KEARNEY, Neb. – No. 12 Washburn Volleyball was dealt its second loss of the season on Friday, Oct.9, falling to No. 16 Nebraska-Kearney, 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-23) on the road in an MIAA contest.
 
Washburn (17-2, 5-2 MIAA) stuttered out of the gate, falling behind 5-0 in the first set before coming back to tie it at 7-all.  From there, the Ichabods built a three-point lead at 14-11, but couldn't stretch it further as UNK climbed back with a rally of its own, tying it at 18-18.   The match was then tied at 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 before two straight UNK points gave the Lopers a 25-23 set one win.
 
The Ichabods never led in the second, falling behind 8-4 before seeing UNK stretch its lead to (18-11) late in the game.  WU, however, climbed back to five (22-17) but couldn't complete the comeback and fell, 25-19.
 
Out of the intermission, WU opened up a 5-2 lead in the early going before UNK cut the lead to one (6-5).  The Ichabods recovered however, with a 5-1 run to make it a five-point game, 11-6.  UNK did not go away, however, cutting it to two (14-12) before five unanswered from WU gave the Ichabods their largest lead of the night, up 19-12.  Washburn, however, was unable to close the set as UNK rallied to tie it at 23 before the Ichabods dropped the final set, 25-23.
 
Leanna Willer had 13 kills and 13 digs to lead the Ichabods with adouble double, while Taylor Selk swung .360 with 11 kills. In the middle, Sarah Vicory added eight kills while hitting .389 with four blocks, and Carley Swan had two blocks, tied with Jordan Hoffman and Korie Thompson for second on the team. 
 
Alyssa Carney paced Washburn with 17 digs, and Liz Powell had 31 assists to lead the Ichabods at setter.
 
Washburn travels to Hays, Kan., on Saturday, Oct. 10 to take on Fort Hays State at 2 p.m.