Fort Hays State Tigers (7-22, 0-17 MIAA) Lee Arena Topeka, Kan. Tuesday, Nov. 9 7 p.m. Live Stats

#17 Emporia State Hornets (20-8, 11-6 MIAA) White Auditorium Emporia, Kan. Friday, Nov. 12 7 p.m. Live Stats

Complete Game Notes

Previewing Washburn
    The No. 5-ranked Lady Blues finish out the regular season with two key games this week. Washburn will host Fort Hays State on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. It's senior night with the 2010 seniors being honored before the game. Friday night Washburn will travel to Emporia for the Turnpike Tussle with 17th-ranked Emporia State at 7 p.m. The Lady Blues are one-half game behind Central Missouri in the MIAA standings and can clinch their third conference title with two wins this week.
    Breanna Lewis leads the team averaging 2.66 kills per set and has 263 kills on the season. Mollie Lacy is second on the team with 243 kills and leads the team with a .370 hitting percentage. Amanda Guess (8.62) and Abby Wittman (4.48) combine to dish out 13.10 assists per set. Molly Smith leads the Lady Blues averaging 5.29 digs per set, including 5.70 digs/set during MIAA play.

Scouting the Tigers
    Fort Hays State comes into the contest winless in the MIAA at 0-17 and is 7-22 overall. FHSU was 0-2 last week falling to Missouri Southern and Southwest Baptist by 3-0 scores. The Tigers are led by Tracie Hileman, who is averaging 3.41 kills per set. Makayla McPhail adds 2.76 kills per set for Fort Hays State. Whitney Liggett is dishing out 9.29 assists per set, while Kirsten Chamberlin is averaging 3.91 digs per set.

The Series: Washburn vs. Fort Hays State
    The Tigers lead the overall series with Washburn 44-31. The Lady Blues have won nine straight in the series and 10 of the last 11. WU is 10-2 against Fort Hays State under Chris Herron.

Scouting the Hornets
    Emporia State enters the week at 20-8 overall and 11-6 in MIAA play after dropping a pair of games last week. ESU fell to Pittsburg State 3-2 before losing at Missouri Southern 3-1. The Hornets will take on Southwest Baptist on Tuesday before hosting the Lady Blues on Friday night.
    Brittney Miller leads ESU with 4.09 kills per set and a .385 hitting percentage. Ting Liu dishes out 11.38 assists per set and Meg Schwartz is averaging a team-best 4.32 digs per set.

The Series: Washburn vs. Emporia State
    Emporia State holds a 77-26 lead in the Turnpike Tussle. Washburn has won the past two meetings. 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 14-49 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 149-50 under Xu's tutelage.

Last Time Out
    Nov. 6, 2010 -PITTSBURG, Kan. -- The sixth-ranked Lady Blues recorded their third straight sweep, this time downing Pittsburg State in straight sets 25-14, 25-21, 25-19. Washburn will be back in action on Tuesday night at home against Fort Hays State at 7 p.m. Tuesday is senior night with the seniors being honored before the match.
    Washburn (28-2, 16-2 MIAA) jumped on the Gorillas (11-18, 4-13 MIAA) early winning the first set 25-14.
    In the second set, Washburn raced out to a 4-0 lead before the Gorillas rallied to tie the set at 9-all. A 5-0 run put the Lady Blues in front for good as they stretched the lead to as many as eight. PSU used a 9-3 run to close within a pair at 23-21, but Washburn closed out the set 25-21.
    Washburn grabbed control of the third set with an 11-6 run to go up by four. The lead grew to as many as five before the Lady Blues closed out the set and the match 25-19.
    Jessica Kopp led Washburn with 12 kills, while Hillary Hughes added 11 kills and 10 digs. Molly Smith had a match-high 25 digs, while Amanda Guess had 24 assists.
    Molly Bergkamp led Pitt State with 10 kills and 14 digs. Becca Pearson and Katie Wright had 15 assists each.

Lady Blues jump one spot in AVCA rankings
    The Lady Blues went 3-0 last week with three sweeps and moved up one spot to 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 93rd straight week that Washburn has been ranked in the AVCA top 25 and the 23rd 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 .122 hitting percentage. WU is second in the MIAA in assists per set at 13.36 and first in digs per set at 17.91. Washburn is third in the league averaging 14.20 kills per set, but leads the league with 2.17 blocks per set.
    Individually, Mollie Lacy is second in the MIAA with a hitting percentage of .370, Breanna Lewis is sixth at .331 and Jessica Fey is eighth with a hitting percentage of .318. Amanda Guess is eighth in the league averaging 8.62 assists per set and Molly Smith is second in digs at 5.29 per set.
    Jessica Fey is 10th in the league averaging 0.84 blocks per set and Hillary Hughes' 0.29 service aces per set rank her eighth 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-match 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 1,972 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 ninth place in conference history. She is one dig shy of eighth place, which is held by Eli Medina of Truman.

Lady Blues stay put at No. 2 in latest regional rankings
    Washburn stayed at No. 2 in last week's NCAA-II South Central Regional rankings. Central Missouri held the top spot followed by the Lady Blues, Truman and Abilene Christian. Emporia State rounded out the top five. The Lady Blues have swept the season series with No. 1 Central Missouri.
    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 10 with the final regional pairings being released on Sunday, November 14.

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 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 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 275-51 (.844) 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. 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 93 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 await the NCAA-II South Central regional selections to find out when, who and where they will be playing in the postseason.
    The selections will take place on Sunday night, November 14.