By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Not everything went Washburn University's way in Saturday's Washburn Invitational finale, with the No. 8-ranked Ichabods being pushed by winless Westminster.
But the Ichabods got a huge lift off the bench down the stretch from freshman outside hitter Hayden Meats as Washburn closed out a 3-1 win and a 4-0 season-opening weekend in Lee Arena.
Freshman Hayden Meats (12) is congratulated by her Washburn teammates after one of her 13 kills against Westminster as the Ichabods closed out a perfect 4-0 weekend. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"We've got some nice kids and they think they have these high expectations, but if you have those expectations you've got to go meet them,'' Washburn coach Chris Herron said. "I just told them, 'You set the bar really, really high in that scrimmage we had against Rockhurst.'
"I told them, 'I floated out of the gym, thinking oh my God, this is the greatest team I've ever seen in my life.' So if the expectation's there, you've got to meet it.''
Washburn junior outside hitter Emma Siron (right) was named the MVP of the Washburn Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
After the conclusion of the tournament Washburn redshirt junior outside hitter Emma Siron was named the tournament most valuable player while junior setter Shannon Frakes, junior outside hitter Brynne Topolski and sophomore middle blocker Brooklyn Morrisey were named to the all-tournament team.
The Ichabods jumped on top of the 0-4 Griffins with a 25-17 first-set victory, but Westminster (Salt Lake City, Utah) bounced back to take a 25-23 win in the second set before Washburn closed out the win with 25-12 and 25-22 victories.
The two teams went back and forth early, splitting the first 20 points of the match.
The Ichabods in front 13-10 after Washburn Rural product Chloe Carlgren and Topolski combined for a block. Shortly after that Washburn went on a 5-1 run to lead 21-14 after a Siron service ace. The Ichabods finished off a first set where they hit .417 with back-to-back kills for the eight-point win.
The Griffins bounced back in the second set, using a 4-0 run to go in front 11-8 early.
Westminster remained in front until Washburn tied the set at 15-15 on a Meats kill off a Frakes assist.
Topolski put the Ichabods in front 19-18 with a kill and there were three more lead changes from there on out with Westminster securing four of the final five points in the set to take the two-point victory.
Washburn responded in the third by scoring the first five points in the set. A 5-1 run with two kills from Natalie Hedlund pushed the lead to 13-6 and later on the WU advantage grew to double figures on a 6-0 burst, capped off with an Autumn Gibbs ace to make the score 21-9. The Ichabods ended the set with four straight points to take the set, 25-12.
In the fourth set the Griffins got off to a hot start and led 14-8 after scoring four straight points.
After that point Meats responded with four points in a row to start an 8-0 run and flipped the score to 16-14 in favor of the Ichabods.
Westminster battled back twice to take the lead, the second time at 21-20, but Frakes snuck past a kill that started a 5-1 run to end the match with the 25-22 victory.
The Ichabods registered 60 kills in the match while hitting .264 as a team. WU held the Griffins to .128 hitting as they tallied 38 kills. Digs went in favor of Washburn 74-56 as did assists, 58-38.
Meats, a 5-foot-10 Gardner-Edgerton grad, registered a career-high 13 kills while hitting .524.
"Wow,'' Herron said of Meats. "Hayden Meats can put a ball down the line, and obviously you saw that, as good as anybody we have so I told Frakes to set Hayden and don't stop until they stop until it and that was it.''
Meats was just happy to get her opportunity to deliver in a tight match.
"You know you can go in at any point in the game, so you have to be ready for anything,'' she said. "But I was just happy to go out there for my team and help them out.
"I feel like I got all the nerves out (Friday) in previous games so I was just kind of ready to get out there and play.''
Siron also had 13 kills and added 15 digs for a double-double while Frakes had 48 assists and15 digs.
Freshman Avery Willey, a Shawnee Heights product, led the Ichabods with 16 digs.
Claire Cook had a team-high 11 kills for Westminster.
The Ichabods will head north next week for the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Classic beginning Thursday at 4 p.m. against Black Hills State (S.D).
MATCH RESULTS
Washburn def. Westminster, 25-17, 23-25, 25-12, 25-22.
