The fall season for sports is underway and the volleyball team started strong, going 4-0 in the Washburn Invitational at Lee Arena last weekend.

The Ichabods took on Dallas Baptist University and Colorado State-Pueblo on Friday, sweeping both teams in three straight sets. On Saturday, Aug. 25, they took on Colorado-Colorado Springs and Southeastern Oklahoma. Washburn won the first set and lost the second set to UCCS. They then took the last two sets to beat UCCS 3-1. In the last match of the invitational, they swept SE Oklahoma 3-0.

“This tournament was about seeing what every one of these kids could do and I got that, so I am really happy about that,” Head Coach Chris Herron said.

At the Preseason Athletic Banquet held earlier in August, Herron noted that he wanted the student section to be large and loud and that’s exactly what he got over the weekend. The student section throughout the tournament was alive and well, even going with a ‘white out’ theme while cheering on their volleyball girls Friday night.

“White Out Night was really fun; it was loud and proud. It was really cool,” Herron said.

Washburn won the first set 25-19 against Dallas Baptist. Following that up, the Ichabods finished the match with 25-17 and 25-16 wins. Junior Erica Montgomery led the way with 12 kills. Senior setter Shayla Conner paced the team on blocks with 2, and with 37 assists. Sophomore libero Faith Rottinghaus led the team with 6 aces and 12 digs.

Against Colorado State-Pueblo, the Ichabods had no trouble showing who the better team was after a first set win 25-13. In the second set, the ThunderWolves showed a bit of bite testing Washburn, but Washburn pulled out the second set win 25-21. In the last set of the night, Washburn dominated CSU-P 25-12. This time sophomore Allison Maxwell led the team with 13 kills. Freshman Sydney Fitzgibbons had two aces and sophomore Genna Berg led with four blocks. Conner led the team again in assists with 19, and Rottinghaus led the team with 12 digs.

In the first match on Saturday, Washburn opened up the day by playing Colorado-Colorado Springs. They won the first set 25-21. The Ichabods won the second set 25-19 but lost their first set of the tournament 25-20. Any hope of a comeback was crushed as the Ichabods won the fourth set 25-10. Leading the way for this match was Montgomery who had 15 kills. Freshman Sydeney Fitzgibbons had 10 blocks while Conner led the team again with 30 assists. Finally, Rottinghaus led with 20 digs.

The Washburn Ichabods took on Southeastern Oklahoma in the final match of the tournament. They swept the Savage Storm with set wins of 25-16, 25-13, and 26-24. Berg and Montgomery led the way with six kills a piece. Rottinghaus led with two aces and 12 digs. Freshman Kelsey Gordon had four blocks and sophomore Allison Sadler had 17 assists.

“This weekend was a big eye opener, seeing what other people can do and how close we are,” freshman Hallie Meister said.

The Bods will continue their powerful season at the SOSU Invitational in Durant, Oklahoma next weekend. They open the tournament at noon Friday Aug. 31 against East Central University.