More powerful than a locomotive, the Washburn University Lady Blues volleyball team added two more checks in the win column this past week.

On Friday Oct. 21, WU took down heated rivals the University of Central Missouri Jennies 3-1.

“We knew coming in we had to shut down their [middle hitters] and [outside hitters],” said Hillary Hughes, junior outside hitter. “They took regional hosting from us last year and that was a huge blow to us. We came back this year, we just want to kill them for that.”

Last night, WU continued their winning ways with a 3-0 victory over the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats.

UCM played a close match, but they were unable to keep up with WU thanks to junior outsider hitter Hillary Hughes’s 17 kills.

The Bearcats may have kept the score close as each set began, but the Lady Blues took little time to gain and extend each lead with scores of 25-18 25-15, and 25-20 with senior middle and outside hitter Mollie Lacy leading kills at 14 on her birthday, giving her the third highest attack percentage in WU history.

“Our ball control was good initially,” said Coach Chris Herron. “We were in system, so our hitting percentage was way up. Our offense was rolling tonight. That’s the biggest thing.”

Though the early goings of the match with the Bearcats had the Lady Blues on the ropes, Herron was never worried that his team might not come out on top.

“I just felt like that we’re a better team,” said Herron. “As long as our ball control was what it was, I felt comfortable with what we were doing.”

As Herron has stated before, he firmly believes that every victory sees his team play poorly in certain areas, while ever loss has WU admirably holding their own and making the right moves.

“You have to try to accentuate those things,” said Herron. “Winning’s always a lot more fun than losing.”

According to Herron, what really matters to him is when the team leaves the court feeling as though they put forth a great effort and gave a lot out of themselves.

“I thought we played hard [last night],” said Herron. “The last two matches, I’ve been happy with the effort our team’s given. The four matches prior to that, I was not happy with the effort my team has given.”

Going forth with the season, WU hits the road on Fri. Oct. 28 in Kirksville, Mo., facing the Truman State University Bulldogs.

“It’s been a great season,” said Herron. “That’s a tough match. We’re just going to have to prepare well the next couple of days. Hopefully, we can continue on like we’ve been doing.”