Game Notes
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After the whole conference took the weekend off for non-conference matches, the fifth-ranked Lady Blues will return to MIAA action Friday with a 7 p.m. match at Southwest Baptist. They'll then play Saturday at 2 p.m. at Pittsburg State.

Washburn improved to 16-1 with five wins last weekend including four in the Ramada Inn Lady Blues Fall Classic. The Lady Blues stayed put at No. 5 in last week's AVCA poll released Monday. They are 4-0 in the MIAA.

Southwest Baptist is 7-10 overall and 2-2 in the league. The Bearcats went 1-3 in the Lady Blues Fall Classic and will play Tuesday at Emporia State. Pittsburg State is 5-13 and 2-3 in the league and will host Emporia State Friday before hosting the Lady Blues.

Lady Blues earn 32nd straight top-10 vote
The top six teams in the nation stayed put, leaving Washburn at No. 5 in this week's AVCA national poll released Monday. The Lady Blues (16-1, 4-0 MIAA) won five times last week, including four times in the Ramada Inn Lady Blues Fall Classic. They finished their week with a 3-2 win over Angelo State.

ASU suffered just its second loss of the year and climbed to No. 18 in the poll. MIAA foe Central Missouri fell from seventh to eighth and Truman and Emporia State fell out of the poll. Concordia St. Paul kept its spot at No. 1.

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 32 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 57 of the last 61 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.

The Lady Blues return to conference action Friday at Southwest Baptist and Saturday at Pittsburg State.

Herron 5 wins from 300 wins in 10th season of complete turnaround at Washburn
• Head coach Chris Herron, in his 10th year at Washburn, is five 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 295. Truman has 291 and Central Missouri has 277. Truman leads with 125 MIAA wins and the Lady Blues and Jennies have 124.
• 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. (Herron's Complete Bio)
• Washburn went .389 in its first 12 years of DII and since then, Herron has led the Lady Blues to an .848 winning percentage, winning at least 26 matches every year. That winning percentage is the highest amongst all MIAA schools since he started.
• At 295-53 (.848) in his 10 years, he holds the school records for total victories and winning percentage. He's 370-82 (.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.
• 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
• Southwest Baptist is 7-10 after losing its final three matches in the Lady Blues Fall Classic last weekend. The Bearcats are 2-2 in the MIAA with wins over Missouri Southern and Fort Hays State. They'll play Tuesday at Emporia State before hosting Washburn Friday.
• Britni Reed leads the team with a .203 attack percentage and 3.01 kills a set. She's second with 3.66 digs a set.
• Washburn is 38-4 all-time against SBU and Chris Herron is 17-0 coaching in the series. The last SBU wins were a season sweep in 1998.
• Pittsburg State is 5-13 and 2-3 in the MIAA. The Gorillas lost their first six matches this year and then lost three out of four in their Pitt State Gorilla Classic last weekend.
• Washburn is 49-21 all-time against the Gorillas. Chris Herron is 14-5 in the series, having swept PSU in each of the last two years.

Wrapping up last week in the Lady Blues Fall Classic
• The Lady Blues swept their first three opponents last weekend and then overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat Angelo State, 3-2 Saturday in the final match of the Ramada Inn Lady
Blues Fall Classic.
• Washburn has now gone 24-0 in its sixth consecutive year of hosting the Lady Blues Classic.
• The Lady Blues were the lone 4-0 team. Angelo State dropped to 3-1 after losing to WU and Truman also finished 3-1.
• Washburn led the 10-team field with a .222 team attack percentage. Breanna Lewis, tournament MVP was first with a .394 percentage and she was third with 3.79 kills a set.
• Washburn's 3-2 win over then-No. 20 Angelo State was its first win after falling behind 2-0 since the 2007 NCAA national quarterfinal against Tampa in 2007. The Lady Blues hosted that match and also came back to win 3-2.
• Mollie Lacy was fourth amongst the tournament field with 1.21 blocks a set after getting a career-high eight against ASU.
• Kelsey Lewis had seven aces and Hillary Hughes had six in the event.
• Hillary Hughes named to the all-tournament team with Breanna Lewis. Hughes had a double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs against Dallas Baptist.

Big weekend brings Lewis closer to 1,000 kills
Breanna Lewis moved within 113 kills of 1,000 after getting 67 kills in five matches last week. Now with 887, 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' Career Statistics)

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 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.

Lewis leads the Lady Blues this year with a .358 attack percentage and 2.91 kills per set. She has seven double-figure kill matches this year including four of the last five.

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 1,083 to sit in 14th in school history. She needs 1,108 to catch Debbie McCormick (1992-95) in 13th.

With 284 total blocks, she needs 16 to join the 1,000 kills/300 blocks club. Only seven Lady Blues have earned that distinction. (Lacy's Career Statistics)

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 .369 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 last weekend. 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 has a pair of home games next week with Emporia State on October 11 at 7 p.m. and Nebraska Omaha on October 15 at 6 p.m. Both of those teams were in Topeka for the Lady Blues Fall Classic.