Riley, Alfers have career matches as Lady Blues defeat UCM to advance to final Saturday
Nov. 3 , 2006

Box Score | Season Statistics

Freshman Joanna Alfers and sophomore Bobi Riley had career-high kill totals and junior libero Erica Cowhick moved into second all-time in digs as the Lady Blues defeated No. 15 Central Missouri 3-1 (23-30, 30-17, 30-28, 30-11) in an MIAA tournament semifinal at Lee Arena Friday night. The No. 20 Lady Blues advance to play No. 1 Truman for a chance to defend their MIAA title Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Alfers and Riley stepped in for injured freshman Ashley Shepard, a starter at outside hitter, and led the Lady Blues offense. Riley led all players with 20 kills and Alfers had 14, surpassing her previous career high of four. Junior middle hitter Mandi Cox had 14 kills and led WU with a .444 attack percentage while junior rightside hitter Tessa Jones had 13 kills.

Cowhick climbed one spot away from becoming Washburn’s all-time leader in digs. She had 36 in the match to total 1,595 in her three years and move into second all-time at WU. Cowhick is 32 digs away from tying Washburn’s career leader, Shanna Haslett, who totaled 1,627 digs from 1988-90.

Freshman setter Kate Hampson also climbed a spot on Washburn’s career charts. Her 57 assists moved her to ninth all-time at WU with 1,198 in just one year. She also added nine digs. Riley had 10 digs to notch her second double-double of the year.

The Lady Blues hit just .120 in the opener and UCM had a .261 effort to take the first game. Washburn bounced back to take the next three. The Lady Blues came out strong in game two with a .421 percentage while the Jennies managed just a .081 effort. Game three just went Washburn’s way and then the Lady Blues destroyed UCM in the clincher. Up 11-8 in the game, Mandi Cox fired off five straight kills to start a 14-0 run for the Lady Blues. WU went on to hit .439 in the game while UCM was blanked at .000.

For the match Washburn hit .266 while the Jennies hit .157 as a team. Central had a 7-4 edge on blocks.

The Lady Blues won the MIAA title last year in the regular season. This is the first year since 1992 the conference championship is decided by the tournament winner. Truman (34-1) will enter Saturday’s match on a 34-match winning streak after dropping its opener. The Bulldogs defeated WU 3-1 in Lee Arena earlier this year.