Scouting the Griffons
Missouri Western earned the fifth seed in the MIAA Championships ... The Griffons fell in their final two matches to end the season and are 2-3 in the previous five games ... Under Chris Herron, Washburn is 26-2 against the Griffons since 2002 with the only two losses coming in 2014 ... WU beat the Griffons in both matches this season, taking a 3-1 match at Lee Arena and sweeping MWSU on the road ... more information on series and stat leaders can be found on page one of the game notes.

Last Time Out
EDMOND, Okla. – Early momentum wasn't enough for No. 14 Washburn Volleyball as it fell in its regular season finale to No. 15 Central Oklahoma, 3-2 (18-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 26-24) on Saturday, Nov. 14 ... The five-set heartbreaker saw two Ichabods reach double-digits in kills and two post double-doubles, as Washburn slipped to fourth in the conference standings ... In a race to 15, win-by-two fifth set, things were intense until UCO sealed the match with a 26-24 win ... Facing match-point, down 14-11, Washburn ran off four straight kills from Leanna Willer to turn the table and have a match-point of its own, up 15-14 ... Neither team would bend, however, as both teams had several chances to clinch the match only to see the other squad re-tie it at 16 through 24 ... WU had six match-point opportunities before UCO, who had four chances prior to 24-all, took the match with two straight ... Willer had 20 kills and 16 digs for a double-double while Liz Powell added 19 digs and 31 assists ... Korie Thompson just missed a double-double, finishing with 16 digs and nine kills ... Sarah Vicory hit .394 to lead the Ichabods with a 14-kills effort, adding seven blocks (one solo) ... Alyssa Carney had a career-high 43 digs, tied for third most all-time in Washburn's history for a single-match performance ... It was the second most digs in WU's history for a five-set match ... Carney was another near-miss for a double-double as she added nine assists.

What's Next?
The winner of Tuesday's MIAA Championships First Round match will advance to the quarterfinals on Friday, Nov. 20 ... The quarterfinals and finals will be held at the highest remaining seed after Tuesday's games on Nov. 20-21 ... the complete MIAA Championships bracket can be found on page 22 of the game notes.

WU in the MIAA Tournament
Washburn has locked up the fourth seed in the MIAA Championships and begins its postseason run on Tuesday ... all-time, the Ichabods are 7-8 in the tournament dating back to 1992 ... Washburn has never been the No. 4 seed, but as the higher seed, the Ichabods are 7-5 ... the Ichabods have never faced a No. 5 seed ... Washburn has never won an MIAA Tournament Championship as well, reaching the finals in 2005 and 2006.

Carney joins Ichabods' Single-Season Digs Chart
Alyssa Carney holds the No. 9 spot on Washburn's single season digs record list after a strong weekend to close the regular season ... Carney entered the weekend of Nov. 13-14 needing 51 digs to hit No. 10 on the list and finished with 61, thanks in part to a 43-dig effort at Central Oklahoma (tied for third most in school history for a single-match and second in school history for a five-set match) ... she currently has 586 digs through 31 games, and No. 8 on the list has 603 (Angie [Simon] Bittner) ... the school record is 901, held by Erica Cowhick (2006). 

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 4.11 kills per set average would rank her fifth all-time in Washburn's history ... Additionally, Willer has 46double-doubles in her career, which is currently fifth all-time at Washburn (No. 4 has 55), and 70 double-figure kill matches, which is tied for fourth all-time (No. 3 has 78) ... Through 31 games this season, Willer has 444 kills, which is second in the MIAA and first on the Washburn squad ... that pace is already 61 ahead of her 2014 efforts where she finished with 383 kills in 31 games played ... 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 15th on the career kills list with 1,204 kills, just seven kills behindcurrect Washburn assistant coach Jessica Fey, who finished her career with 1,211 kills ... No. 13 on that list is Mollie Lacy (1,220 kills) ... Willer's career kill standings can be found on page five of the game notes.

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.

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.

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.

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 330 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 856 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
As postseason play begins, head coach Chris Herron is just one victory away from career win No. 500 at four-year colleges ... Herron won his 400th game at Washburn earlier this season and is 499-104 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.

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.

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 ... Alyssa Carney dug up her 1,000th career dig against Lindenwood on Nov. 6 ... a milestone watch list is available on page five of the game notes.

Carney Eyes Average, Total Digs Record Lists
Washburn's Alyssa Carney's average of 5.34 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 31 games this season for digs, and dating back to last season has reached that mark in 36 straight games ... she has 10 20-plus dig efforts and three 30-plus dig matches ... Her career-high is 43 at Central Oklahoma on Nov. 14, 2015 ... 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, who currently has 1,082 career digs 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 one spot to No. 15 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 Poll, released Monday, Nov. 16 by the organization ... Washburn was 14th in last week's rankings ... The Ichabods traded places in the rankings with Central Oklahoma, which moved up one spot to No. 14, just behind Central Missouri (No. 13) and Nebraska-Kearney (No. 10), also from the MIAA ... Those four teams are part of 11 teams from the NCAA Central Region in the Top 25, along with two other teams from the Central Region receiving votes. ... Washburn has now been ranked in 159 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.