Game Notes

The third-ranked Lady Blues will look to stay atop the MIAA with three conference matches this week. Tuesday they travel to Missouri Southern for a 7 p.m. match for their third straight on the road. Friday and Saturday they play the first two of their final three at home. Friday they host Southwest Baptist at 7 p.m. and Saturday they host Pittsburg State at 2 p.m.

Washburn jumped two spots to No. 3 in the AVCA national poll released Monday. The Lady Blues had been fifth for five straight weeks.

The Lady Blues (25-1, 12-0 MIAA) are the only undefeated team in the conference. They won at home last week against Northwest Missouri and then beat Truman and MIssouri Western on the road. Washburn extended its overall winning streak to 18 straight, its MIAA winning streak to 21 and it's Lee Arena winning streak to 36.

Washburn will play three teams in the bottom half of the MIAA standings. Missouri Southern is 5-19 overall and ninth in the league at 3-9. Southwest Baptist is 11-16 and tied for sixth in the MIAA at 4-8. Pittsburg state is 7-19 and eighth at 4-9.

Second half of MIAA schedule features tough road matches
The top four teams in the current MIAA standings right behind Washburn hosts the Lady Blues in the second half of the conference season. Washburn beat all four of those teams at home in the first half of the season.

Washburn traveled to Truman, fourth in the MIAA and No. 5 Missouri Western last week. In the final week of the regular season the Lady Blues will head to No. 2 Central Missouri and No. 3 Emporia State in the final two matches of the season.

Washburn went 9-0 in the first half of the MIAA season, going 5-0 at home and 4-0 on the road. The Lady Blues are currently 3-0 in the second half of the conference season.

Wittman follows MIAA honor with another big week
Abby Wittman had a pair of double-doubles two weeks ago to help her earn her first MIAA specialist of the week honor. October 18 against Fort Hays State she had 21 assists and 13 digs in a 3-0 win for No. 5 Washburn. October 21 against seventh-ranked Central Missouri she had 40 assists and 10 digs. She added two kills and an ace.

This is the third MIAA athlete of the week honor the Lady Blues have won this year. Mollie Lacy and Jessica Fey were each named hitter of the week previously.

Last week Wittman averaged 11.33 assists and 3.22 digs a set as the Lady Blues won three straight 3-0 sweeps to remain unbeaten in the MIAA. Wittman had 45 assists and 13 digs for a double-double Friday at Truman. Tuesday against Northwest Missouri she had 33 assists and nine digs. She added 24 assists and seven digs Saturday at Missouri Western in a 6-2 rotation.

Lady Blues earn 36th straight top-10 vote
Nos. 1 and 4 in last week's top 25 lost last week, making room for the Lady Blues to move two spots to a season-high third in the AVCA national poll released Monday. The Lady Blues had been No. 5 for five straight weeks.

Washburn has been ranked third or higher eight times now. The Lady Blues were second and third once each last year. They ended 2007 ranked third and started 2008 ranked second for three straight weeks before dropping to third for a week.

The Lady Blues have now been in the top 10 in the AVCA national poll 36 straight weeks and they've been ranked in the top 25 105 straight times. They stayed in the top 10 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 61 of the last 63 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.

Tampa lost last week to fall out of the top spot. Undefeated Minnesota Duluth moved to first and undefeated Cal State-San Bernadino is second.

Central Missouri climbed to No. 7 and Emporia State continued to earn votes but no top 25 ranking.

Herron becomes MIAA's only current 300-match winner
Head coach Chris Herron, in his 10th year at Washburn, earned his 300th victory on the Lady Blues bench October 18 at Fort Hays State. Already the school's all-time leader in wins, he is the only active MIAA coach to reach that milestone.

Herron had 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 304. Truman has 299 and Central Missouri has 285. WU has 132 MIAA wins in the last 10 years. UCM has 131 and TSU has 130.
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 .852 winning percentage, winning at least 25 matches every year. That winning percentage is the highest amongst all MIAA schools since he started.

At 304-53 (.852) in his 10 years, he holds the school records for total victories and winning percentage. He's 379-82 (.822) 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.

Herron's win total is highest among active MIAA coaches. 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
Missouri Southern snapped a five-match losing streak last week with a 3-2 win over Pittsburg State. The Lions then got swept at Central Missouri. They are 5-19 overall and ninth in the MIAA at 3-9. Casey Ball leads the Lions with 3.06 kills a set and Rachel Olinyk averages 2.99 and leads with a .253 attack percentage. Washburn is 31-34 all-time against the Lions but head coach Chris Herron is 20-0 against them. The last win for MSSU came in 2001.

Southwest Baptist is 11-16 overall and tied for sixth in the MIAA at 4-8. The Bearcats won twice in the Oklahoma Panhandle Triangular last Saturday, defeating OPSU and Texas Permian Basin. Washburn is 39-4 all-time against SBU. Herron is 18-0  in the series and SBU hasn't won since 1998. Britni Reed leads the Bearcats with a .199 attack percentage and 2.99 kills a set.

Pittsburg State is 7-19 overall and eighth in the league at 4-9. The Gorillas have lost four straight. Washburn is 50-21 in the all-time series and has won five straight. Herron is 15-5 all-time against the Gorillas.

Wrapping up last week's action
Washburn swept three straight opponents last week to remain perfect at 12-0 in the MIAA.

Mollie Lacy had a nearly error-free week. She went without an error in 36 attacks in the first two matches for a .638 attack percentage and then had just two errors Saturday.

Lacy hit .737 and had five blocks to become the eighth member of the 1,000 kills/300 blocks club at Washburn Tuesday night in a 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-20) win over Northwest Missouri.

Lacy's .737 attack percentage was the second best in her career and third best in school history. Her career-high .750 attack in 2009 is No. 2 in Washburn history. Katie Brandt's .786 mark in 2003 is the school record.

Breanna Lewis had 14 kills and two errors in 18 attacks to hit .556 on the night. Jessica Fey and Jessica Kopp each added seven kills.

The Lady Blues had a season-high .373 attack percentage as a team.

The Lady Blues trailed just  twice as they took care of business in a 25-18, 25-22, 25-19 sweep at Truman Friday night.
Hillary Hughes and Lewis led the Lady Blues with 12 kills each. Hughes added 11 digs for her ninth double-double of the year and Lewis led the Lady Blues with three blocks. Lacy had nine kills with no errors in 17 attacks to hit .529. She's had 23 kills with no errors in the last two matches for a .638 attack percentage.

Abby Wittman led the Washburn offense to a .230 attack percentage. She had a career-high 45 assists and added 13 digs for her 13th double-double of the year.

Three Lady Blues had double-figure kills as No. 5 Washburn swept Missouri Western Saturday.

Lewis led with 11 kills. Fey and Kopp had 10 kills each. Kopp had one error to hit .429 and Fey went error-free in a .526 performance. Hughes just missed a double-double with 11 digs and nine kills.

Washburn won its 20th straight match against the Griffons and head coach Chris Herron improved to 20-0 against them.

Lewis moves closer to 1,000 kills
Breanna Lewis moved within 13 kills of 1,000 after three big performances last week. Now with 987, 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 3.02 kills a set and she's second with a .345 attack percentage. She has 13 double-figure kill matches this year. She recently had a string of six straight double-figure kill matches and she's reached at least nine in each of the last 12 matches.

Lewis reached double-figure kills each match in three 3-0 sweeps for the fifth-ranked Lady Blues last week. She averaged 3.89 kills a set and hit .400 on the week. She had 12 kills Tuesday against Northwest Missouri State with just two errors to hit .556 with two blocks. Friday at Truman she added 12 kills and three blocks and Saturday at Missouri Western she had 11 kills and a .381 attack percentage. Lewis averaged 0.56 blocks a set and 4.22 points during the week.

Lacy joins 1,000 kills/300 blocks club, still holds career attack percentage record
With 306 total blocks, Mollie Lacy became the eighth member of Washburn's 1,000 kills/300 blocks club. She reached that milestone October 25 against Northwest Missouri.

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 1,162 to sit in 12th in school history. She needs 62 more to catch Shanna Haslett who had 1,224 from 1988-90.

The last time a Lady Blue reached 1,000 kills was when Monica Miesner, Tessa Jones and 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 .371 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.

Washburn moves win streak to 18 straight
The Lady Blues won three times last week to improve their win streak to 18 straight matches. Washburn  won its first seven matches before falling to No. 1 Concordia St. Paul on September 10. The Lady Blues have won every match since then. The Lady Blues are 54-7 in sets during the winning streak with 113 3-0 sweeps.

Washburn's school-record winning streak was 27 straight in 2007.

The Lady Blues' current 21-match MIAA winning streak is a school record. They are 12-0 this year and they won their last nine in the league last year. The previous record was 13 straight in 2005.

Washburn's last loss in an MIAA match was October 19, 2010 at Northwest Missouri.

Lady Blues win 36th straight in Lee Arena
Herron improved to 128-13 (.908) in Lee Arena with a 3-0 sweep over Northwest Missouri last Tuesday. The Lady Blues have won 36 straight at home with the last loss coming on September 25, 2009, against Central Missouri. They are 11-0 this year and went 14-0 last year.

Net Notes
Freshman Kori Thompson had her first double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs October 21 against No. 7 Central Missouri. It was her first match with double-figure kills and fourth double-figure dig match.

Abby Wittman set a career high with 45 assists last Friday at Truman. It was her third match in the previous five with 40 assists or more.

The Lady Blues were beaten statistically in kills and attack percentage for just the third time this year in their match against the Hornets on October 11. ESU won in kills, 61-60 and in attack, .153 to .127 that night. Washburn is 23-0 when leading in both those categories and 2-1 when not.

Marissa Cox is hitting .380 in MIAA matches with 40 kills and 10 errors in 79 tries. She has played in all nine conference matches but not enough sets to qualify to lead the team.

Washburn improved 3-0 in five-set matches this year. The win October 11 against Emporia State was the third time the Lady Blues had to come back and win in five.

Washburn is 49-40 all-time against ranked opponents under Herron, 17-19 against top-10 teams and 2-3 against No. 1 teams. The Lady Blues are 4-1 this year against ranked teams with the lone loss coming to No. 1 Concordia.

Coming up next
The Lady Blues will wrap up the regular season with three matches in the final week. November 8 they will host Fort Hays State at 7 p.m. with Senior Day ceremony taking place before the match. November 11 they're at Central Missouri in a 7 p.m. match and November 12 they wrap up the regular season at Emporia State.