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Season Statistics
 
TOPEKA, Kan. -- The No. 2 seed Ichabods stayed in command nearly the entire match in a 25-18, 25-15, 25-17 sweep Tuesday night against No. 7 Northwest Missouri at Schendel Court in Lee Arena in the first round of the MIAA postseason tournament.
 
Washburn improved to 31-4 and will play third-seeded Nebraska-Kearney Friday at 5 p.m. at the UCM Multipurpose Center in Warrensburg, Mo. Top-seeded Central Missouri won its match to earn the right to host the semifinal and final and will play fourth-seeded Central Oklahoma Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the other semifinal. The championship match will be Saturday at 7 p.m.
 
Washburn, ranked eighth in the nation, and Nebraska-Kearney, ranked 11th, played twice this year with the Ichabods winning both times in five sets.
 
Marissa Cox led Washburn with 13 kills against the Bearcats. She had just one error in 20 swings to hit .600 in the match. Corrinne Stringer had eight kills and Hannah Frierdich hit .538 with seven kills and a team-high four blocks.
 
The Ichabods only trailed once to the Bearcats, 1-0 in the third set. They answered that with a 4-0 run and went on to take an 8-2 lead. Northwest Missouri (12-18) hit negative in the set with nine attack errors.  A late 4-0 run gave Washburn a 21-12 lead and then a kill from Makayla Maxwell got the Ichabods to match point. Maxwell and Stringer then combined on a block to close the set.
 
Washburn improved to 7-7 all-time in the MIAA tournament, 6-2 in opening round matches and 7-2 in Lee Arena.
 
Abby Wittman led Washburn with 36 assists and she added seven digs. Kelsey Lewis led the defense with 12 digs.
 
Washburn hit .278 as a team while holding the Bearcats to a .131 attack. The Ichabods led in blocks, 8-6 and 44-30 in kills.
 
The Ichabods had just a 20-18 lead in the first set after a 3-0 Bearcat run. Sarah Vicory then ended the run with a kill that started a 5-0 run that won the set for Washburn. Stringer had two kills in the run and Callie Lowry ended it with an ace.
 
The Ichabods opened the third set with leads of 6-1 and 9-2 and then never led by less than six after that. Two straight kills from Maxwell eventually won it.
 
Abby Graves led the Bearcats with 10 kills and three others had six each. Bailey Vance led the back row with 16 digs.