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EMORIA, Kan. - The first installment of the Turnpike Tussle went the same way both of last year's did with the fifth-ranked Lady Blues getting a 3-2 (25-22, 18-25, 25-27, 25-17, 15-12) win over Emporia State Tuesday night in front of 855 fans at Lee Arena.

Washburn (19-1, 7-0 MIAA) remained perfect in the MIAA and won its 33rd straight match in Lee Arena. The Lady Blues will resume action at home Saturday at 6 p.m. against Nebraska Omaha.

Breanna Lewis had 17 kills and hit .351 with five blocks. Hillary Hughes had her seventh double-double of the year with 11 kills and 16 digs and Kelsey Lewis dug up 24 ESU attacks.

Washburn took advantage of poor hitting by ESU in the fourth set to force a fifth set. The Lady Blues scored the first five points in the deciding set and never looked back. ESU got within a point at 10-9 but kills from Abby Wittman and Breanna Lewis put the Lady Blues up, 13-9. Lewis later got WU to set point with a kill and then she slammed down the clincher after ESU pulled within two.

Overall, Washburn had 60 kills and 103 digs. The Hornets (12-7, 5-2 MIAA) had 61 kills and 107 digs. The blocking battle was tied, 12-12. The Lady Blues made up the difference in points with eight service aces and by taking advantage of seven ESU setting errors.

Washburn hit .127 in the match while ESU hit .153 overall.

After hitting .302 in the first set and getting five kills from Breanna Lewis, the Lady Blues hit .028 in the second set with seven kills and six errors. Emporia State hit .333 in the set with Katie Deutschmann getting six kills.

The Hornets were winning easily in the third set, 21-12 until the Lady Blues went on a 6-0 run. Hughes served the final five points and got an ace and Breanna Lewis had two kills in the streak. The Hornets broke the spree with a Lewis attack error but Washburn went on to score five of the next six points to tie the match at 23-23.

After a WU error, the Lady Blues tied the set at 24-24 on a kill from Jessica Fey. The Lady Blues then had set point with a chance to take a 2-1 set lead but three straight ESU points gave the Hornets the win. Brianna Kaiser had the final two kills.

Washburn was able to stop the Hornets in the fourth set, holding them to -.073 hitting. Hughes, who hit .103 in the match for Washburn, was .583 in the fourth set. She got hot with seven kills and no errors in 12 attempts. She also blocked two ESU attacks.

Emporia State led in the fourth set, 8-7 before Washburn went on an 11-4 run to go up, 18-12. Eight of those points were ESU attack errors. Emporia State then pulled within two with four straight before Washburn closed the set on a 7-1 run to force the fifth set. Fey had three kills and Hughes had four in the run.

Kelsey Lewis played libero the first three sets before moving to outside hitter in the final two. Sami McHenry moved to libero and ended with 13 digs. Lewis had three kills while attacking.

Wittman had 37 assists and 16 digs for a double-double and Fey ended with 10 kills and a team-high five blocks.

Morgan Buckner led ESU with 14 kills and she hit .483 with no errors in 29 tries. Libero Meg Schwartz was one of three Hornets with over 20 digs with 25.

Washburn coach Chris Herron moved two wins away from 300 in his career (298-53). He's now 15-6 all-time against Emporia State and 10-1 against the Hornets in Lee Arena.