday night before hitting the road for two games this weekend. The Lady Blues will travel to Bolivar, Mo. on Friday night to face Southwest Baptist then head to Pittsburg, Kan. on Saturday to take on the Gorillas.
    Breanna Lewis leads the Lady Blues with 2.70 kills per set and is hitting .334. Mollie Lacy leads the team with a .361 hitting percentage. Amanda Guess is dishing out 8.78 assists per set, while Abby Wittman chips in 4.35 assists per frame. Molly Smith is averaging 5.22 digs per set.
    
Scouting the Lions
    Missouri Southern enters the week at 15-11 overall and 5-9 in MIAA play after a 1-1 record last week. The Lions upset 11th-ranked Truman on Friday night 3-2 in Kirksville before falling 3-0 at Missouri Western on Saturday night.
    Ashlee Russell leads MSSU with 2.82 kills per set and 254 kills. She is hitting .276, which is third best on the team. Amelia Judge leads the team with a .305 hitting percentage and is averaging 2.10 kills per set. Elin Skei is averaging 9.30 assists per set and Shakila Balkhi leads the team with 4.09 digs per set.

The Series: Washburn vs. Missouri Southern
    The Lions lead the all-time series 34-29, but the Lady Blues have won 18 straight games in the series, all during the Chris Herron era. Washburn swept Missouri Southern 3-0 in Joplin back on October 5.

Scouting the Bearcats
    Southwest Baptist enters the week with at 9-18 overall and 4-11 in conference action after going 1-2 last week. SBU beat Missouri Western 3-1, but was swept twice by Truman State and Northwest Missouri.
    Ashley Jurgensmeyer leads the Bearcats with 3.31 kills per set. She has 314 kills and is hitting .317. Brianna Wallace leads the team with 8.96 assists per set. Marcy Greenwade leads the team with 4.19 digs per set. The Bearcats average 1.93 blocks per set as a team.

The Series: Washburn vs. Southwest Baptist
    Washburn leads the series 37-4 and have won 22 straight in the series dating back to 1999. The Lady Blues beat SBU 3-0 in Topeka back on October 8.
Scouting the Gorillas
    Pittsburg State enters the week at 10-17 overall with a 3-12 league mark. The Gorillas were 0-3 last week losing a pair of five-set matches to Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri before falling 3-0 at Truman.
    Corrinne Stringer leads PSU with 2.95 kills per set and has 313 kills on the season. Becca Pearson leads the team with 4.94 assists per set and Cassie Wilson leads the squad with 4.83 digs per set.
    The Gorillas will host Emporia State on Friday night before entertaining the Lady Blues on Saturday.

The Series: Washburn vs. Pittsburg State
    The Lady Blues hold a 48-21 lead in the all-time series with the Gorillas after a 3-0 win in Topeka on October 9 and a sweep in the season series last year. Washburn has won four of the past five meetings and the Blues are 13-5 against PSU under Chris Herron.

Opposing Coaches
    Chris Willis is in his seventh season as the head coach at Missouri Southern and in his eighth season overall as a head coach. Last season, he led the Lions to a 13-21 overall mark, including 6-14 in MIAA play. His MSSU record stands at 101-123, while his career mark is 115-149.
    Kelly Richardson is in her fourth season leading the Southwest Baptist program. Last season, she led the Bearcats to a 12-24 overall record and a 5-15 mark in the MIAA. Her career record stands at 42-86.
    Ibraheem Suberu is in his 12th season at the helm of the Pittsburg State program. His record at PSU stands at 218-185, while his career record in 14 years as a head coach sits at 248-220. In 2009, the Gorillas were 25-11 overall and 14-6 in MIAA play and reached the second round of the NCAA-II South Central Regional.

Last Time Out
    Oct. 29, 2010 - TOPEKA, Kan. -- The sixth-ranked Lady Blues outlasted seventh-ranked Central Missouri 3-2 (21-25, 25-16, 25-17, 22-25, 15-13) in a slugfest on Friday night at Lee Arena. Central Missouri entered the game as the No. 1 ranked team in the South Central Region, while the Lady Blues were ranked No. 2 in the regional poll.
    This was the second time this season that Washburn has snapped a Central Missouri winning streak. In the Lady Blues' victory at UCM it snapped the Jennies 15-match home court winning streak. Tonight's win snapped the Jennies' 14-match winning streak, which started after their loss to Washburn.
    Central Missouri (23-4, 13-2 MIAA) pulled ahead early in set one grabbing the lead for good at 5-4. The Jennies stretched their lead to as many as five before finishing off the set 25-21.
    Washburn (25-2, 13-2 MIAA) rallied to win set two in convincing fashion. The Lady Blues went ahead 10-9 and extended the lead throughout the set winning 25-16. The third set was back-and-forth in the early going with UCM holding the early lead 10-7. Washburn rallied to tie the set, which had seven ties and four lead changes, at 13-all as part of a 7-0 run which put them in front for good. WU closed out the third set 25-17 and led 2-1.
    Central Missouri rallied in the fourth set, out-hitting the Lady Blues .378 to .262 to force a fifth and deciding set. In the fifth set, neither team could gain control early. UCM led 9-7 before a 5-0 by the Lady Blues put them in front for good. The Jens rallied to within a point at 14-13, but a service error gave Washburn the win.
    Jessica Fey led Washburn with 15 kills and hit .469 as she had no attacking errors. Hillary Hughes recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 17 digs. Mollie Lacy had 11 kills, while Breanna Lewis added 10. Amanda Guess and Abby Wittman each recorded double-doubles. Guess had 29 assists and 10 digs, while Wittman finished with 27 assists and 11 digs. Molly Smith had a game-high 28 digs to lead the Washburn defense.
    Allie Huffman led UCM with a match-high 19 kills. Paula Harris added 15 kills and Bradye Peniston had 11. Julia Bates finished with 57 assists and 10 digs, while Rachel Fister had 22 digs.
    Washburn out-hit Central Missouri .259 to .199 as each team finished with 66 kills.

Lady Blues stand pat in AVCA Rankings
    The Lady Blues went 2-0 last week, including a win over top 10-ranked Central Missouri, but stayed at No. 6 in this week's AVCA Top 25 Coaches' Poll. Central Missouri is the next highest MIAA team at No. 8. Emporia State stood pat at No. 12, while Truman fell five spots to No. 16.
    This is the 92nd straight week that Washburn has been ranked in the AVCA top 25 and the 22nd straight week in the top 10.

Lady Blues: Statistically speaking
    Washburn ranks second in the MIAA as a team with a .263 hitting percentage, but the Lady Blues rank first in the conference holding their opponents to a .124 hitting percentage. WU is second in the MIAA in assists per set at 13.25 and first in digs per set at 17.70. Washburn is third in the league averaging 14.10 kills per set, but leads the league with 2.23 blocks per set.
    Individually, Mollie Lacy is second in the MIAA with a hitting percentage of .361, Breanna Lewis is sixth at .334 and Jessica Fey is eighth with a hitting percentage of .317. Amanda Guess is eighth in the league averaging 8.78 assists per set and Molly Smith is second in digs at 5.22 per set.
    Jessica Fey is ninth in the league averaging 0.86 blocks per set and Hillary Hughes' 0.31 service aces per set rank her seventh 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 digs against Emporia State is the highest single-game total 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 1,918 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 six digs shy of ninth place, which is held by Jill Quast of NWMSU.

Lady Blues move up one spot in latest regional rankings
    Washburn moved up one spot to No. 2 in last week's NCAA-II South Central Regional rankings. Central Missouri held the top spot followed by Truman State, Washburn and Abilene Christian. Emporia State rounded out the top five. The Lady Blues defeated No. 1 Central Missouri last week and have swept the regular-season series with the Jennies
    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.
    The next set of regional rankings will be released on Wednesday, November 3.

Herron against ranked opponents
    The Lady Blues are 4-1 this season against ranked teams after their 3-2 win against No. 7 Central Missouri on Friday night. 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 43-38 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.

Herron in ninth season at Washburn
    Washburn head coach Chris Herron is 272-51 (.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 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 92 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.

Coming up next
    The Lady Blues wrap up the regular season with a pair of games next week. Washburn will host Fort Hays State on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. before traveling to Emporia State for the Turnpike Tussle on Friday, November 12. The Fort Hays State game is Senior Night with the three Lady Blues seniors being honored before the game.