Game Notes
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The Lady Blues will return home Tuesday to host Emporia State at 7 p.m. in the first installment of the Turnpike Tussle. Saturday No. 5 Washburn (18-1, 6-0 MIAA) will host Nebraska Omaha in a non-conference match at 6 p.m. The Lady Blues are 7-0 in Lee Arena this year and they've won 32 straight on their home court.

Emporia State is 12-6 this year and third in the MIAA with a 5-1 record. The Hornets have won four straight since dropping two in the Lady Blues Fall Classic. They earned votes in this week's AVCA national poll. Nebraska Omaha is 4-18 in its first year transitioning to NCAA Division I.

The Lady Blues went 2-0 with two sweeps over MIAA opponents last week. They topped Southwest Baptist Friday and Pittsburg State Saturday. They are in a tie for first in the conference with Central Missouri. The Jennies play Northwest Missouri and ESU this week.

Lady Blues earn 32nd straight top-10 vote
For the third straight week the AVCA national poll's top five remained unchanged, leaving Washburn at No. 5 in the poll released Monday.

The Lady Blues are the top one-loss team in the nation as the four teams ahead of them are unbeaten. They have now been in the top 10 in the AVCA national poll 33 straight weeks. They stayed that way all last year being ranked as high as second and as low as ninth throughout the year. They were also in the top 10 every week of the regular season in 2009 after a No. 11 spot in that preseason poll.

Washburn has been in the top 10 in 58 of the last 62 AVCA polls. They have been ranked in the poll every week since the start of the 2004 season and there have only been 10 weeks that they weren't ranked since Chris Herron began in 2002, including his first seven weeks.

Concordia Saint Paul, the only team to beat Washburn this year, remained the No. 1 team in the nation. Central Missouri climbed a spot to No. 7 and Emporia State and Truman continued to earn votes but no ranking.

Herron 3 wins from 300 wins in 10th season of complete turnaround at Washburn
Head coach Chris Herron, in his 10th year at Washburn, is three victories short of 300 on the Lady Blues bench. Already the school's all-time leader in wins, he is looking to become the only active MIAA coach to reach that milestone.
Herron has already coached a team to 300 wins in his career. He coached Tonganoxie High School to a 366-88 record in 13 seasons.

Since he got to Washburn 10 years ago, no other MIAA team has more wins than him in those 10 years. He leads with 297. Truman has 292 and Central Missouri has 280. All three of the teams have 126 MIAA wins in the last 10 years.
Herron inherited a Washburn program that had just three winning seasons in its first 13 years as an NCAA II school and member of the MIAA. Right away, Herron turned Washburn into a contender by winning the league in 2002, his first year.

Washburn went .389 in its first 12 years of DII and since then, Herron has led the Lady Blues to an .849 winning percentage, winning at least 26 matches every year. That winning percentage is the highest amongst all MIAA schools since he started.

At 297-53 (.849) in his 10 years, he holds the school records for total victories and winning percentage. He's 372-82 (.819) in his career including three years at NAIA Benedictine (Kan.).

Herron started the year seventh with an .814 winning percentage among active NCAA II coaches with at least five years experience. He was 30th in career victories with 279. Herron's winning percentage was 17th amongst all coaches in all divisions with at least five years experience. (NCAA Coaching Records PDF)

Herron's win total is highest in the MIAA. He is the second-highest tenured coach in the MIAA behind Pittsburg State coach Ibraheem Suberu who has coached the Gorillas for 13 years.

About this week's opponents
Emporia State is 12-6 this year and 5-1 in the MIAA. The Hornets have won four straight MIAA matches.
Paige Vanderpool averages 2.84 kills per set and hits .244 while Katie Deutschmann leads the team with a .329 percentage.

Emporia State and Washburn renew their rivalry. They had played every year since WU's program started in 1969 and ESU holds a 77-27 lead in the series. Chris Herron is 14-6 against the Hornets and 9-1 against them in Lee Arena.
Washburn swept the season series last year with both matches going to five sets.

Nebraska Omaha is 4-18 this year with two of those wins coming in the Washburn Fall Classic. The Mavericks left the MIAA after last year and are in their first year transitioning to NCAA Division I.

Natalie Ebke leads the team with 2.90 kills a set and Brittany Hanssen is hitting .261 to lead.

Herron is 6-3 against UNO and has won four straight.

Wrapping up last week's action
Hillary Hughes had a double-double and Jessica Fey led with 13 kills as the fifth-ranked Lady Blues swept Southwest Baptist, 25-21, 25-23, 25-22 last Friday night in MIAA action.

Fey hit .350 on the night and Breanna Lewis had a .500 percentage with 10 kills and just one error in 18 attempts. Hughes had her sixth double-double of the year with 11 kills and 11 digs.

Kelsey Lewis led Washburn with 12 digs and Abby Wittman led the team with 29 assists. Lewis added 10 for a double-double, the first of her career.

The Lady Blues remained perfect in the MIAA at 6-0 and went to 18-1 overall with a 25-21, 25-18, 25-11 win at Pittsburg State Saturday afternoon.

Mollie Lacy and Breanna Lewis led the team with 11 kills each. Lacy hit .500 one error in 20 attacks. Lewis hit .389 in the match.

Fey led Washburn with five blocks and she and Jessica Kopp came off the bench to get seven kills each.
Wittman led Washburn with 16 assists and 16 digs. Amanda Guess had 15 assists.

Lewis moves closer to 1,000 kills
Breanna Lewis moved within 92 kills of 1,000 after a pair of double-figure kill matches last week. Now with 902, she will be looking to join teammate Mollie Lacy as the newest member of the Washburn 1,000 kill club. Lewis would be the 15th member of that club.

Lewis leads the Lady Blues this year with a .365 attack percentage and 2.97 kills per set. She has seven double-figure kill matches this year including five straight.

Lewis was named the MVP of the Lady Blues Fall Classic after leading the tournament field with a .394 hitting percentage. With those four matches and a match Tuesday at Newman, she averaged 3.72 kills and 3.89 points a set during the week. She had a career-high 26 kills that Saturday in the five-set match against No. 20 Angelo State as Washburn overcame a 2-0 deficit. Also Saturday, she hit .500 with 13 kills against Tarleton State.

1,000 kills and school record attack percentage for Lacy
With her 10th kill September 9 against Colorado-Colorado Springs in the opener of the Colorado Premier Challenge, Mollie Lacy became Washburn's 14th member of the 1,000 kill club. She now has 1,101 to sit in 14th in school history. She needs 1,108 to catch Debbie McCormick (1992-95) in 13th.

With 288 total blocks, she needs 12 to join the 1,000 kills/300 blocks club. Only seven Lady Blues have earned that distinction.

The last time a Lady Blue reached 1,000 kills was when Monica Miesner, Tessa Jones and Mandi Cox all reached 1,000 in 2007. Cox is the last to also total 300 blocks.

Lacy is also at the top of the WU career chart with a .370 attack percentage. Her first three single-season totals are in the top four in school history and she set a school record with a .405 percentage in 2009 to become the only Lady Blue to hit .400 or better. Mandi Cox is second on the career chart with a .326 attack percentage.

Lacy was an honorable mention All-American her sophomore year and she's earned all-MIAA all three years, including first team honors her sophomore and junior year.

Net Notes
Herron improved to 124-13 (.905) in Lee Arena with four wins in the Lady Blues Fall Classic. The Lady Blues have won 32 straight at home with the last loss coming on September 25, 2009, against Central Missouri. They are 7-0 this year and went 14-0 last year.

Washburn is 48-40 all-time against ranked opponents under Herron, 16-19 against top-10 teams and 2-3 against No. 1 teams after the loss to Concordia and victory over Metro State.

Coming up next
Washburn will be home and away next week. Tuesday the Lady Blues will play at Fort Hays State at 7 p.m. and Friday they will host Central Missouri at 7 p.m.