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NCAA South Central Region Championship Match
No. 2 Washburn (32-2) vs No. 1 Central Missouri (29-4)

WARRENSBURG, Mo. - The fifth-ranked Lady Blues will be playing for their second regional title and trip to the NCAA national tournament when they take on top-seeded Central Missouri in the South Central Region final in the UCM Multipurpose Building at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Washburn, ranked fifth in the nation, has swept both its opponents in the tournament. The Lady Blues beat seventh-seeded Arkansas Tech Thursday in the opening round and then swept No. 3 West Texas A&M Friday. The Jennies, No. 7 in the nation, beat eighth-seeded Abilene Christian 3-2 on Thursday and then beat No. 4 Angelo State 3-1 on Friday. They have won 11 straight since their 3-1 loss at Washburn earlier this year.

The Lady Blues and Jennies split their season series and shared the MIAA title for the second straight year. This is also the second straight year they have played for the region title in Warrensburg. UCM won 3-0 last year.

The winner will advance to the NCAA national quarterfinal at a site to be determined among the eight region winners.

Washburn NCAA tournament history
The Lady Blues improved to 11-8 with their win Friday. They are in their eighth straight NCAA tournament appearance and ninth overall. They made their first trip in 2002 and returned in 2004 and have been every year since. They are 6-3 in first round matches, winning their last three. They are 3-3 in regional semifinals and 1-1 in finals. They are 10-7 overall in regional play and 1-1 in national tournament play, advancing out of the region in 2007 and hosting the eight-team national tournament, finishing as semifinalists.

Washburn-Central Missouri series history
Central Missouri leads the all-time series against Washburn 45-12 but Washburn coach Chris Herron is 11-14 against the Jennies in his 10 years.  He is 1-4 against the Jennies in NCAA tournament play. The two met last year in the regional final with UCM winning in three, 25-15, 25-23, 25-18. Washburn's lone win against UCM in the tournament came in 2007 in the region semifinal. Washburn went on to win the region and finish as a national semifinalist.

The two split their regular season matches this year with the home team each winning once. Washburn won on October 21 in four sets, getting 17 kills from Hillary Hughes and a double-double from Korie Thompson with 11 kills and 12 digs. UCM swept the Lady Blues last Friday to end Washburn's 22-match winning streak. Breanna Lewis led Washburn with 12 kills in the match. Paula Harris combined for 25 kills in the two matches for the Jennies.

Previewing Central Missouri
Central Missouri improved to 29-4 with its two wins to open the NCAA tournament. The Jennies went 17-1 in the conference to split the title with Washburn for the second straight year. MIAA MVP Allie Huffman leads the Jennies with 3.93 kills a set while Paula Harris averages 3.66, hits .418 and is averaging 1.07 blocks a set. Setter Julia Bates averages 11.52 assists a set, 1.12 kills and 0.52 blocks. The three were first team all-MIAA selections. Overall, the Jennies lead the MIAA hitting .316 with 15.16 kills a set entering the tournament.

Central Missouri coach Flip Piontek is 95-14 in his third season as head coach of the Jennies after spending 24 years as an assistant.  He's 4-3 coaching against Washburn.

Net Notes
Mollie Lacy is now hitting .365 in her career, keeping her in first in school history, 39 points ahead of second...Breanna Lewis is third in career history with a .323 attack...Jessica Fey is hitting     .649 in her two matches in the NCAA tournament...she has 25 kills with just one error in 37 attempts...Fey had 18 kills with one error to hit .630 Friday against WTAMU...she topped her previous career best of 17 kills set last week as Washburn clinched the MIAA title at Emporia State...Kelsey Lewis had 27 digs to set a career high...her previous high was 25 digs against Nebraska Omaha on October 15...setter Abby Wittman has been strong in recent matches since an injury kept her out of the November 4 match against Southwest Baptist...she has 30 or more assists in four of the last five matches with two double-doubles...Friday against WTAMU she had 41 assists, five kills, seven digs and two blocks...she set a career high with 62 assists last Saturday at Emporia State as WU clinched a share of the MIAA title.

Coming up next
The winner Saturday will advance to the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship and face the winner of the Central Region in a quarterfinal on December 1. The semifinal matches will be December 2 and the national championship will be played December 3. The site of the final three rounds will be chosen among the eight region winners. The Central Region will be represented by the winner of the Concordia St. Paul/Southwest Minnesota State winner on Saturday. Concordia is the four-time defending national champion.