By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University volleyball was flying high after sweeping its first eight matches of the 2026 season while winning 24 of 28 sets and climbing to No. 4 in the national rankings.
Washburn's Brynne Topolski, who was named to the all-tournament team, goes up for a kill in Saturday's Ichabod Classic. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn all-tournament pick Natalie Hedlund spikes the ball in Saturday's Ichabod Classic. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But a frustrating 2-2 weekend in WU's home Ichabod Classic, including a 3-1 loss to Drury in Saturday's tournament finale, left veteran Washburn coach Chris Herron searching for answers.
Washburn, which dropped a five-set decision to Missouri-St. Louis in Friday's tourney opener after taking a two-set lead, took a three-set sweep over Arkansas at Monticello in its second match on Friday and opened Saturday with a sweep over Southwestern Oklahoma State before taking it on the chin against Drury, which took a 25-22, 14-25, 25-23, 25-22 decision over the Ichabods.
The result was a rare Washburn loss at home and an even harder to fathom pair of home losses in the same weekend.
"It's never happened,'' Herron said. "I'm just disappointed because (Drury) played harder than we did. They just played harder than we did.
"Their setter (Jacy Bray) made great plays and kept the ball in play and I thought she ran their offense really, really well. Our setting was all over the place. Our setting was awful today, so it didn't give us opportunities to get good swings in critical situations and we shoot ourselves in the foot, too.''
Three of the four sets in the Drury match went down to the wire, and the one that didn't was Washburn's 11-point win in the second set.
The Panthers led most of the first set, but WU rallied from a 23-17 deficit to get within 24-22 before Drury got the win.
Washburn went wire to wire in the second set after opening up 8-1 and 23-11 leads before ending the win on a Natalie Hedlund kill.
Washburn led 13-10 and 17-13 in the third set before Drury took control late in the 25-23 win.
The Ichabods rallied from 14-11 and 16-13 deficits in the fourth set to take a 20-19 lead but after a WU service error the Panthers scored five of the final seven points to close out the victory.
"We melted yesterday (against Missouri-St. Louis) and we let it go again today,'' Herron lamented.
Brynne Topolski and Emma Siron led Washburn with 16 kills apiece against Drury while Hedlund had 15 kills.
Shannon Frakes registered 49 assists while Taylor Rottinghaus had 23 digs.
Washburn opened Saturday with a 25-12, 25-16, 25-22 victory over Southwestern Oklahoma State.
Topolski had a team-high 12 kills for Washburn against Southwestern Oklahoma State while Hedlund tacked on nine kills.
Frakes dished out 31 assists with eight digs while Siron had a team-high 12 digs and three aces.
Former Washburn Rural standout Layla Collins, who began her career at Washburn, is a top player for Southwestern Oklahoma State, registering 19 kills with three aces in a five-set win over Drury and finishing with 13 kills in a four-set loss to Missouri-St. Louis. Collins had four kills and an ace against Washburn.
Washburn's Topolski and Hedlund were both named to the all-tournament team.
Now 10-2, Washburn will be at home next weekend to open MIAA play, hosting Fort Hays State on Friday and Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday.
