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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

The 2025-2026 Washburn men's basketball team will have to replace four players who all received MIAA postseason honors from last season's 30-4 team that advanced to the NCAA Division II semifinals.

Jack Bachelor

Brady Christiansen

But the Ichabods' cupboard is far from bare. In fact, Washburn coach Brett Ballard feels like the pieces are in place for the Ichabods to challenge for another MIAA championship and put together a strong postseason run.

"I think we have five guys returning that all either had started, did start or probably would have started on almost any team in the country last year,'' Ballard said. "We were just deep and talented.''

Junior Jack Bachelor, a first-team All-MIAA pick last season, is the Ichabods' lone returning starter, but Washburn also returns several other experienced players from last year's team, including seniors Sam Ungashick and Brady Christiansen, and sophomores Dillon Claussen and Tyson Ruud.

"Jack has started, Sam has started in the past, and now is healthy and playing as good as anybody,'' Ballard said. "Brady has started before and has shown that he's a high-level MIAA guy and then Dylan Claussen didn't start last year because he was playing behind Andrew Orr, but he would have started on most of the teams in our conference.

"And Tyson Ruud, when healthy, I think showed you he's a high-level MIAA guy, so yes we lost a lot, but I really feel good about the talent and leadership of the guys returning.''

Ungashick, an All-MIAA honorable mention honoree as a sophomore before battling back from knee injuries last season, agrees with his coach that the Ichabods are capable of putting together another banner season this winter.

"We definitely feel that way,'' Ungashick said. "We have a lot of guys who played real minutes in our games last year and they're all back on this team and all playing at a high level in practice so far this fall.''

Washburn was picked No. 1 in both the MIAA Preseason Coaches and Media polls and Ungashick said the Ichabods embrace that challenge.

"We've kind of talked about that in practice, that we'd rather be No. 1 than last place, so I think that target on our back is forcing us to prepare in a good way for the season and I think that's pushing us to be the best and play to the best of our abilities,'' Ungashick said.

Bachelor, a 6-foot-2 point guard, averaged 13.6 points and 5.5 assists last season while hitting 66 3-pointers and shooting 85.6 percent from the free throw line.

Christiansen (6-7) has played 93 games as an Ichabod with 31 starts and averaged 7.0 points and 5.6 rebounds with 36 3-pointers last season while Claussen (6-8) averaged 7.4 points and 3.9 rebounds as a freshman, including a 17-point performance in the national quarterfinals.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Newly No. 2-ranked Washburn University volleyball will remain in Whiting Fieldhouse this week for a pair of MIAA matches, facing No. 24 Central Missouri on Thursday and Missouri Southern on Friday, with both matches starting at 6 p.m.

No. 2 ranked Washburn volleyball will put its 15-set win streak on the line Thursday night against Central Missouri in Whiting Fieldhouse. [File photo/TSN]

The Ichabods enter the week with a 17-1 record overall and a 6-1 mark inside the MIAA, riding a five-match and 15-set winning streak, including a 3-0 win over then-No. 2 Nebraska-Kearney last Saturday.

Washburn has not dropped a set since suffering its lone defeat of the season on Sept. 27 against Missouri Western, a 3-1 loss that Washburn coach Chris Herron said might have lit a fire for the Ichabods.

"It seems like it has, because we've been playing really well,'' Herron said. "Most of the time coaches feel like the world is crumbling when you get a loss, but I came back and watched the film the next day and to be honest with you, we played not that bad. It's just (the Griffons) played great.

"I told the team the next day that coaches can either be an arsonist and burn it all down or they can be an architect and build it all up so I said, 'We're going to be an architect here and we're going to build from this, we're going to go from this,' and they seemed to take from that and have kind of run with it since then.''

WU senior setter Sydney Conner agreed with her coach that the Ichabods used the loss as motivation.

"At the end of every match no matter how hard a team comes and plays against us, we just want to walk out of the gym feeling like we played our very best and we did everything we could to win the match,'' Conner said.

"And if that results in a loss then it results in a loss, but we just want to make sure that we feel good about our play.''

"That night Missouri Western played really, really well. They were firing on all cylinders and there were a few places we could have done better, but we weren't necessarily upset with our performance because we were right there every set battling with them

"Of course we were upset with the outcome, but we learned from it and I think we're better because of it.''

Central Missouri enters Thursday's match with a 14-3 record overall and 6-1 mark in the MIAA while Missouri Southern begins the week 8-10 and 2-5 in conference play.

Senior Austin Broadie leads the Washburn offense with 203 kills (3.44 per set) while hitting .367, third best on the team. She has started all 18 matches and has also logged 37 blocks with 40 digs. Broadie has 10 double-digit kill matches and ranks 25th nationally in hitting percentage and third in the MIAA. She is third among conference players in kills per set.

Bella Limback is slashing a team-high .553 with 119 kills (2.09 per set) while playing and starting in all 18 matches. She has also added 67 blocks (1.18 per set), a team high and served seven aces. She has hit over .400 in all but two matches this season with three double-digit kill efforts. She leads the nation in hitting percentage and is third in the MIAA in blocks per set and 26th in the nation.

Alex Dvorak is second on the team with 65 blocks (1.14 per set) on the season while starting all 18 matches. Offensively she has made 115 kills (2.02 per set) along with hitting .459, second best on the team. She has recorded five or more blocks in nine matches. The senior ranks third in the nation and second in the MIAA in hitting percentage. Dvorak is also fourth in the MIAA in blocks per set and 38th nationally. She was named the MIAA Offensive Player of the Week after last week's performance.