The world has seen many heated rivalries over the years, such as Allies vs. Axis, North vs. South and Oprah vs. obesity. Last night, the Washburn University Lady Blues volleyball team settled another Turnpike Tussle, winning 3-2 against the Emporia State Hornets.

The Lady Blues started off coming from behind to clinch the first set with the Hornets countering back in the second. WU nearly won set three in a close contest, but ESU made sure to answer by the end. However, WU came back to win the last two sets.

“We won, but it doesn’t feel very good,” said Chris Herron, Lady Blues head coach. “I thought they out-played us, especially for the first three games. Even though we won game one, I don’t think that we played that well.”

After a lackadaisical second set, the Lady Blues sensed the impending danger of defeat in order to take back the match in their home court.

“Game two, they beat us bad,” said Herron. “Game three, we made a great comeback, but there was no sense of urgency until it was 17-10, and then all of a sudden, we’re tied up at 25.”

Even after attaining a victory over WU’s bitter adversary, there are still several issues for the team to address going forward.

“Winning doesn’t make everything better,” said Herron. “We have some deficiencies, obviously as a coach, I have to address. Each individual kid needs to get a little bit better. I need to do a little bit better job.

“I take this win, and we got to run with it. I’m happy that we won, but never very happy with the way we played.”

One of Herron’s biggest disappointments of the match was his feeling that the Lady Blues did not show much positive playing or competitive spirit until halfway through the third set.

“Even though we lost [set three], I thought we showed a sense of urgency,” said Herron.

WU started on the comeback trail after they were able to slow down ESU’s right side in the middle of the match with well-played serves and blocks.

“Their right sides were killing us in games one and two and half of three,” said Herron. “Then we were able to gather some momentum.”

With WU’s next match against the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Herron has plans to ready his team.

“We’ll have some nice practices the next couple of days,” said Herron. “Let’s put it that way. We’ll be ready.”