By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 13-ranked Washburn University volleyball opened up MIAA play Friday night with a 3-0 clean sweep over Fort Hays State in Lee Arena.
Washburn senior Taylor Rottinghaus contributed six service aces and 15 digs in Friday's 3-0 MIAA sweep over Fort Hays State. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods will face their first ranked opponent in No. 7 Nebraska Kearney on Saturday beginning at 6 p.m.
Offense led the charge early as Washburn (11-2 overall, 1-0 MIAA) won 25-10 and 25-13 sets before grinding out a 25-21 third-set victory to complete the sweep of the Tigers (10-5, 0-2).
With a quick 5-0 burst, capped off by a kill from Emma Siron, it was 11-4 in favor of the Ichabods early in the first set.
The lead hit double figures at 16-6 after Natalie Hedlund slashed a kill. Washburn ended the set with a nine-point rally, which included five aces served up by Taylor Rottinghaus to post the 15-point win in the opener.
After the Ichabods got out to a quick lead in the second set Fort Hays State battled back to pull within two.
A 5-0 run for the host Ichabods put them up 18-11 after Siron served an ace.
The offense took care of things the rest of the way as Washburn hit over .400 for a second straight set to open the match, winning 25-13 to go up 2-0.
With a 3-0 run in the third set the Tigers took a 9-8 lead and pushed it to 15-13 after winning four out of five points in the middle of the set.
The Ichabods landed three straight points starting with a kill by Brooklyn Morrisey to go up 18-16 but Fort Hays State came right back with four in a row and led 21-20.
A service error by the Tigers started a 5-0 run for Washburn to close out the match as Kennedy Derks and Brynne Topolski combined to stuff an attack and win the set 25-21.
After hitting over .400 in the first two sets the Ichabods closed the match hitting .224 as a team with 30 kills while holding Fort Hays State to just 19 kills and a -.045 hitting percentage. Digs went 39-27 in favor of Washburn which also led 30-19 in assists and 12-4 in aces.
Rottinghaus led the defense with 15 digs while also serving a career-high six aces and adding four assists.
Derks made six blocks at the net while adding three kills.
Topolski and Hedlund led the Ichabods with seven kills apiece while Shannon Frakes dished out 22 assists with eight digs and three blocks.
Fort Hays State was led by Mylie Brown and Peyton Bergschneider with seven kills each.
