Lady Blues beat Jennies
Shawn Shinneman
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: 2007 South Central Regional
Washburn University is one game away from heading to the NCAA Elite 8.
The No. 2 Lady Blues beat the No. 6 University of Central Missouri 3-0 (-26, -23, -23) Friday evening to advance to the South Central Regional final. Washburn will No. 1-ranked Truman State University, who defeated Emporia State in the 7 p.m. match.
The Lady Blues jumped out to an early lead in game one, and controlled the match most of the way, hitting .310 compared to the Jennies .144.
"It was important [to get an early lead] because yesterday we didn't really do that," senior right side hitter Tessa Jones said. "It was really important to come out strong this match."
Jones led the team with 18 kills, but it was a different player that head coach Chris Herron said kept the Lady Blues in the game early on. Herron said freshman hitter Anna Simpson-Mills carried the team in game 1 before players like Jones and senior middle hitter Mandi Cox started to step up. Both Simpson-Mills and Cox finished the game with 11 kills.
Herron said the team handled incoming serves better than they had in round one of the tournament.
"I thought we passed pretty well, because they were going back and just bombing some serves," Herron said. "Those were some nasty deep-float serves that our kids had a real difficult time yesterday with. So I was really proud of that."
Herron said the senior leadership of his team is unlike any he has seen in previous years at Washburn. Up two games to zero, Herron said that before he had a chance to stress keeping the intensity up, his seniors had beaten him to it. The Lady Blues came out fired up once again in game three and never trailed again after gaining the early 6-5 lead.
Central Missouri senior Amber Yoder, who finished with a team-high 13 kills, thought there was another key to the game.
"Washburn's a phenomenal team, and they put up a huge block across the entire front row," Yoder said. "I think that was one of the big differences."
Central Missouri head coach Peggy Martin was proud of her team despite the outcome. She said there was nothing to be ashamed of after a 31-7 season.
"[We] got behind by a huge amount, [but] they haven't quit all year," Martin said. "We've had a little bit of adversity going on within our team, and some injuries. They've always played hard. I just think Washburn was a better team. You've got to give credit to Washburn."
Washburn will now move on to play for the regional title against two teams they have already defeated this year. Sophomore setter Kate Hampson said she has no preference on who she would rather play.
"We've faced them both [and] we've beat them both," Hampson said. "We know we can come out strong against both of them - it doesn't really matter to us."
The Lady Blues will look to advance Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Pershing Arena.
The No. 2 Lady Blues beat the No. 6 University of Central Missouri 3-0 (-26, -23, -23) Friday evening to advance to the South Central Regional final. Washburn will No. 1-ranked Truman State University, who defeated Emporia State in the 7 p.m. match.
The Lady Blues jumped out to an early lead in game one, and controlled the match most of the way, hitting .310 compared to the Jennies .144.
"It was important [to get an early lead] because yesterday we didn't really do that," senior right side hitter Tessa Jones said. "It was really important to come out strong this match."
Jones led the team with 18 kills, but it was a different player that head coach Chris Herron said kept the Lady Blues in the game early on. Herron said freshman hitter Anna Simpson-Mills carried the team in game 1 before players like Jones and senior middle hitter Mandi Cox started to step up. Both Simpson-Mills and Cox finished the game with 11 kills.
Herron said the team handled incoming serves better than they had in round one of the tournament.
"I thought we passed pretty well, because they were going back and just bombing some serves," Herron said. "Those were some nasty deep-float serves that our kids had a real difficult time yesterday with. So I was really proud of that."
Herron said the senior leadership of his team is unlike any he has seen in previous years at Washburn. Up two games to zero, Herron said that before he had a chance to stress keeping the intensity up, his seniors had beaten him to it. The Lady Blues came out fired up once again in game three and never trailed again after gaining the early 6-5 lead.
Central Missouri senior Amber Yoder, who finished with a team-high 13 kills, thought there was another key to the game.
"Washburn's a phenomenal team, and they put up a huge block across the entire front row," Yoder said. "I think that was one of the big differences."
Central Missouri head coach Peggy Martin was proud of her team despite the outcome. She said there was nothing to be ashamed of after a 31-7 season.
"[We] got behind by a huge amount, [but] they haven't quit all year," Martin said. "We've had a little bit of adversity going on within our team, and some injuries. They've always played hard. I just think Washburn was a better team. You've got to give credit to Washburn."
Washburn will now move on to play for the regional title against two teams they have already defeated this year. Sophomore setter Kate Hampson said she has no preference on who she would rather play.
"We've faced them both [and] we've beat them both," Hampson said. "We know we can come out strong against both of them - it doesn't really matter to us."
The Lady Blues will look to advance Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Pershing Arena.
Be the first to comment on this story