Scouting the Bearcats
Northwest Missouri is sixth in conference standings entering the weekend with a 4-3 MIAA record ... Washburn has won 28 of 30 matchups with the Bearcats while Chris Herron has been head coach, including the ccurrent streak of 10 games ... Northwest Missouri is 2-3 in its previous five contests, with wins coming over Pittsburg State and Lindenwood ... NWMSU has dropped matches at home against Central Oklahoma, Missouri Western and Central Missouri in that span ... Friday's game will be the first road contest for NWMSU in over three weeks, as the Bearcats opened MIAA play on Sept. 25 with seven straight home matches ... The Bearcats are 2-0 against common opponents this season (Southwest Baptist and Missouri Southern) ... more information on series and stat leaders can be found on page one of the game notes.


Scouting the Griffons
Missouri Western enters the weekend sitting second in the MIAA standings at 6-1 in conference play, one half game ahead of Washburn ... Washburn has controlled a majority of the series under the direction of Chris Herron, at 22-2 since 2002, but the two losses both came last year (2014) ... Missouri Western is 4-1 in its previous five games entering the weekend, including a 3-2 win over then-No. 11 Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo. ... the only loss in that five-game span was to then-No. 14 Central Oklahoma at home, a 3-0 sweep ... MWSU is 3-0 against common oponents with WU this season (Adams State, Missouri Southern and Southwest Baptist) ... more information on series and stat leaders can be found on page one of the game notes.


Last Time Out
No. 12 Washburn Volleyball closed out its weekend road swing with a 3-1 (14-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-19) win over Fort Hays State on Saturday, Oct. 10 ... Korie Thompson, Willer and Sarah Vicory all reached double-digits in kills with 15, 14 and 10, respectively.  Thompson added seven digs and two blocks, while Vicory had seven blocks (three solo) while swinging .346 ... Carley Swan hit .667 on nine swings with six kills ... At setter, Liz Powell totaled 41 assists on the day with 11 digs, second on the team in the defensive category behind libero Alyssa Carney, who had 19 digs. 


What's Next?
Washburn closes its four-game homestand with MIAA matchups against Pittsburg State and Central Oklahoma will travel to Topeka for the MIAA games ... As things currently stand, the Oct. 24 homecoming week matchup with Central Oklahoma (16-1, 5-0 MIAA) would be a matchup between the No. 1 and 3 teams in the MIAA.

Record Pace
After becoming the 19th member of the Washburn 1,000 kills club on Oct. 3, junior outside hitter Leanna Willer now sets her sights on climbing the Ichabod kills chart, while also approaching a single-season record ... if the season ended today, Willer's 4.35 kills per set average would rank her second all-time in Washburn's history behind Tessa Jones' 2007 average of 4.47 kills per set ... Additionally, Willer has 39 double-doubles in her career, which is currently fifth all-time at Washburn, and 60 double-figure kill matches, which is sixth all-time ... Through 20 games this season, Willer has 300 kills, which is second in the MIAA and first on the Washburn squad ... that pace is ahead of her 2014 efforts, when she had 225 kills through 19 games on her way to a 383-kill total on the season ... The school record for kills in a season is 657, and No. 10 on the single-season kills list is 498 ... Willer's career kill standings can be found on page five of the game notes.

1,000 Kills / 1,000 Digs Club on the Horizon
After joining the 1,000 kills club on Oct. 3, Leanna Willer will now look at becoming the nine Washburn volleyball player to reach 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career ... Willer is just 87 digs away from the 1,000 mark in her three-year career thus far.

Can You Dig It?
Washburn's Alyssa Carney's average of 5.16 digs per set leads the Ichabods this season, and if the 2015 campaign ended today would place her fifth on the school's single season digs per set record list ... Carney has reached double-digits in all 20 games this season for digs, including a career-high 31 against Drury on Sept. 5.

Career Kill Milestones
Taylor Selk broke the 200-kill barrier for her career last week at Nebraska-Kearney in a match she had 13 kills in ... entering the weekend, Selk needed nine kills to reach the mark and finish the two games with 31 ... She is in just her second season at WU and is averaging 2.26 kills per set this season ... Another sophomore, Carley Swan, had her 100th career kill on Saturday, Oct. 10 at FHSU ... she now has 103 in her second season at middle hitter and is averaging 1.08 kills per set ... Senior outside hitter Korie Thompson entered last weekend needing nine kills to break the 400-kill barrier ... she had 21 for the weekend and reached the milestone with a 15-kill effort against Fort Hays State and is now 88 kills from 500 for her career.

1,000 Kill Club
Leanna Willer entered the weekend of Oct. 2-3 needing just 25 kills to reach the 1,000 mark for her career, and came up with the magic number during the second set of Washburn's win over Missouri Southern on Oct. 3 ... Willer finished the weekend with 48 total kills and became the 19th all-time member of the Washburn 1,000 kills club.

Carney Named MIAA Specialist of the Week
Washburn's Alyssa Carney was named the MIAA Volleyball Specialist of the Week for her performance over three games last week, announced Monday, Sept. 28, by the league office ... Carney, a junior libero, averaged 7.11 digs per set in conference play for 64 total digs on the week ... Carney had 20-plus dig efforts in all three matches, finishing with 22 against Emporia State and No. 14 Nebraska-Kearney and 20 against Fort Hays State ... She also had a perfect 1.000 defensive percentage on the week while notching her third, fourth and fifth 20-plus kill efforts for the season.

National and MIAA Leaders (as of Oct. 12)
Washburn ranks among the national and MIAA leaders in several team and individual categories ... those rankings are below...
 

Category	NCAA Rank	MIAA Rank	Value
Team Attacks Per Set	7	1	39.8
Match W-L Pct	8	2	0.900
Team Assists	8	2	918
Team Kills	9	2	979
Digs Per Set	13	1	18.99
Team Digs	16	1	1329
Team Total Attacks	17	1	2786
Assists Per Set	18	2	13.11
Kills Per Set	20	2	13.99
Team Total Blocks	24	1	153
Opp Hitting Percentage	34	2	0.14
Blocks Per Set	40	2	2.19

 

Category	NCAA Rank	MIAA Rank	Value
Total Attacks (Leanna Willer)	7	2	830
Total Kills (Leanna Willer)	7	2	300
Total Blocks (Sarah Vicory)	10	1	85
Attacks Per Set (Leanna Willer)	12	1	12.03
Kills Per Set (Leanna Willer)	12	2	4.35
Points Per Set (Leanna Willer)	13	2	4.82
Total Assists (Liz Powell)	27	3	697
Blocks Per Set (Sarah Vicory)	28	1	1.21
Total Digs (Alyssa Carney)	29	2	356
Hitting Percentage (Sarah Vicory)	41	3	0.35
Digs Per Set (Alyssa Carney)	49	3	5.16

Ranked Win A Historic One
Washburn's 3-0 sweep of Nebraska-Kearney on Sept. 25 was a historical one for the program for several reasons ... it was Washburn's first win over the Lopers since 2013, and just the third win for head coach Chris Herron while at Washburn ... additionally, it was Washburn's first sweep of UNK since 1977 ... Washburn is now 1-0 against ranked opponents this season ... information on Washburn's ranked wins can be found on page three of the game notes.

All-Tournament Performers
Washburn wrapped up invitational play last weekend at the GAC/MIAA Crossover, and saw Leanna Willer (51 kills, 30 digs) and Liz Powell (87 assists, 29 digs) earn All-Tournament honors ... it was the third All-Tournament honor for Willer this season, after she also earned the award at the Washburn Invitaitonal and the Steel & Silver Classic ... Sarah Vicory was picked MVP of the Washburn Invitational, earning all-tourney honors with Willer and Powell ... at the Steel & Silver Classic, Willer and Alyssa Carney were picked All-Tournament.

A Closer Look at the AVCA Poll 
Washburn Volleyball pulled in at No. 15 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 Poll, slipping three spots this week while receiving 549 points ... The AVCA poll features 14 teams from the NCAA Central Region, including five from the MIAA.  Concordia-St. Paul (No. 1), Southwest Minnesota State (No. 5), Northern State (No. 6) and Wayne State (No. 9) are Central Region teams in the Top 10, while No. 11 Central Oklahoma, No. 12 UNK, No. 13 Central Missouri and Missouri Western (receiving votes) are the MIAA schools included in the rankings ... Washburn has been ranked in 154 consecutive polls dating back to 2003 ... the complete AVCA poll can be found on page three of the game notes.

Success in Season Opener
The Ichabods are 14-0 in season openers under head coach Chris Herron ... all-time, the Ichabods are 33-14 in season openers ... dating back to 1989 when Washburn joined the MIAA (and NCAA), the Ichabods are 22-5 in season openers.

No. 400
Washburn's 3-1 win over Black Hills State on Saturday, Sept. 5 was head coach Chris Herron's 400th at the school ... Herron holds an impressive 414-73 mark in his 14 seasons ... at four-year colleges, Herron is now 489-102 in 17 seasons and could reach career win No. 500 by season's end.

Who's Back
14 Ichabods return from last season, including 12 letterwinners ... two seniors, six juniors and four sophomores make up the core of the roster, with two redshirt freshman making their Ichabod debuts in 2015 ... key returners include middle hitter Sarah Vicory (2014 AVCA All-American), outside hitter Leanna Willer (Daktronics All-Region Second Team) ... setter Natalie Bates (All-MIAA Second Team) and libero Alyssa Carney (All-MIAA Honorable Mention).

Non-Conference Outlook
Washburn has 13 non-conference games schedule for its 2015 regular season, and the Ichabods have winning records in all 13 series, historically ... WU is 58-19 against its 2015 non-conference opponents, combined (and including 2015 non-conference games thus far) ... Washburn has just non-conference opponent remaining in the regular season (Maryville) ... all-time records against 2015 opponents can be found on page 4 of the game notes.

A Culture of Excellence
The Ichabods have made a habit out of appearing in the NCAA, reaching that milestone the past 11 years and 12 times under head coach Chris Herron ... additionally, Washburn has won five MIAA Championships under Herron and has its sights set on another in 2015 ... This season, Washburn returns an All-American to the court for the eighth straight year in Sarah Vicory, one of 22 all-time All-Americans at Washburn.

MIAA Preseason Poll
Washburn picked up two first-place votes and 108 total points to earn the second spot in the 2015 MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll ... WU was one of three teams to earn first-place votes, joining Central Missouri, who was picked first with 119 points and nine first-place votes, and Nebraska-Kearney, picked third (98 points, one first-place vote) ... Central Oklahoma (95 points), returns the MIAA Player of the Year, and Missouri Western (84 points) rounded out the top five ... the complete MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll can be found on page six of the game notes.