After a perfect first day of the Washburn Invitation for the Ichabods volleyball team, they were back in action the morning of Sept. 4 for a match against Minot State University. While Washburn was looking to avoid its first loss of the season, the Beavers were trying to bounce back after a 0-2 start to their year.

Like they did in almost every set the day prior, Washburn jumped out ahead to a lead in the first set, this time creating an 8-4 advantage. As the set drew on, the Ichabods moved further ahead and recorded nine kills in the first 18 points. The run continued as Washburn moved on to close the set out 25-11. Senior outside hitter Genna Berg led the team with five kills while both senior setters, Allison Sadler and Payton Nutter, each added five assists.
The second set began the same as the first with the Ichabods out in front early on, maintaining a three or four point lead into the middle stages of the set. At one point the Beavers cut the deficit to just two points before Washburn would find its rhythm and bring the set to 20-8. The Ichabods went deeper into the bench as the set wore on but it would not matter as they ran away with it, 25-10. Senior middle hitter Allison Maxwell led the charge with six kills in the set while senior Alaina Dunlavy set her up with eight assists to lead the team.

“It’s been fun,” said Head Coach Chris Herron on having multiple options at setter this season, “You can invent stuff to do in practices that you could never do before, so yeah it has been really fun and it’s been really helpful.”

In the third set Washburn got out to its lead a little differently, taking a 7-3 advantage after back-to-back serving aces by Berg. The Ichabods continued to rotate in players as the lead held through the middle part of the set before a timeout by Minot State as the score was 14-6. Just like the previous two sets the run continued for Washburn as the Beavers were unable to string together attacks as the Ichabods would leave the third set with a 25-11 win and a 3-0 match victory. Sadler led the way this time with eight assists in the set while senior libero Faith Rottinghaus collected six digs in the set.

“Our motto this year is ‘23 strong’ and I think it has just helped us, there’s no…negatives or cons, we are all just really for each other,” said Berg on the team working through its whole roster in matches.

Washburn wrapped up the Washburn Invitational against #15 ranked Northern State University in the afternoon of Sept. 4.

Edited by: Madison Dean