By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn volleyball opened the PSU Regional Challenge with six straight set victories for a pair of wins over Missouri S&T and Harding.
Washburn volleyball improved to 8-1 on the season with a pair of three-set sweeps on Friday in the PSU Regional Challenge. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will finish out the tournament at 9 a.m. on Saturday against Henderson State.
Every set of the day was won by at least four points for Washburn as the Ichabods took match one over by Missouri S&T by set scores of 25-12, 25-20 and 25-17. The win over Harding in match two went 25-21, 25-13 and 25-21.
Match one: Washburn 3, Missouri S&T 0
Washburn jumped ahead early as it blanked the Miners (2-6) for the first six points of the match.
The lead grew to 10-2 after a kill from Austin Broadie. Missouri S&T was able to cut into the lead with a 4-1 run but never got any closer.
Three kills from Jalyn Stevenson made up most of a 5-1 run for the Ichabods. Three straight points finished off the set as Washburn held the Miners to a .000 hitting percentage in the 25-12 win.
After the Ichabods jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set, Missouri S&T landed the next four points to take the lead.
The Miners' lead grew to a match-high four points at 9-5 after four straight points. Washburn worked back and was able to take its first lead of the set with Alex Dvorak and Emery Keebaugh combining for a block to cap off a 4-0 run.
After taking the lead the Ichabods didn't look back, with only one tie the rest of the way as WU took a 25-20 win, once again holding the Miners to under a .100 hitting percentage.
In the third set Washburn held a small lead early until back-to-back aces from Corinna McMullen called for a Missouri S&T timeout and put the Ichabods up 11-6.
Washburn had doubled up the Miners at 18-9 to create an advantage that would last the rest of the way. McMullen assisted Dvorak on each of the last two kills to finish off the match.
The Ichabods hit .235 as a team with 43 kills while holding the Miners to a .064 hitting percentage and 29 kills with 21 errors. Washburn picked up 43 assists to 27 for MS&T while also controlling the match in digs, 61 to 52.
Stevenson and Broadie led with eight kills each. Stevenson added 13 digs, tied for a team high, while Braodie had six total blocks.
Sidney Conner and McMullen had 18 and 17 assists, respectively.
Isabelle Monaco was one of two players from Missouri S&T to finish with double-digit kills as she finished with 12 along with nine digs.
Match two: Washburn 3, Harding 0
Just like in the first match of the day, Washburn (8-1) pulled ahead early with a 6-1 lead after three straight kills on passes from Conner.
The lead grew to double-digits after Dvorak slashed a kill into the ground to make it 17-7.
Harding (5-5) was able to make up some ground and pull within as few as three points late in the set, but another kill from Dvorak ended it at 25-21.
It was more of the same to begin set two for the Ichabods.
Conner subbed into the set and immediately served two aces to make the advantage 9-3.
The Bison responded with five straight points to pull within one. Washburn won four of the next points, with kills from Broadie and Natalie Hedlund to finish off the run and regain control.
The lead grew to double figures on a kill from Stevenson in the middle of a 10-1 run to go up 23-12. The Ichabods hit .346 as a team in the second set en route to a 25-13 win.
Both teams split the first 20 points of the set with five ties.
A kill from Heather Schemper capped off a four-point run to put the Ichabods in front. Harding stayed within three points until Washburn won four of five points to go up 23-18.
The Bison were limited to a 0.050 hitting percentage in the set as the Ichabod defense held them off before Bella Limback ended the match with a kill.
The Ichabods hit .284 in the match with 48 kills while Harding was held to a .093 percentage and 28 kills to 17 errors. Washburn had a 20-assist advantage, out-assisting the Bison 47-27 and also holding a 62-45 advantage in digs.
Taylor Rottinghaus led the defensive effort for the Ichabods with 29 digs across three sets, tied for the eighth most digs in a three-set match in program history.
Broadie had 10 kills while hitting .471 and Conner and McMullen combined for 34 digs with 18 from McMullen and 16 from Conner.
Skyler McKinnon led Harding with 12 kills while hitting .267.
