Arkansas-Fort Smith Lady Lions (1-3)   Mark Twain Building St. Louis, Mo. Fri., Sept. 10 12:30 p.m.

Harding Lady Bisons (4-0)   Mark Twain Building St. Louis, Mo. Fri., Sept. 10   5:30 p.m.

Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles (2-1)   Mark Twain Building St. Louis, Mo. Sat., Sept. 11 11:30 a.m.

Illinois-Springfield PrairieStars (1-3)   Mark Twain Building St. Louis, Mo. Sat., Sept. 11 4:30 p.m.

Complete Game Notes

Previewing Washburn
    The No. 4-ranked Washburn Lady Blues will wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule with four games at the Missouri-St. Louis Triton Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Lady Blues will take on Arkansas-Fort Smith and Harding on Friday then square off with Southern Indiana and Illinois-Springfield on Saturday.
    Freshman outside hitter Aubri Renshaw leads the Lady Blues averaging 3.20 kills/set and sports a .320 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Courtney Wallman leads the team with a .480 hitting percentage. Junior setter Amanda Guess dished out 107 assists for an 8.92 assists per set average last weekend. Senior libero Molly Smith averaged 4.55 digs per set to lead the team.

Scouting the UMSL Triton Classic Opponents
    The four teams that Washburn will play in the UMSL Triton Classic are a combined 8-7 after the first weekend of action, with two of the schools posting winning records.
    Arkansas-Fort Smith was 1-3 over the weekend at the UNO Showcase. The Lady Lions beat Chadron State 3-0 for their lone win of the weekend. They fell to MIAA foes Emporia State (3-0) and Nebraska-Omaha (3-1) during the tournament.
    Harding went 4-0 over the weekend at the Texas Woman's Tournament, winning 12 of 13 sets. The Lady Bison are the led by Reagan Smith, who is averaging 3.92 kills per set. Mollie Arnold is close behind averaging 3.85 kills per set. Amber Schinzing is dishing out 8.92 assists per set.
    Southern Indiana went 2-1 during its season-opening tournament falling to West Florida 3-1 before rallying for a pair of 3-0 sweeps over Wilmington and Alabama-Huntsville. Brittani Oliver is averaging 3.70 kills per set for the Screaming Eagles and Danielle LaGrange chips in 3.40 kills per set. Ashley King has dished out 94 assists in 10 sets for a 9.4 asst/set average.
    Illinois-Springfield went 1-3 over the weekend at the Christian Brothers Tournament, with the lone win coming against Stillman College. UIS fell 3-1 to MIAA foe Missouri Western on Saturday afternoon. The Prairie Stars offense is led by Kellee Mahaffay, who is averaging 3.33 kills per set. Colleen Gentile is averaging 8.64 assists per set and Bianca Sanchez is averaging 4.45 digs per set.
    
The Series: Washburn vs. UMSL Triton Classic Opponents
The Lady Blues are a combined 10-3 against the competition they will face this weekend at the UMSL Triton Classic. It will be the first meeting between Washburn and Arkansas-Fort Smith. WU is 5-2 all-time against the Lady Bison of Harding. Washburn has won five straight in the series with the last meeting coming in 2007. The Lady Blues are 3-1 against Southern Indiana winning two straight. The last meeting took place in 2008. Washburn is 2-0 against Illinois-Springfield. The Lady Blues swept the Prairie Stars 3-0 at the Rockhurst Fall Classic last season.

Opposing Coaches
    Arkansas-Fort Smith head coach Jane Sargent is the only coach in program history. She led the Lady Lions to a 32-4 last season. She has seen the program grow from its infancy and guided the school up through the junior college ranks and now as an NCAA-II member. Her career mark stands at 433-92 in 13 seasons as the head coach.
    Keith Giboney is in his 11th season as the head coach at Harding University. He has compiled a 266-96 overall record and has led the Lady Bisons to six consecutive Gulf South Conference West Division titles. Last season, he led HU to a 24-9 overall mark, including 10-2 in GSC play.
    Southern Indiana head coach Leah Mercer is entering her sixth season at the helm of the Screaming Eagle program. She ranks second all-time at USI with 87 career victories. Last season, she led Southern Indiana to an 18-14 overall mark and a 9-5 record in the GLVC.
    Angie Riggle is in her second season as the head coach of Illinois-Springfield. Last season, she led the PrairieStars to an 11-20 overall record.

Last Time Out
    Friday - SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The No. 6-ranked Lady Blues volleyball team opened the 2010 season with a pair of convincing wins at the St. Mary's Invitational on Friday. Washburn beat SW Oklahoma State 3-1 in the season-opener and followed that up with a 3-0 sweep of the host school on Friday night.
    The first match saw the Lady Blues (2-0) cruise to a 25-7 first set win followed by a 25-12 win to go up 2-0. The Bulldogs (0-2) won set three 25-22, but the Lady Blues closed out their 13th straight season-opening win 25-12 in the fourth set.
    Junior Mollie Lacy led the Washburn hitters with 10 kills and a .600 hitting percentage. Junior Amanda Guess and redshirt freshman Abby Wittman each had double-doubles as they try to replace departed All-American setter Kate Hampson. Guess finished with a game-high 19 assists and 10 digs, while Wittman had 14 assists and 10 digs.
    Washburn rolled to a 3-0 sweep of the host Rattlers (1-2) in Friday's nightcap with set wins of 25-19, 25-12 and 25-11. The Lady Blues hit .411 as a team and committed just seven attacking errors.
    Freshman Aubri Renshaw and sophomore Hillary Hughes had 10 kills apiece to pace the Washburn attack. Hughes added 10 digs for her first double-double of the season and eighth of her career. Guess finished with a career-high 26 assists, while senior Molly Smith had a game-high 20 digs.
    The Lady Blues will wrap up play at the St. Mary's Invitational with a pair of games on Saturday. WU will face Maryville at 10 a.m. before squaring off against Wheeling Jesuit at 5:30 p.m. in the tournament finale for both schools.

    Saturday - SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The No. 6-ranked Washburn volleyball team rolled to a couple of 3-0 sweeps on Saturday at the St. Mary's Invitiational. The Lady Blues took down Maryville 25-12, 25-11, 25-16 in the morning before sweeping Wheeling Jesuit 25-16, 25-23, 25-10 to cap the tournament with a 4-0 record.
    The Lady Blues cruised to the three-set win in the opening match of the day behind 11 kills each from sophomore Jessica Kopp and junior Courtney Wallman. Junior Amanda Guess dished out a career-high 31 assists, while junior Jennifer Kolarik led Washburn with 14 digs.
    The tournament finale for the Lady Blues was a matchup with 2009 NCAA qualifier Wheeling Jesuit (W.V.). Washburn handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season in straight sets. Freshman Aubri Renshaw led the WU attack with 14 kills and 10 digs for her first career double-double. Guess had 31 assists for the second consecutive match and added 11 digs for her second double-double of the season. Senior Molly Smith had a team-high 13 digs.
    Washburn will be back in action next weekend at the Missouri-St. Louis Triton Classic. The Lady Blues will battle Arkansas-Fort Smith and Harding University on Friday before taking on Southern Indiana and Illinois-Springfield on Saturday.

Lady Blues jump two spots to No. 4 in rankings
    A 4-0 start to the season propelled Washburn up two spots to No. 4 in the AVCA coaches poll. The Lady Blues received 673 points and tallied three first-place votes. Central Missouri dropped four spots to No. 9, while Emporia State dropped one spot to No. 13. Truman jumped 10 spots to No. 15 and Pittsburg State dropped one spot to No. 20 giving the MIAA five teams in the poll. This is the 84th straight week that Washburn has been ranked in the AVCA top 25.

Washburn picked second in MIAA preseason coaches poll
    The Lady Blues were picked to finish second in the MIAA in the preseason coaches poll. Washburn returns 12 letterwinners and six starters from a team the went 33-5 last year and advanced to the school's sixth straight NCAA tournament. Defending champion Central Missouri was the choice to repeat this year. UCM received 10 of 11 first-place votes and tallied 100 points. WU received the other first-place tally (coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams) and had 91 points total. Emporia State was picked third, followed by Pittsburg State and Truman State.

Herron in ninth season at Washburn
    Washburn head coach Chris Herron is 251-49 (.837) 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. 4 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 84 straight polls.
• The No. 4 ranking is Washburn's highest since being ranked No. 2 early in the 2008 season.
• Washburn opens the season with eight straight matches away from Lee Arena, the Lady Blues started the 2009 campaign with 13 straight matches away from home, going 13-0 in those contests.

Coming up next
    The Lady Blues return to Lee Arena for their first home and MIAA match of the season against Northwest Missouri on Tuesday, September 14. Washburn will then hit the road on the weekend to take on Truman State on Friday and Missouri Western on Saturday.