Scouting the Gorillas
Pittsburg State (2-25, 2-14 MIAA) is 11th in the conference standings entering the final weekend and is three games back of Emporia State, which currently holds the No. 8 spot nearing the MIAA Tournament ... The Gorillas' two wins have come against MIAA opponents Southwest Baptist and Missouri Southern ... Pitt State is 1-4 in the previous five games, coming off a 3-0 sweep of MSSU in its last match ... Washburn has won 13 straight entering Friday's game, including a 3-0 sweep at Lee Arena this season ... Under Chris Herron, WU is 23-5 against the Gorillas ... more information on series and stat leaders can be found on page one of the game notes.

Scouting the Bronchos
Central Oklahoma sits atop the MIAA standings entering the final weekend of play, one game ahead of the Ichabods, Nebraska-Kearney and Central Missouri ... UCO is 14-2 in the conference with its lone MIAA losses to UCM and WU ... UCO is 4-1 in its last five games, sweeping Pitt State, Missouri Southern and Southwest Baptist in its last three games ... The only loss in that span was a 3-0 defeat by the Jennies in Warrensburg, Mo. ... WU swept the Bronchos earlier this season at Lee Arena, and is 7-1 in the series under Chris Herron ... Saturday's game will be the fifth of the season for Washburn against a ranked opponent, and the Ichabods are 2-2 in those matches (results on page three) ... more information on series and stat leaders can be found on page one of the game notes.

Last Time Out
No. 9 Washburn Volleyball saw its nine-game winning streak snapped on Saturday, Nov. 7 in a 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-23) loss to No. 13 Central Missouri at Lee Arena ... Natalie Bates posted a double-double with 12 assists and 12 digs, while Alyssa Carney led the team with 13 digs ... Leanna Willer just missed a double-double, finishing with eight kills and nine digs, second on the team in kills behind Sarah Vicory, who had nine kills to go with four blocks ... Liz Powell had 16 assists and Korie Thompson added nine digs on a night the two of them and fellow senior McKenzie Hartzog were honored prior to the game for Senior Day.

What's Next?
Washburn will learn its MIAA Tournament seeding after Saturday's matchup at Central Oklahoma ... The opening round of the conference tournament is held at campus sites (Top 4 seeds) on Tuesday, Nov. 17 before the semifinals and finals are held Nov. 19-20 at the highest remaining seed.

CoSIDA Academic All-Region Honors
Washburn Volleyball's Alyssa Carney and Leanna Willer were named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Teams, announced Thursday, Nov. 5 ... Carney, a junior libero, is a Biology major with a 4.00 grade point average ... Willer, a junior outside hitter, has a 3.95 GPA in Mathematics ... the two will now go on the Academic All-America ballot, which will be released in December.
 
In the Hunt
One game back in the MIAA standings entering the final weekend, Washburn is in the hunt for its sixth MIAA Championship with matches at Pittsburg State and Central Oklahoma on the horizon ... should Washburn, Nebraska-Kearney and Central Missouri all win out, there will be a four-way tie between those three schools and UCO atop the MIAA regular season standings ... UCO sits in the driver's seat, though, and a win over WU on Saturday would seal the MIAA Regular Season title for the Bronchos.

NCAA Tournament Outlook
Washburn Volleyball dropped one spot to No. 6 in the second edition of the NCAA Central Region rankings, released Wednesday, Nov. 11 ... The Ichabods were slotted fifth in the original rankings, part of three releases leading up to the NCAA Selection Show on Nov. 23 ... The NCAA Central Region Tournament is held Dec. 3-6 at the top-seeded school ... The Central Region is made up of teams from the MIAA, the NSIC and the GAC ... Automatic bids are granted to the winners of the postseason conference tournaments, with the final five seeds handed out on an at-large basis ... The Ichabods, ranked 14th nationally, are the only team in the regional poll to play an entire regular season against NCAA Division II and regional opponents ... The top four schools remained the same, as Concordia-St. Paul, Southwest Minnesota State, Wayne State College and Northern State were slotted Nos. 1-4 ... Central Missouri moved up two spots to No. 5, leapfrogging WU and Central Oklahoma after defeating the Ichabods last weekend ... WU and Central Oklahoma were sixth and seventh, and Nebraska-Kearney, Missouri Western and Minnesota Duluth stayed at Nos. 8-10 ... the complete first edition of the NCAA Central Region Rankings can be found on page three of the game notes.

Locked Down
Washburn has secured its spot in the MIAA Tournament and is currently fighting for the regular season title and No. 1 seed ... The Ichabods (13-3 MIAA) are one game back of the lead in the MIAA standings behind Central Oklahoma, which is 14-2 in the conference ... The MIAA did not play a conference tournament last season ... the last time WU was the No. 1 seed in the MIAA Tournament was the 2007 season ... there are two games remaining in the regular season, with the season finale pitting WU and UCO against each other on Nov. 14.

Bods Go Undefeated in Non-Conference Play
Washburn closed out its non-conference portion of the 2015 regular season on Tuesday, Oct. 27 with a 3-2 win over Maryville ... that victory moved the Ichabods to 13-0 on the year in non-conference games ... WU went undefeated against regular season non-conference opponents last season as well, and hasn't dropped a regular season, non-conference match since Sept. 20, 2013 ... all-time records against 2015 opponents can be found on page 4 of the game notes.

Ichabods Sweep Oct. 26 MIAA Athletes of the Week
Washburn's Leanna Willer and Alyssa Carney swept the MIAA Athlete of the Week awards, announced Monday, Oct. 26 by the conference office ... Willer was named the MIAA Hitter of the Week while Carney was tabbed as the MIAA Specialist of the Week ... Willer had 21 kills (3.50 per set) and 27 digs (4.50 per set) and Carney averaged 6.17 digs per set (37 total digs) with three service aces over the weekend.

Willer joins Ichabods' 1,000 Kills/1,000 Digs Club
Leanna Willer entered the Oct. 31 match with Missouri Western just 12 digs away from No. 1,000 for her career and finished the night with 14, surpassing the mark ... Willer joined the 1,000 kills club on Oct. 3 as the 19th member, and is now the ninth Ichabod all-time to record 1,000 digs and 1,000 kills in a career.

Climbing Charts
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 4.07 kills per set average would rank her fifth all-time in Washburn's history ... Additionally, Willer has 44 double-doubles in her career, which is currently fifth all-time at Washburn (No. 4 has 55), and 68 double-figure kill matches, which is tied for fifth all-time (No. 4 has 70) ... Through 29 games this season, Willer has 407 kills, which is second in the MIAA and first on the Washburn squad ... that pace is ahead of her 2014 efforts, when she had 352 kills through 29 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 is also now 16th on the career kills list with 1,167 kills, just one kill behind Hillary Hughes to break into the Top 15 ... No. 14 on the list is currect Washburn assistant coach Jessica Fey, who finished her career with 1,211 kills ... Willer's career kill standings can be found on page five of the game notes.

New Kid on The Block
Sarah Vicory became the newest member of Washburn's 300 block club Friday, Oct. 23 against Pittsburg State with a two-block effort ... Vicory is the 17th all-time at Washburn to achieve the feat, and now has 321 in just her third season as an Ichabod ... Vicory will now look to climb the career blocks record list, with No. 10 (Susan Waller) sitting at 364 career blocks ... Vicory is on pace to join the 1,000 kills club sometime next season, as she sits with 831 so far for her career ... if she achieves that feat, she'd be the 20th member of the kills club and the 11th all-time at WU to have over 1,000 kills and 300 blocks in a career.

Eyeing No. 500
With two games remaining in Washburn's regular season schedule (and a berth to the MIAA Tournament nearly solidified), head coach Chris Herron is two victories away from career win No. 500 at four-year colleges ... Herron won his 400th game at Washburn earlier this season and is 498-103 in 17 seasons with the Ichabods ... entering the 2015 season, Herron ranked 16th among winningest active coaches in all NCAA Divisions (I, II and III) and  16th all-time overall ... In Division II alone, Herron entered 2015 eighth among active coaches and sixth all-time overall

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.

Career Milestones
Several Ichabods have broken career milestone markers this season ... Taylor Selk reached the 200-kill mark against Nebraska-Kearney on Oct. 9 and went over the 200-dig mark on Nov. 7 against Central Missouri ... Carley Swan had her 100th career kill on Oct. 10 at Fort Hays State and her 100th career block on Oct. 16 against Northwest Missouri State ... Korie Thompson recorded career kill No. 400 on Oct. 10 at Fort Hays State, her 500th career dig on Sept. 5 at home against Drury and her 700th career dig on Oct. 27 at Maryville ... Liz Powell took over the starting setter role as a senior this season and recorded her 1,000 career assist on Oct. 23 against Pittsburg State ... a milestone watch list is available on page five of the game notes.

Can You Dig It?
Washburn's Alyssa Carney's average of 5.25 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 ... In total digs, Carney enters the final weekend of regular season play just 51 digs off the No. 10 spot for the single-season digs record list (576 - Shawna Wildeman, 1989) ... Carney has reached double-digits in all 29 games this season for digs, and dating back to last season has reached that mark in 34 straight games ... she has nine 20-plus dig efforts and two 30-plus dig matches ... Her career-high is 31 against Drury on Sept. 5, and she finished with 30 on Oct. 27 at Maryville ... she has already surpassed last season's dig total of 496, and broke the 1,000 career dig mark on Nov. 6 against Lindenwood ... projecting into next season with similar 500-plus dig effort, Carney would rank somewhere on the Top 10 of Washburn's career digs record list after 2016 (No. 1 has 2,464, No. 10 has 1,431).

A Closer Look at the AVCA Poll
Washburn Volleyball dropped five spots to No. 14 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll, released Monday, Nov. 9 by the organization ... Washburn split its two contests last weekend, sweeping Lindenwood before falling to No. 13 Central Missouri, 3-0 ... UCM stayed put in this week's poll, and joins WU, Nebraska-Kearney (No. 12) and Central Oklahoma (No. 15) from the MIAA in the Top 25 ... The NCAA Central Region has 13 teams listed in the rankings, including five from the NSIC in the Top 10 ... Washburn has now been ranked in 158 consecutive polls dating back to 2003 ... the complete AVCA poll for is available on page three of the game notes.

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.

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 423-75 mark in his 14 seasons ... at four-year colleges, Herron is now 498-104 in 17 seasons and could reach career win No. 500 by season's end.

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 2-2 against ranked opponents this season, picking up a Top 10 victory over then-No. 10 Central Oklahoma on Oct. 24 ... 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.

Success in Season Openers
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.

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).

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.

Early Success
Under Chris Herron, WU has a history of starting the season hot in the first month of play, including an 13-1 record this season and a 13-1 record in 2014 ... Washburn nearly completed the month of September undefeated, but was dealt a loss in the final game of the opening month last week ... All-time under Herron, is 211-25 in the first month of the season (August and September combined) ... The Ichabods have lost no more than four games in the first month of the season since Herron's arrival, and no more than three since 2006 ... Over the last five years (since 2010), Washburn has gone 79-8 in the first month of the season.