Scouting the Bronchos
Central Oklahoma won the MIAA Regular Season Championship on the final day of the regular season last Saturday, defeating Washburn in a hard-fought five-set match ... UCO is 5-0 in its last five games and enters Friday's MIAA Semifinals on a seven-match winning streak after sweeping Emporia State in the MIAA Tournament First Round ... WU swept the Bronchos earlier this season at Lee Arena, and is 7-2 in the series under Chris Herron ... Saturday's game will be the sixth of the season for Washburn against a ranked opponent, and the Ichabods are 2-3 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
TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 4 seed Washburn advanced to the MIAA Tournament semifinals with a 3-2 (28-30, 25-18, 26-28, 25-15, 15-10) win over No. 5 seed Missouri Western on Tuesday, Nov. 17 to open postseason play at Lee Arena ... An all-around effort carried WU to the win, as three Ichabods had double-doubles, five had double-digit kills and four had double-digit digs ... Washburn rolled out to a 6-1 lead in the final set and never looked back, taking the match 15-10.  The Ichabods had 14 kills in the fifth game and did not commit a hitting error in the frame ... Leanna Willer had four kills in that set, Barrick and Vicory each had three and Thompson and Selk had two ... Willer (17 kills, 18 digs), Thompson (14 kills, 19 digs) and Liz Powell (42 assists, 18 digs) had double-doubles for the Ichabods, as Vicory (18 kills), Barrick (15 kills) and Selk (14 kills) joined the attackers in double-figure kills ... Barrick swung .481 on the night with 27 swings, Vicory hit .368 on 38 swings and Willer hit .304 on 46 swings ... Carley Swan just missed double-digits, finishing with eight kills, a .318 hitting percentage and three blocks, tied for first on the team with Vicory ... Defensively, Alyssa Carney posted her second consecutive 30-plus dig match and finished with a team-high 38 digs, adding nine assists ... Natalie Bates, who had 30 assists, just missed a double-double herself with eight digs from the back row.

What's Next?
The winners of Friday's MIAA Tournament Semifinals will meet on Saturday, Nov. 21 in the MIAA Tournament Championship in Edmond, Okla. ... the complete MIAA Championships bracket can be found on page 22 of the game notes.

Running the Gauntlet
No matter the outcome when the MIAA Tournament Champion is crowned on Saturday, Nov. 21, that team will have had to defeat two AVCA Top 15 teams to get there ... Nebraska-Kearney (No. 3 seed) is 10th nationally, Central Missouri (No. 2 seed) is 13th nationally, Central Oklahoma (No. 1 seed) is 14th nationally and Washburn (No. 4 seed) is 15th nationally.

WU in the MIAA Tournament
Washburn has locked up the fourth seed in the MIAA Championships and began its 2015 postseason run on Tuesday with a 3-2 win over Missouri Western ... all-time, the Ichabods are 8-8 in the tournament dating back to 1992 ... Washburn had never been the No. 4 seed prior to this season, but as the higher seed, the Ichabods are 8-5 ... as the lower seed, WU is 0-3 and will look to break that losing streak on Friday vs top-seeded Central Oklahoma ... WU has faced a No. 1 seed just once in MIAA Tourney history, a 3-0 loss to Truman in the 2006 finals ... Washburn has never won an MIAA Tournament Championship as well, reaching the finals in 2005 and 2006.

Six Ichabods Garner All-MIAA Honors
Washburn Volleyball's Leanna Willer and Sarah Vicory were unanimous first team selections as six Ichabods were named All-MIAA, released Tuesday, Nov. 17 by the conference office ... Taylor Selk, Liz Powell and Alyssa Carney were second team picks and Korie Thompson earned honorable mention honors ... Vicory and Willer are repeat first team selections from 2014, and are both three-time All-MIAA picks. Willer was named to the third team in 2013 and Vicory was honorable mention as a freshman ... Carney was named All-MIAA honorable mention as a sophomore last season, and Powell and Thompson are first time selections.

Carney On A Tear, Rising on Record Charts
Alyssa Carney has put together back-to-back 30-plus dig efforts over the last week and has double-digit digs in all 32 matches this season (and 37 straight reaching into last year) ... Carney currently holds the No. 6 spot on WU's single-season digs record list with 624 digs on the year (No. 5 has 630, No. 4 has 654) ... if the season ended today, Carney's 5.52 digs per set average would be the fourth highest in school history (No. 3 has 5.55, No. 2 has 5.58) for a single-season ... additionally, Carney totaled 43 digs the last time Washburn squared off with Central Oklahoma (Nov. 14), which tied for third most in school history for single match (and second in school history for a five-set match) ... the school record for digs in a match is 51, set by Erika Cowhick in 2006. 

Herron Wins No. 500
Washburn's win over Missouri Western on Tuesday, Nov. 17 to open MIAA Tournament play was No. 500 for Ichabod head coach Chris Herron at four-year colleges ... Herron is now 500-105 in 17 seasons.

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 4.08 kills per set average would rank her fifth all-time in Washburn's history ... Additionally, Willer has 47 double-doubles in her career, which is currently fifth all-time at Washburn (No. 4 has 55), and 71 double-figure kill matches, which is tied for fourth all-time (No. 3 has 78) ... Through 32 games this season, Willer has 461 kills, which is second in the MIAA and first on the Washburn squad ... that pace is already 82 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 13th on the career kills list with 1,221 kills, just three kills behind Shanna Haslett (1988-90), who had 1,224 in her career ... No. 11 on the list, Marissa Cox, finished her career (2011-14) with 1,254 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
TOPEKA, Kan. – Washburn Volleyball dropped one spot to No. 7 in the third edition of the NCAA Central Region rankings, released Wednesday, Nov. 18 ... The Ichabods were slotted fifth in the original rankings and sixth in the second 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 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and the Great American Conference (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 15th nationally, are the only team in the regional poll to play an entire regular season against NCAA Division II and regional opponents and are in the hunt for their 12th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament under head coach Chris Herron ... The complete third 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.

Strong on the Block; Vicory leads MIAA
Sarah Vicory has made a name for herself as one of the nation's best middle hitters and is one of the Ichabods' leaders this season ... the junior became the newest member of Washburn's 300 block club on Friday, Oct. 23 against Pittsburg State and now has 330 for her career ... she is the 17th Ichabod all-time to achieve the feat and is on pace to join the 1,000 kills club sometime next season (currently has 874 kills) ... if she reached that milestone, Vicory would be the 20th member of the 1,000 kills club and the 11th all-time at Washburn to have over 1,000 kills and 300 blocks in a career ... Vicory also leads the MIAA in hitting percentage for the second straight season, hitting .360 for the year through 32 games ... additionally this season, Vicory has 112 blocks to lead the MIAA with 1.10 blocks per set.

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 Regular Season 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.

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.