By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 25-ranked Washburn University volleyball came up short in its MIAA Tournament Quarterfinal match with Northwest Missouri Thursday night as the Ichabods fell 3-1 in St. Joseph, Mo.
Washburn volleyball dropped a 3-1 quarterfinal match to Northwest Missouri Thursday in the MIAA Tournament. [File photo/TSN]
The 20-7 Ichabods will find out their NCAA Tournament fate on Monday night during the NCAA Selection Show.
The first set was in No. 4 seed Washburn's control the entire way as the Ichabods won 25-19. The No. 5 seeded Bearcats (16-11) evened the match with a 25-22 win in the second and continued their winning ways with 25-14 and 25-21 victories in the next two sets.
Both sides traded the first eight points of the match before a kill by Natalie Hedlund began a 4-2 burst from Washburn to put it ahead. Throughout the middle of the set a pair of 3-0 runs for the Ichabods began with a kill by Jalyn Stevenson with the second putting them up 18-12.
Northwest Missouri got back within three but never got any closer as the Ichabods held them back on the defensive end, holding the Bearcats to a -.024 hitting percentage in the set. Alex Dvorak finished off the first set with a kill at 25-19.
A four-point run for Northwest Missouri put it ahead 7-3 and forced a Washburn timeout in the second set. The Ichabods battled back to pull within two on three occasions before making it a one-point set at 16-15 after Hedlund knocked down back-to-back kills as part of a 5-1 run.
Northwest Missouri would never relinquish control of the lead the rest of the way as both teams hit .267 in a tight second set that went 25-22 to the Bearcats.
Washburn once again fell behind 7-3 in the third set. This time, they responded with a 6-0 run that started with a kill by Taryn Pridgett and ended with Austin Broadie finding the hardwood for another kill.
The Bearcats came right back with a 7-0 run. Shortly after the team in green won seven of eight points to go ahead 22-12. The Ichabod offense was unable to mount a comeback as they were held to -.051 hitting in the set as a team and Northwest Missouri went up with a 25-14 win.
The Bearcats carried the momentum over into set four, jumping out to a 14-5 lead. An ace by Sydney Conner would cap off a four-point response from Washburn which grew to a 8-1 rally to pull within three points. Washburn was able to tie it up at 16 on an attacking error by Northwest Missouri.
Each side went back-and-forth for the next six points before the Bearcats took three in a row. The Ichabods got the lead back down to one but the final three points of the match went to Northwest Missouri to end the quarterfinal match in four sets.
Washburn hit .110 as a team in the match with 48 kills. The Bearcats were even in kills while they slashed .106 all together. Borth sides were squared away with 70 digs while Northwest Missouri held advantages in assists at 44-42, blocks 14-8 and aces, 6-2.
Two from the Ichabods finished in double figures, led by Pridgett with 12 kills. She was joined by Stevenson, who had 10 kills with nine digs. Corinna McMullen and Conner both had double-doubles with assists and digs. McMullen had 20 and 11 while Conner went 17 and 15. Taylor Rottinghaus paced Washburn with 16 digs.
Northwest's Abby Brunssen and Payton Kirchoefer finished in double figures with 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Kyah Luhring had a match-high 25 digs from the back row.
