By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University volleyball opened MIAA conference play on Friday night in Maryville, Mo. with a tough 3-2 loss on the road to Northwest Missouri State in a match that lasted more than 150 minutes.
Freshman Brynne Topolski registered a career-high 22 kills in Washburn's five-set loss at Northwest Missouri on Friday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods finish out their road trip against Missouri Western on Saturday at 6 p.m.
After taking the first set 25-18, Washburn (9-2 overall, 0-1 MIAA) fell to the Bearcats (7-4, 1-0) in each of the next two sets, 28-26 and 25-19.
The Ichabods forced a fifth set with a 25-19 victory but came up short, falling 15-12 in the fifth set.
Both losses for Washburn this year have come in the fifth set.
Early on the Ichabods used a 6-0 run, sparked by a kill from Jalyn Stevenson to take an 8-2 lead.
A 4-0 burst shortly after made the score 13-6. Washburn registered 16 kills while hitting .273 in the set and down the stretch it was the offense that led the way with a kill by Austin Broadie and an ace from Corinna McMullen finishing out the first set.
The Ichabods went up 3-0 in the second set after a kill by Stevenson from McMullen.
Both offenses were rolling in the second set with both teams hitting over .300 in the frame with only five combined errors.
Within the first 18 points of the set there were seven ties. Washburn created some space with three kills from Brynne Topolski, Natalie Hedlund and Broadie to go up 16-13.
Northwest Missouri won three straight points to tie the set at 18. After the Ichabods had set point at 24-23 the Bearcats responded to tie it, and again after Washburn went up by one two more times. The third time began a 3-0 set-winning burst for Northwest Missouri.
The third set began much like the second, with six ties within the first 20 points of the set.
The Bearcats rattled off four in a row to go up 13-10. Topolski slashed a kill to pull WU within two but that was as close as Washburn would get in the set as Northwest Missouri went on a 5-0 run to go up by seven points.
A late 3-0 run for the Ichabods was stifled and the Bearcats took a 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth set Washburn jumped out to a 6-2 lead after Hedlund made a solo block in the middle.
Northwest Missouri came back to tie the set at eight before the Ichabods used a service error to spark a 7-1 run and go up 15-9.
Both sides traded points through the middle of the set until Washburn won three in a row with a block from Topolski and Bella Limback in the middle of the run.
The Ichabods held on from there with the defense holding the Bearcats to a .128 hitting percentage in the set to lead the way.
Northwest Missouri held an early lead in the fifth but Washburn battled back to tie the set at six after a solo block from Alex Dvorak.
Five of the next six points went to the home team as they went up 11-7. The Ichabods pulled within one point at 13-12 after Hedlund and Topolski knocked down kills but the Bearcats responded with two straight points to finish the match.
Washburn tallied 70 kills while hitting .257 in the match. Northwest Missouri had 82 kills but logged 23 errors, ten more than the Ichabods, for a .254 percentage. The Bearcats had a 65-61 advantage in assists and led 95-85 in digs.
Topolski, a freshman out of Lincoln, Neb., had a career-high 22 kills while hitting .524 and adding nine digs for Washburn.
Broadie had 15 kills and hit .412 and Hillebert added 12 kills. McMullin tallied 33 assists and Taylor Rottinghaus paced the team with 24 digs. Both Stevenson and Sydney Conner had double-doubles in the match.
Four players finished with double-digit kills for the Bearcats, led by 25 from Abby Brunssen while hitting .440. Payton Kirchhoefer had 21 kills while Ella Caffery had a match-high 49 assists.
