No first round letdown this year.

The No. 2 seed Lady Blues (33-4) volleyball team advanced past the first round of the NCAA Division II volleyball championship tournament Thursday afternoon, beating No. 7 Nebraska-Omaha 3-1 in Warrensburg, Mo.

The Mavericks won the first set by a score of 25-23, but the Lady Blues rallied to win the next three sets by scores of 25-16, 25-14 and 25-22. Junior libero Molly Smith recorded a career-high 40 digs for the Blues, moving her into 10th place in the school’s career dig list with 1,423.

Washburn will next face West Texas A&M at 6 p.m. on Friday, the no. 3 seed in the South Central regional with a record of 32-3. The winner of that second round matchup will go on to face either Pittsburg State, which beat Emporia State Thursday by a score of 3-1, or the winner of the Central Missouri-Dallas Baptist matchup, which began at 7:30 Thursday night. That matchup will take place Saturday, Nov. 21 at 3:30 p.m.