Complete Game Notes (Interactive PDF)
Ichablogging Weekly Notes
(Around 140-character or less tweets highlighting the season)
Washburn enters the final week of the regular season needing two wins to clinch at least a share of its third MIAA title in the last four years.
WU and Central Missouri are tied for 1st with 13-1 league records. UNK is 3rd with a 12-2 record. UNK plays both WU and UCM this week.
The league winner or winner of any tie-breakers will be be the No. 1 seed in the MIAA postseason tournament that starts next Tuesday.
Washburn has won four MIAA titles (2002, 2005, 2010 and 2011).
Washburn has won eight straight matches with sweeps in six of those contests. Cox is hitting .409 in the eight matches with 3.84 kills a set.
Washburn beat UNK in 5 sets earlier this year after having lost 14 straight in the series. WU has never won a match at UNK after losing there in four last year.
This will be Washburn's first trip to Lindenwood as the Lions joined the MIAA last year.
Chris Herron is going for his seventh straight 30-win season and the eighth in his 12th year.
Abby Wittman is 4th in career assists with 3,638 & needs 115 to move to third. She's 7th with 8.38 assists per set in her career and 13th with 113 service aces.
Wittman is 2nd with 1,978 serve attempts and 15th with 1,271 digs.
Besides Wittman, only one Washburn setter has at least 2,000 career assists and 1,000 digs (Kate Hampson from 2006-09).
Kelsey Lewis is 12th at Washburn with 1,336 digs and 5th with 3.65 per set.
WU is first in the MIAA with 18.80 digs per set and second allowing opponents to hit just .133 this year. The Ichabods are 3rd in attack percentage & in kills.
Cox is 4th in the MIAA with 3.65 kills/set and 2nd with a .345 attack percentage. Willer is 7th with 3.34 kills/set, the highest freshman total.
Final Week Brings Chance For Championship
Chance to clinch 3rd MIAA title in 4 years as Washburn plays at UNK and Lindenwood
The 11th-ranked Ichabods will enter the final week of the regular season with a chance to clinch at least a share of their third MIAA title in the last four years. Washburn, tied for first in the MIAA with Central Missouri, will start the week Tuesday at Nebraska-Kearney, third in the MIAA and ranked seventh in the nation, at 7 p.m. and then wrap up the regular season Friday at 7 p.m. at Lindenwood.
The Ichabods are 28-4 overall and 13-1 in the MIAA. UNK is 26-3 and 12-2 in the conference and Lindenwood is 8-19 and 5-8 in the league. The Lopers will wrap up their regular season Saturday at Central Missouri as the conference champion and any tie-breakers will get figured out. The MIAA postseason tournament will start November 19 with the top eight teams at campus sites and the top remaining seed will host the final four teams that weekend. Washburn will at least host a first round match.
Washburn won three MIAA matches last week with a 3-1 win at Fort Hays State and sweeps at home over the weekend against Pittsburg State and Central Oklahoma.
Struck In 11th Place
Washburn ranked 11th in nation for fourth straight week
The Ichabods will enter the final week of the regular season ranked 11th in the nation in the AVCA national poll released Monday. This is the fourth straight week Washburn has been ranked 11th. The Ichabods are 28-4 overall and tied for first in the MIAA at 13-1. This is Washburn's 132nd straight ranking, a streak that dates back to the start of the 2004 season.
The top 12 in the nation remained unchanged for the second straight week. Concordia St. Paul got all 48 first-place votes to remain first. Central Missouri is fifth and Nebraska-Kearney is seventh as the other two MIAA teams in the ranking. Overall, six of the top 11 teams in the nation are in the Central Region. Â
Conference Recognition
Cox and Wittman sweep MIAA athlete of the week awards
Washburn swept the MIAA's athlete of the week awards Monday as
Marissa Cox was named hitter of the week and
Abby Wittman was named specialist of the week. Cox averaged 4.10 kills a set and hit .375 in three matches last week. She reached double figures in each match with 15 kills against FHSU and PSU and 11 against UCO. She hit .464 against PSU with two errors in 15 attempts. Wittman averaged 12.10 assists and 3.30 digs a set. She had a double-double with 49 assists and 19 digs against FHSU. This marks the fourth hitter award for Cox this year and second specialist award for Wittman. It's the second time the two swept the awards.
Championship Scenarios
Washburn can clinch title with two wins
The Ichabods can clinch at least a share of their third MIAA title in four years with two wins this week. One or two losses means Washburn would need some help as UCM is currently tied with Washburn with 13 MIAA wins and Nebraska-Kearney has 12.
The top four teams in the MIAA host Nos. 5-8 in the first round of the postseason tournament November 19 and then the highest remaining seed hosts the semifinals November 22 and championship match on November 23.
Coming Up Next
MIAA tournament next for Washburn
The Ichabods will look to win their first MIAA postseason tournament in school history. The bracket will be released after Saturday's action.
