By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University volleyball picked up its seventh sweep of the 2024 season with a 3-0 win over Henderson State on Saturday morning to wrap up the PSU Regional Challenge.
The Ichabods will begin conference play next as they head to Maryville to face Northwest Missouri State at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27.
Washburn sophomore Natalie Hedlund had nine kills and hit .450 in Saturday's 3-0 Washburn win over Henderson State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn (9-1) picked up its third straight sweep with 25-21, 25-15 and 25-19 set victories over the Reddies (8-5).
Henderson State won the first three points of the match and jumped ahead to a 7-2 lead.
A kill from sophomore Natalie Hedlund sparked a 6-0 run for Washburn to take a 10-9 lead in the set.
There was only one lead change the rest of the set with a 4-1 burst for the Ichabods creating separation. Henderson State pulled within three but Washburn put the set away with a Jalyn Stevenson kill to win 25-21.
Both sides split the first eight points of the second set before the Ichabods reeled off four in a row as Sydney Conner picked up three assists in the burst. A 5-1 run capped off by another kill from Stevenson pushed the lead to six points.
Washburn hit .306 as a team in the set with a kill from Hedlund finishing off the set on a pass from Corinna McMullen.
Just like the first set the Reddies jumped ahead early, leading 7-4 in the third set.
The Ichabods used a service error to jump start a 5-0 run finishing with a block from Stevenson and Alex Dvorak.
Henderson State hung around until Washburn won eight straight points to push the lead to double-digits at 21-11 with a block from Stevenson and Bella Limback.
Defense was the theme in the third set as Henderson State hit just .063 with nine errors. An 8-0 run for the Reddies down the stretch was still not enough as the Ichabods finished off the match with a kill from Keilah Rivers.
Washburn finished the match hitting .252 as a team with 43 kills to 15 errors. The Ichabods held the Reddies to 29 kills and 18 errors for a .110 percentage. The Ichabods won the assist battle 40-29 and both teams were tied with 48 digs.
Stevenson led all players with 13 kills while hitting .310 and added three blocks.
Hedlund hit .450 and added nine kills.
McMullen recorded 24 assists with three aces and Taylor Rottinghaus paced WU with 17 digs.
Kaitlyn Steffes had a team-high 11 kills for Henderson State and added 10 digs for a double-double.
