Complete Game Notes

Previewing Washburn
    The No. 7-ranked Lady Blues will host the 10-team Holiday Inn/Lady Blues Fall Classic this Friday and Saturday. Washburn will take on 2009 NCAA participant Dallas Baptist and St. Edward's on Friday afternoon/evening before hosting Tarleton State and Angelo State on Saturday. The next win for Washburn will be the 800th win in school history.
    Jessica Fey leads Washburn with 105 kills and a 2.50 kills per set average. Mollie Lacy has 104 kills and leads the team with a .376 attack percentage, which ranks second in the MIAA. Amanda Guess is averaging 9.40 assists per set and also adds 2.09 digs per set. Molly Smith leads the Lady Blues with 201 digs and is averaging 4.79 digs per set.
    
Scouting the Lady Patriots
    Dallas Baptist enters the week of competition at 7-8 overall and 2-1 in Heartland Conference action. Kaylyn Frink leads the Lady Patriots with 151 kills and a 3.02 kills per set average, while Becky Swann adds 2.41 kills per set. Tyler Bradsher leads DBU averaging 4.86 assists per set, while May Allen chips in 4.48 assists/set. Frink also leads the team in digs with 3.44 per set.
    The Lady Patriots will take on fellow Lady Blues Classic participant St. Edward's on Tuesday before heading to Topeka for the weekend.

The Series: Washburn vs. Dallas Baptist
    This will be the second overall meeting between Washburn and Dallas Baptist. The Lady Blues hold a 1-0 advantage with the win coming back in 2007 at the Lady Blues Fall Classic.

Scouting the Hilltoppers
    St. Edward's is 7-5 overall and 3-0 in conference play entering the week. Whitney Rhoden leads the Hilltoppers with 2.61 kills per set and is followed closely by Ashley Vander Hey at 2.41 kills/set. Chelsea Barsamian dishes out 8.95 assists per set and Michelle Hundt leads the team with 4.84 digs per set. St. Edwards will travel to Dallas Baptist on Tuesday night before taking part in the Lady Blues Fall Classic.

The Series: Washburn vs. St. Edward's
    This will be the first ever meeting between the Lady Blues and St. Edward's

Scouting the TexAnns
    Tarleton State is 12-2 overall and 2-2 in Lone Star conference action after three wins last week. Rachel Wolf is averaging 3.38 kills per set to lead the TexAnns. Irelis Ilarraza is second on the team with 99 kills and a 2.47 kills/set average. Jessie Hartman leads the team with 340 assists and is averaging 6.54 assists per set. Shea McBrearty leads Tarleton State with 203 digs and a 3.90 digs per set average.
    The TexAnns will travel to Fort Worth, Texas to take on Texas Wesleyan on Tuesday before they begin play at the Lady Blues Classic on Friday.

The Series: Washburn vs. Tarleton State
    The overall series is tied 1-1. Washburn won 3-0 at last year's Fall Classic. The only other meeting came in 1998.

Scouting the Rambelles
    Angelo State enters the week at 6-6 overall and 3-1 in conference play. The Rambelles were 2-0 last week with wins over Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas Woman's.
    Chelsea Gibson leads ASU with 122 kills and a 3.05 kills per average. Alex Woolsey is leading the team with 452 assists, good enough for 10.51 assists per set. Kaelen Valdez had a team-high 2.86 digs per set.

The Series: Washburn vs. Angelo State
    Washburn holds a 3-0 series lead against the Rambelles. The Lady Blues won 3-0 against Angelo State at last year's Fall Classic and 3-0 during a season-opening tournament in 2008.

Opposing Coaches
    Cathy Ray is in her seventh season leading the Lady Patriots program. She is 108-142 during her time at Dallas Baptist. Last season, she led DBU to a 20-17 overall record and a spot in the South Central Regional.
    Sean Donahue is in his ninth season at the helm of the St. Edward's volleyball program and his 10th year overall with the team. His career record stands at 133-93. In 2009, he led the Hilltoppers to a 23-11 overall record, including 12-2 in Heartland Conference play.
    Mary Schindler is in her sixth season leading the Tarleton State program. Last season, she led Tarleton to a 10-21 overall mark leaving her career record at 87-81.
    Chuck Waddington is in his third year as the head coach at Angelo State. Last season, ASU was 19-14 under Waddington's tutelage. His career mark stands at 45-34.

Last Time Out
    Sept. 24, 2010 - WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The No. 9-ranked Washburn volleyball team went on the road and ousted seventh-ranked Central Missouri 3-1 (25-17, 17-25, 29-27, 25-19) on Friday night in Warrensburg. The win snapped UCM's 15 match regular season home winning streak.
    The Lady Blues (12-1, 4-1 MIAA) staked themselves to an early lead in set one and pushed that lead to eight with an 8-2 run midway through the set. The Jennies (9-3, 4-1 MIAA) got to within five, but WU pulled away to take the opener 25-17.
    Central Missouri answered back in the same fashion winning set two by the same 25-17 margin. The Jens led by as many as eight early on before Washburn crawled to within four, but UCM outscored the Blues 9-5 the rest of the way.
    The crucial third set saw the Jennies take an early lead only to have the Lady Blues battle back and take the lead midway through the frame. Washburn had set points at 25-24 and 26-25, but couldn't close it out. The Jennies had their chance at set point leading 27-26, but WU rattled off three straight points to claim the set and a 2-1 advantage.
    The fourth set saw UCM pull out to an early lead once again, but as happened before the Lady Blues rallied and took the lead midway through the set at 11-10. The set was tied at 12-all, but Washburn outscored UCM 13-7 the rest of the way to claim the 25-19 win.
    Jessica Fey led the Lady Blues with a career-high 15 kills. Aubri Renshaw and Hillary Hughes added 13 kills each, while Mollie Lacy and Breanna Lewis had nine apiece. Amanda Guess dished out a career and match-high 54 assists and Molly Smith had 22 digs.
    Allie Huffman led UCM with a 19 kills and 10 digs. Taylor Goodness had 14 kills and Abby Gruenbacher chipped in 10 for the Jennies. Rachel Fister had a game-high 27 digs.

Lady Blues jump two spots to No. 7 in Rankings
    Fresh off their win at No. 7 Central Missouri, the Lady Blues jumped two spots to No. 7 in this week's AVCA coaches poll. Central Missouri moved down two spots to No. 9.
    Emporia State stayed put at No. 11, while Truman moved up one spot to 12th, giving the MIAA four teams in the top 25 rankings.
    This is the 87th straight week that Washburn has been ranked in the AVCA top 25.

Lady Blues: Statistically speaking
    Washburn ranks third in the MIAA as a team with a .265 attack percentage, but the Lady Blues rank first in the conference holding their opponents to a .112 hitting percentage. WU also leads the MIAA in digs averaging 16.91 per set.
    Individually, Mollie Lacy is second in the league with a .376 hitting percentage, while Aubri Renshaw leads the conference with 0.48 service aces per set and Jessica Fey leads with 1.10 blocks per set. Molly Smith is third in the MIAA with 4.79 digs per set.

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.
    WU is 40-38 overall against ranked teams under Herron. The Lady Blues are 9-19 against ranked foes away from Lee Arena and are 14-18 against teams ranked in the top 10.

Herron in ninth season at Washburn
    Washburn head coach Chris Herron is 259-50 (.838) 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. 7 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 87 straight polls.

Coming up next
    The Lady Blues resume MIAA play on October 5 when they travel to Joplin, Mo. to take on Missouri Southern at 7 p.m.
    Washburn will return home on the weekend to host a pair of conference foes. WU will play Southwest Baptist on Friday night, October 8 at 7 p.m. and then host Pittsburg State on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Change of time for Pittsburg State game
    The game-time for Washburn's October 9 home mach with Pittsburg State has been moved up to 4:30 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for 6 p.m.