By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Washburn University volleyball coach Chris Herron is confident his Ichabods can beat any team in the MIAA Tournament.
Washburn's volleyball team will take a 21-7 record into Thursday's MIAA Tournament quarterfinal against Central Oklahoma. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
But Herron also knows the Ichabods, who have been up and down as of late, are going to need to be at their very best if they're going to be able to make a run at the title.
No. 20-ranked Washburn (21-7 overall, 12-6 MIAA) is the No. 5 seed and will face No. 4 seed and No. 21-ranked Central Oklahoma (24-6, 14-6) in a quarterfinal match at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Mo.
The Ichabods went 1-1 last week, beating Central Missouri before losing to Missouri Western.
"We have a Jekyll and Hyde deal going on right now with this team,'' Herron said. "We just don't know what's going to happen, what's going to show up. We played lights out against Central Missouri, a nationally-ranked team, and the next day you almost limp into the match against Missouri Western.
"So what we can expect right now, we don't know. We can beat any team in this conference, but we can also lose to any team in this conference and that just comes from a lot of reasons and we're going to leave it at that. I could expand on that and I'm not going to.''
Thursday's match will be the third meeting between the Ichabods and the Bronchos this fall, with the Ichabods looking for their first win after the Bronchos took the first two matchups.
The Ichabods won their MIAA quarterfinal against Pittsburg State last year before falling to Northwest Missouri in the semifinals. Washburn has played in four championship matches, but has not won an MIAA Tournament title.
Washburn is likely to need a strong tournament run to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Four Ichabods earned All-MIAA honors on Wednesday afternoon, led by first-teamers Halle Meister, a senior middle blocker, and sophomore outside hitter Jalyn Stevenson.
Freshman right side hitter Kealy Kiviniemi was a second-team pick while freshman setter Corinna McMullen received honorable mention.
Stevenson is sixth among conference hitters with 286 kills and seventh in kills per set (3.11) and she is also second on the team in aces (34) and third in digs (315).
Stevenson has a streak of 13 consecutive matches with double-figure digs and has had 10 or more kills in five of the last six matches. Stevenson has totaled 11 double-doubles.
Meister finished the regular season leading the conference with a .363 attacking percentage and has totaled 237 kills (2.33 per set). Meister has hit above .400 in 12 matches, including nine above .500. She is second on the squad with 74 blocks.
Kiviniemi is third on the team in kills with 207 kills and a .276 attacking percentage after playing in 92 of the 106 sets this fall. Kiviniemi has recorded six or more kills in 15 of the last 16 matches including five matches with double-digit kill totals and has also made 52 blocks.
McMullen is the only Ichabod to have played in all 106 sets this fall as she's guided the offense with 691 assists (6.52 assists/set) and has notched 25-plus assists in 15 matches with six 30-plus assist matches. She also averages 2.33 digs per set and has achieved a team-best 12 double-doubles.
The three-day MIAA Tournament will be held in St. Joseph Thursday through Saturday.
Northwest Missouri won the regular season title and will be the No. 1 tournament seed, taking on No. 8 seed Missouri Southern in the quarterfinals.
Nebraska-Kearney earned the No. 2 seed and will play No. 7 seed Missouri Western while Central Missouri is the No. 3 seed after winning the tie-breaker over UCO and will take on No. 6 seed Pittsburg State.
The semifinals will be at 5 and 7:30 p.m. on Friday and the championship will take place on Saturday at 6 p.m.
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