Weekend Preview
Washburn heads to Russellville, Ark., this weekend for the two-day Arkansas Tech GAC/MIAA Crossover ... WU will take on host school Arkansas Tech on Friday (Sept. 18) at 11 a.m., followed by a 7 p.m., matchup with Harding that night ... the weekend ends for the Ichabods with a 1 p.m., match against Southern Nazarene ... Washburn is 6-2 all-time against Arkansas Tech, 8-2 historically with Harding and 2-1 all-time against Southern Nazarene.

Last Time Out
Washburn remained undefeated with a 4-0 performance at the Steel & Silver Classic in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Pueblo, Colo. ... the wins over UC-Colorado Springs and CSU-Pueblo were comeback wins after dropping the first set, while the CSUP game was WU's third 3-2 win of the season ... Washburn swept the first and fourth contests in the event against Adams State and Western State ... Leanna Willer and Alyssa Carney were named to the All-Tournament team ... Willer finished the weekend with 62 kills (4.13 per set), 41 digs and 16 blocks, while Carney averaged 5.07 digs per set (76 total) as libero.

MIAA Leaders
Several Ichabods rank in the top 10 of MIAA statistical categories, including Sarah Vicory, who leads the conference in total blocks (43) and blocks per set (1.34) ... Leanna Willer is second in the MIAA in total kills (120) and kills per set (3.87) ... Alyssa Carney is second in total digs (155) and digs per set (4.84) ... Carley Swan is second in blocks per set (1.03) and third in total blocks (31) ... Vicory is also eighth in hitting percentage (.822) ... Liz Powell is seventh in assists per set (9.16) and is fourth in total assists (293) ... Top five lists (as of Sept. 14) that feature Ichabods are below ... 
 

Rank	Name (Team)	Sets	Kills	K/S
1	Sojka,Carly (UCM)	31	122	3.94
2	Willer,Leanna (WU)	31	120	3.87
3	Whitten,Crystal (FHSU)	32	113	3.53
4	Jackson,Barbara (UCO)	27	102	3.78
5	Thomas,Kaitlynn (UNK)	31	101	3.26

 

Rank	Name (Team)	S	BS	BA	TB	B/S
1	Vicory,Sarah (WU)	32	4	39	43	1.34
2	Swan,Carley (WU)	30	3	28	31	1.03
3	Spence,Jordan (UCO)	32	4	29	33	1.03
4	Cotman,Shayla (ESU)	32	8	23	31	0.97
5	Christensen,Callie (FHSU)	18	5	12	17	0.94

 

Rank	Name (Team)	Sets	Kills	K/S
1	Davis,Katy (UCO)	30	330	11
2	Thompson,Kourtney (UCM)	31	309	9.97
3	Chohon,Jordan (MWSU)	30	295	9.83
4	Powell,Liz (WU)	32	293	9.16
5	Hannah Wagy (FHSU)	32	289	9.03

 

Rank	Name (Team)	Sets	Digs	D/S
1	Gifford,Whitney (UCO)	30	161	5.37
2	Carney,Alyssa (WU)	32	155	4.84
3	Reilly,Annie (UCM)	31	147	4.74
4	Holden,Kelly (ESU)	33	154	4.67
5	Reichert,Anna (LWU)	27	120	4.44

Picking Up Where They Left Off
Returning All-American Sarah Vicory and all-region performer Leanna Willer are off to strong starts this season, picking up where they left off in 2015 ... Through eight games, Willer is leading the team with 120 kills (3.87 per set) and is tied for second in digs (100) ... Willer has five double-doubles already this season and put together 20-plus kills efforts three times this season, most recently against Colorado State-Pueblo (20 kills) on Sept. 12 ... Vicory has 86 kills (2.69 per set) at middle hitter, including a 19-kill effort against Drury on Sept. 5 ... At the net, Vicory has added 43 total blocks for a 1.34 blocks per set average, and has three matches with eight or more blocks this year.

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 Closer Look at the AVCA Poll
Washburn Volleyball continued its rise in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll this week, pulling it at No. 7 with 856 voting points ...  The rankings slotted the Ichabods ninth in the previous poll and No. 14 in the preseason rankings ... Washburn is joined by MIAA schools Central Missouri (No. 6 – 862 points), Nebraska-Kearney (No. 15 – 537 points) and Central Oklahoma (No. 19 – 267 points) in the poll ... Overall, 10 teams from the NCAA Central Region (in which Washburn competes) are listed in the Top 25 ... view the entire AVCA rankings 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.

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 54-19 against its 2015 non-conference opponents, combined (and including 2015 non-conference games thus far) ... Against non-conference opponents at the Arkansas Tech GAC/MIAA Crossoever this weekend, the Ichabods are 16-5 combined ... all-time records against 2015 opponents can be found on page 4 of the game notes.

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 405-72 mark in his 14 seasons, good enough for a .849 winning percentage ... at four-year colleges, Herron is now 480-101 in 17 seasons and could reach career win No. 500 by season's end.

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 five of the game notes.

Early Success
Washburn has made a habit out of hot starts in the first month of the season, including an 8-0 record this season and a 13-1 mark in 2014 ... Under Chris Herron, WU is 206-24 all-time 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 74-7 in the first month of the season ... a more complete breakdown of the Ichabods' month-by-month success under Herron is below: 
 

August		September		October		November		December
Year	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L
2002	4	0	11	2	11	1	3	2	0	0
2003	4	0	13	4	8	3	1	3	0	0
2004	4	0	13	2	9	3	3	2	0	0
2005	5	0	12	1	14	0	4	2	0	0
2006	5	0	12	3	9	4	1	2	0	0
2007	6	1	14	0	12	1	6	2	0	0
2008	4	0	10	2	13	1	3	3	0	0
2009	4	0	11	2	12	2	6	1	0	0
2010	0	0	12	1	13	1	7	1	0	0
2011	0	0	14	1	11	0	7	2	0	0
2012	2	0	12	1	12	0	5	3	0	0
2013	0	0	13	3	10	1	8	1	0	1
2014	0	0	13	1	7	4	4	2	0	0
2015	0	0	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	38	1	168	23	141	21	58	26	0	1