Complete Game Notes
Tweet #CodeWU

Micro-Blogging The Blues
(Around 140-character or less tweets highlighting the season)
• Washburn moved up one spot to third in this week's AVCA poll and its the Lady Blues 116th straight time in the ranking.
• Washburn will be going for its 48th and 49th straight wins in Lee Arena with the streak dating back to 2009 #HomeCourtAdvantage
 •Sr. OH Hillary Hughes became the eighth member of the 1,000 kills/1,000 digs club two weeks ago #EliteClub
 •Jessica Fey became the 9th member of the 1,000 kills/300 blocks club last week #EliteClub
 •Chris Herron earned his 400th career win as a head coach Sept. 28 at FHSU. Last year he celebrated his 300th win at Washburn #CareerMilestone
• Herron is in his 11th year at WU with a 332-56 record. He's got nine NCAA appearances, 4 MIAA titles and 15 All-Americans #GreatDecade

Lady Blues Return To Lee Arena
No. 3 Washburn returns home for two MIAA matches this weekend
The third-ranked Lady Blues will return home to host Northwest Missouri Friday at 7 p.m. and then Missouri Western Saturday at 2 p.m. Washburn will be looking to defend and extend its 47-match Lee Arena winning streak that goes back to 2009.

The Lady Blues (21-1, 8-1 MIAA) started last week by sweeping Missouri Southern Tuesday at home. They then swept Southwest Baptist Friday on the road and went to five sets before winning at No. 7 Central Missouri on Saturday. It was just the fourth win in school history at Central Missouri.

Northwest Missouri is 11-11 and 5-4 in the MIAA after losing its fourth straight match Sunday against Pittsburg State. Missouri Western is 12-11 and 3-7 and has lost three straight after getting swept by No. 5 Nebraska-Kearney on Tuesday.

Fey Earns National And Conference Honor
Jessica Fey named AVCA and MIAA player of the week
Senior All-America middle hitter Jessica Fey was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division II national player of the week after averaging 5.00 points per set and hitting .494 in three Washburn wins last week.

Fey, an AVCA honorable mention All-American last year, was named the MIAA hitter of the week as well.

She had the second most points (33.5) and third most kills (29) in school history in the Lady Blues 3-2 win at No. 7 Central Missouri Saturday. That match she became the ninth Washburn player to record 1,000 kills and 300 blocks in a career. She had 29 kills with five errors in 55 attempts and added four blocks. The Lady Blues won for just the fourth time in school history at Central Missouri. Fey had the winning kill in two of Washburn's sets at UCM and her 29th kill in the fifth set put the Lady Blues at match point.

Fey had 10 kills with no errors in 17 attempts to hit .588 in a sweep at Southwest Baptist and in a sweep at home against MSSU, she had eight kills with just one error in 11 tries to hit .636 in the match. She added an ace in each match and seven total blocks to give her 55.0 points in the three matches.

Fey is Washburn's fourth national player of the year and the first since Monica Miesner in 2008.

Fey Joins Elite Club
Fey becomes ninth Lady Blue with 1,000 kills and 300 blocks
Senior middle hitter Jessica Fey is 16th in Washburn history with 1,062 kills and she also has 304 blocks, making her the ninth player in Washburn history to have over 1,000 kills and 300 blocks.

Fey became the 17th Lady Blue to reach 1,000 kills as she had 12 against Harding on October 6. She then got her 300th block Saturday at Central Missouri. Mollie Lacy was the last to get 1,000 kills and 300 blocks, reaching that milestone last year.

Fey entered the season fourth in career hitting percentage with a .306 attack. She's hitting .414 this year and is currently averaging a .329 attack through her four years, good enough for second in school history. Her senior year attack percentage would be good enough for the best in Washburn single-season history and it would make her just the second Lady Blue to hit over .400 in a season.

Hughes Also Joins Elite Club
Hillary Hughes becomes eighth member of 1,000 kills/1,000 digs club
Hillary Hughes cemented herself in Washburn volleyball history when she got her 1,000th kill October 5 against Southeastern Oklahoma State, making her the eighth Lady Blue to get 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. She got her 1,000th dig September 29 at Nebraska-Kearney.

Hughes now has 1,046 kills, putting her 17th in school history and she's 17th with 1,078 digs. The last player to get 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs was Monica Miesner while playing from 2004-08.

400th Career Win
Head coach Chris Herron earns his 400th career win
Washburn's 3-0 win September 28 at Fort Hays State gave head coach Chris Herron his 400th career win in his 14th season as a head coach. He's now 407-85 (.827) overall and 332-56 (.856) in 11 seasons at Washburn.

Herron entered the year fourth in NCAA history with an .821 winning percentage among DII coaches with at least 10 years experience.

116 Straight In The Polls
Lady Blues jump a spot to third in AVCA national poll
The Lady Blues jumped from fourth to third and earned one first-place vote in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association top 25 poll released Tuesday. The Lady Blues beat No. 7 Central Missouri in five sets in Warrensburg to help boost them in the ranking.

This is the second time this year and seventh in school history the Lady Blues have been ranked third. They've been ranked second four different times. This is also the third time Washburn has received a No. 1 vote.

MIAA opponent Nebraska-Kearney lost twice last week and gave up its perch at No. 1 in the nation. Southwest Minnesota State moved from third to first and Tampa jumped Washburn from fifth to second. UCM stayed put at seventh.

The Lady Blues earned their 116th straight ranking and their 47th straight in the top 10. They have been in every weekly poll since week one of the 2004 season and they have been in the top 10 going back to week one of 2009.

School Record Winning Streak At 47 Home Matches
Lady Blues will look to add to that this weekend
• The Lady Blues have a school record as they have won their last 47 matches in Lee Arena with perfect home records in each of the last three years, counting their 8-0 start this year.
• Their last loss in front of the home crowd was against Central Missouri on September 25, 2009. They went all of 2010 and 2011 without a loss.
• Chris Herron is 139-13 (.914) coaching in Lee Arena.
• Washburn has won 62 of its last 63 home matches and 78 of its last 80.

About Coach Chris Herron
• Head coach Chris Herron building solid program in 11th season
• Head Coach Chris Herron is 332-56 (.856) in his 11th season at Washburn and 407-85 (.827) in 14 years overall as a head coach.
 •He's won more games (332) in the last 11 years than any other program that has been in the MIAA during that time. Truman is second with 321.
• He's turned Washburn volleyball completely around. The program went 169-265 (.389) in its first 12 years as an MIAA school from 1990-2001 and had never been to the NCAA tournament.
• Herron has earned Washburn its first 11 NCAA tournament appearances and four conference titles.
 •In his first 11 years he's had at least one All-American each year but his first. He has seen his players earn 15 All-America awards include three first-teamers.
• Herron won a conference title in 2002, his first year with the Lady Blues and they hosted the NCAA region tournament in their first trip to the event.
• He was named MIAA coach of the year in 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2011 and AVCA region coach of the year in 2007.
 •His 2007 squad advanced out of the NCAA region tournament for the first time in school history and hosted the NCAA national tournament. Washburn made it to the semifinal and finished ranked third in the nation.
• The 1980 College of the Ozarks graduate went 75-29 in three years at Benedictine before coming to Washburn.

This Week's Opponents
Herron and Lady Blues dominate recent history against Northwest Missouri and Missouri Western
The Lady Blues are 38-19 all-time against Northwest Missouri but head coach Chris Herron is 22-2 all-time against the Bearcats with an 11-0 mark in Lee Arena.
Washburn is just 33-43 all-time against Missouri Western but Herron has gone 20-0 against the Griffons in his career.

Net Notes
Final points...
• Jessica Kopp has reached double figures in kills in 10 of her last 13 matches and she's averaging 3.13 kills per and hitting .296 set during that streak.
• Jessica Fey was named the Lady Blues Classic (Oct. 5-6) MVP after she hit .520 during the four matches. She hit .786 against Southeastern Oklahoma with 11 kills and no errors in 14 attempts and she hit .632 against Southwestern Oklahoma. She reached double figures in kills in three of the contests.
• Hillary Hughes and Kelsey Lewis each had eight aces during the Fall Classic. Hughes had four against Southern Nazarene and then she went on to tie her career high with five against Missouri Southern on Tuesday.
• Hillary Hughes moved into a tie for fifth in Washburn history with her 32nd career double-double. She's eighth with 50 career double-figure kill matches and eighth with 49 double-figure dig matches.
• Hughes and Fey became the eighth and ninth players Chris Herron has coached to 1,000 kills. Washburn also put two players in the 1,000 kills club last year.
• Abby Wittman became the eighth Lady Blue to get 2,000 assists in a career and she's now eighth in Washburn history with 2,030.
• Fey leads the MIAA and she's sixth in the nation hitting .414 as she enters the week. She's fourth in the league averaging 3.41 kills a set. Marissa Cox is fifth in the league hitting .336 and Jessica Kopp is ninth with 2.69 kills a set. Hillary Hughes is third in the conference averaging 0.40 assists a set.

Coming Up Next...
Two on the road up next for Washburn
The Lady Blues will play an MIAA match October 23 at Emporia State and then play a non-conference match at Drury on October 27. Just five MIAA matches will remain after next week.

Looking Ahead
MIAA adds postseason tournament this year
The MIAA will crown the regular season champion or co-champions with a trophy after the regular season and then the top eight teams will play in the MIAA postseason tournament. The top four teams will host the bottom four on November 13 and then the highest remaining seed will host the semifinals on November 16 and the final on November 17.