Game Notes

Washburn will honor its five seniors Tuesday night and then wrap up the regular season with two games this weekend looking to clinch their second straight MIAA title. No. 4 Washburn will host Fort Hays State Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Lee Arena in what will be the final regular season home matches for Amanda Guess, Mollie Lacy, Breanna Lewis, Courtney Wallman and Jennifer Yoder. The Lady Blues (28-1, 15-0 MIAA) will then travel to No. 7 Central Missouri Friday at 7 p.m. and then Emporia State Saturday at 7 p.m.
Washburn can wrap up at least a share of the conference crown with two wins and if one of those wins is against UCM, the Lady Blues will win the trophy outright.

The Lady Blues won thrice last week to move their overall winning streak to 21 straight matches. They also have a school-record 24-match MIAA winning streak and 38-match home winning streak.

Lady Blues look to clinch MIAA title
Washburn enters the final week of the regular season at 15-0 while Central Missouri is second in the league at 14-1. The Lady Blues need at least two wins to clinch at least a share of the MIAA title. If the Lady Blues win at least twice and one of those wins is over Central Missouri, they'll win the trophy outright. Three wins for Washburn will also give them the title outright. Emporia State is still not mathematically eliminated from the title, needing WU to lose three times and UCM's only win to be over WU.

The Lady Blues shared the title last year with Central Missouri and have also won titles in 2005 and 2002.

Washburn remains No. 1 in region
The Lady Blues remained No. 1 in the NCAA South Central Region ranking released last Wednesday. Washburn is 28-1 right now and entered last week with a 22-0 mark in regional matches. Another NCAA poll is expected this Wednesday.
Among MIAA schools, Central Missouri is No. 2, Emporia State is No. 8 and Truman is No. 9. Previous non-conference opponent Angelo State is No. 4 and Abilene Christian is No. 10. The Lady Blues are 6-0 against those schools this year.

NCAA selection show coming up Sunday
Washburn will be looking for its eighth straight trip to the NCAA tournament and ninth overall when the South Central Region berths are announced. The MIAA champion will be given an automatic bid among the eight seeds. Washburn is currently first in the region.
The selection show will be streamed on NCAA.com Sunday at 9 p.m. The first round games are scheduled for Thursday, November 17. Semifinals are November 18 and the final is November 19. The winner of the South Central Region and the other seven regions will meet in the NCAA national tournament, December 1-3.

A link to watch the show will be placed on wusports.com when it is available.

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 two weeks ago. This week 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 6-0 in the second half of the conference season.

Lady Blues earn 37th straight top-10 vote
The No. 1 team lost last week and the team that beat it moved ahead of Washburn, causing the Lady Blues to drop from third to fourth in the AVCA national poll released Monday. Then-No. 1 Minnesota Duluth fell to Concordia St. Paul and CSP jumped the Lady Blues to take third while UMD fell to second. Then-No. 2 Cal State-San Bernardino moved to No. 1.

The Lady Blues have now been in the top 10 in the AVCA national poll 37 straight weeks and they've been ranked in the top 25 106 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 62 of the last 64 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.

Central Missouri remained 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 307. Truman has 300 and Central Missouri has 288. WU has 135 MIAA wins in the last 10 years. UCM has 134 and TSU has 131.

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 .853 winning percentage, winning at least 25 matches every year. That winning percentage is the highest amongst all MIAA schools since he started.

At 307-53 (.853) in his 10 years, he holds the school records for total victories and winning percentage. He's 382-82 (.823) 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.

Wrapping up last week's action
Washburn defeated three straight MIAA opponents last week to improve to 15-0 in the conference.

Jessica Kopp had her second straight double-figure kill match as the Lady Blues opened November with a sweep at Missouri Southern, 25-23, 25-19, 25-22 Tuesday. Kopp had 11 kills, one more than the season-high of 10 she had Saturday at Missouri Western. She was the only Lady Blue to reach double-figure kills as Washburn hit .223 as a team.

Breanna Lewis became the 15th member of Washburn's 1,000 kill club as she totaled 13 in a 25-13, 25-13, 25-22 sweep over Southwest Baptist Friday night in Lee Arena. Lewis hit .647 in the match with 13 kills and two errors. She now has 1,004 kills and is

15th in Washburn career history.
Hillary Hughes had her 10th double-double and tied her career high in kills as Washburn defeated Pittsburg State 3-1 (25-13, 23-25, 25-14, 25-19) Saturday afternoon in Lee Arena. Hughes had 19 kills and hit .409 with just one error in 44 tries. She added 16 digs for a double-double. She last had 19 kills last year at Emporia State. Her attack percentage was a season-high for her.

Jessica Kopp had 15 kills in the match and Breanna Lewis and Jessica Fey had nine kills each. Fey had her second double-double with 12 digs and she led Washburn with four blocks.

Lewis reaches 1,000 kills club
Breanna Lewis became the 15th member of Washburn's 1,000 kill club as she totaled 13 in a sweep over Southwest Baptist Friday. Lewis entered the match needing nine kills to get 1,000. She had Washburn's first three kills in the match and four total in the first set. She then had three early kills in the second set and her second kill in the third set got her to the milestone. She finished with six kills in the final set including the match winner.

Now with 1,013, she joined teammate Mollie Lacy as the newest member of the Washburn 1,000 kill club. Lewis is the 15th member of that club.

Lewis leads the Lady Blues this year with 2.98 kills a set and she's second with a .348 attack percentage. She has 14 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 14 of the last 15 matches.

With a .321 attack percentage, she is looking to end her career as one of only three Lady Blues to hit over .300 in their career.
Lacy joins 1,000 kills/300 blocks club, still holds career attack percentage record

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 300th block and she currently has 315.

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 1,178 to sit in 12th in school history. She needs 46 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 .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.

Washburn moves win streak to 21 straight
The Lady Blues won three times last week to improve their win streak to 21 straight matches. Washburn  won its first seven matches of the season before falling to No. 1 Concordia St. Paul on September 10. The Lady Blues have won every match since then. The

Lady Blues are 63-8 in sets during the winning streak with 15 3-0 sweeps.

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

The Lady Blues' current 24-match MIAA winning streak is a school record. They are 15-0 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 38th straight in Lee Arena
Herron improved to 130-13 (.909) in Lee Arena with two wins last week. The Lady Blues have won 38 straight at home with the last loss coming on September 25, 2009, against Central Missouri. They are 13-0 this year and went 14-0 last year.

Net Notes
Amanda Guess started two matches last week in place of injured Abby Wittman, Washburn's usual starting setter in a 6-2 rotation. Guess had her first double-double of the year Saturday against Pittsburg State with 32 assists and 10 digs. Gracie Petersen also played in that match, getting career highs of 21 assists and 18 digs for her first double-double. Wittman returned to the floor in the fourth set and recorded six assists.

Abby Wittman set a career high with 45 assists October 28 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 26-0 when leading in both those categories and 2-1 when not.

Hillary Hughes leads Washburn with 3.04 kills a set in MIAA matches and she's second with 2.96 digs. She has five double-doubles against MIAA opponents.

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 be looking to host the NCAA tournament for the third time when NCAA berths are announced Sunday at 9 p.m. Washburn hosted the South Central Region tournament in 2002, its first year in the event, and then hosted the final three rounds of the NCAA tournament in 2007. The Lady Blues advanced to the national semifinal that year.
The South Central Region tournament is scheduled for November 17-19.