Washburn volleyball won its fourth straight match and maintained its undefeated record in Lee Arena by sweeping the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, 3-0.
Washburn trailed 10-6 in the first set. This caused head coach, Chris Herron, to take a timeout to allow his team to regroup. The Ichabods would soon go on an 8-4 run to tie the game at 14. The Bearcats would not lead for the rest of the night. Three kills from freshman outside hitter, Emery Keebaugh, and three service aces from senior setter, Corinna McMullen, helped the Bods to take set one, 25-17.
Set two began with Washburn up 5-0 thanks to kills from senior outside hitter, Jalyn Stevenson, senior outside hitter, Taryn Pridgett, and two from junior middle hitter, Alex Dvorak, as well as another McMullen ace. Later in the set, a 9-1 run would give Washburn an 11-point lead which it maintained for the rest of the set, taking it by a score of 25-14. Pridgett led the Ichabods with five kills. Sophomore libero, Taylor Rottinghaus, had two of the five service aces for the Bods in the set. The final point came from a kill by freshman middle hitter, Abby Leaf.
In set three, Washburn jumped out to a 7-0 lead. It would maintain that margin for most of the set before grabbing the final point to win 25-17 and complete the three-set sweep. Stevenson led the set with five kills and added her second service ace of the match.
Herron felt that it was a very good team performance.
“I thought we did a really good job of serving them tough enough to where [Abby Brunssen] couldn’t get the ball because last time she ate us up,” Herron said.
Brunssen registered 25 kills at a .440 hitting percentage the last time the teams met. In this match, she was held to four kills and a .176 hitting percentage.
Herron continued praising his team by highlighting Keebaugh, Pridgett and McMullen. Keebaugh led the team in kills with 10. Pridgett wasn’t far behind with seven kills to her name. McMullen led the team with seven service aces, the second most ever by a Washburn player in a match, only behind herself Rylee Unruh (‘23), with eight.
Herron described McMullen’s serve as “nasty,” saying nobody wants to be on the receiving end of it.
McMullen also moved into a tie with Abby Wittman (‘13) for the 14th most career service aces at Washburn, with 117. McMullen has accomplished this in 150 fewer sets.
After the game, McMullen gave credit for the win to the teamwork the Ichabods showed on the court.
“I think team-wise, this is the first time this season everyone had a very good game. The flow was good, and we just trusted each other,” McMullen said.
McMullen said she focuses on getting her serves to move in the air and was proud of her performance from the service line.
“The ball was floating well for me today…I got a good flow locked down, and it felt really good back on the service line,” McMullen said. “I had full confidence back there, and I really got to do what I wanted to do.”
Sisters, Shannon and Kate Frakes got to face off against each other. Shannon, a freshman setter for Washburn, and Kate a junior middle hitter for the Bearcats. Shannon had one service attempt for Washburn, which hit off the top of the net and went straight to her sister, Kate.
On the sidelines, it was a battle of two coaches who not only have vast experience but have plenty of experience coaching against each other. Herron has been Washburn’s head coach for 23 years, while Amy Woerth has been Northwest Missouri State’s coach for 13 years. The match was their 25th meeting as WU and NWMSU coaches, respectively. Herron leads the series 16-9, but Woerth has won seven of the last 10 matchups.
Herron said he once even coached a game against Woerth when she was a player. He described his great respect for her and said that having to scheme against great coaches like her is what makes the challenge of the MIAA an exciting one.
Washburn moved to 17-4 on the year while the Bearcats fell to 12-9. Washburn will be hosting 23rd-ranked Missouri Western on Oct. 30. A win would provide the Ichabods with a big boost as they look to break into the top-25 rankings.
Edited by Morgan Albrecht
