Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

TOPEKA, Kan. — The No. 16-ranked Washburn Ichabods opened the 2016 season with a 2-0 start with a pair of sweeps over Quincy and Midwestern State on Friday in the first day of the Washburn Invitational presented by the Topeka Capitol Plaza Hotel and Convention Center. The Ichabods will wrap up the even with Mary at 11:30 a.m. and Drury at 3:30 p.m. in Lee Arena.

#16 Washburn 3, Quincy 0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-14)
The Washburn Ichabods open the 2016 season with a 3-0 win over Quincy. After falling behind 5-0 to start the match, the Ichabods would go a 23-5 run taking a 23-10 lead and would go on to close out the opening set 25-12. 

LeeAnna Willer had three kills in the opening set and then would add four in the second and five in the third leading to a match-high 12 kills with only two errors in 24 attempts.

In the second set, the ichabods never trailed and held an 17-15 lead before an 8-3 run finished out the with a 25-18 win putting Washburn up 2-0.

Washburn (1-0) trailed only at 1-0 in the third set and broke it open after leading 9-7 using a 10-4 run to close out the match.

The Ichabods outhit the Hawks .315 to .000 holding Quincy to 25 kills with 25 errors while the Ichabods had 37 kills in 92 swings with only eight errors. Sarah Vicory hit .529 with nine kills in 17 attempts while Natalie Bates had 21 assists. Willer just missed a double double with her 12 kills and nine digs. Alyssa Carney had 13 digs to lead the Ichabods.

#16 Washburn 3, Midwestern State 0 (25-6, 25-19, 25-23)
Washburn (2-0) used an 8-1 run to start the match and continue the roll going up 21-5 before finishing the opening set with a 25-6 win over Midwestern State (1-1). 

The Ichabods hit a whopping .625 in the opening set with 9 kills and no errors in 16 attempts while the Mustangs were limited to a -.217 hitting percentage with five kills and 10 errors in 23 attempts.

In the second set, Washburn cooled off a little dropping to a .314 hitting percentage while the Mustangs improved to .297. Willer had four kills in the second set while Kelsey Barrick and Taylor Selk each had three.

The third set saw the Ichabods get outhit .361 to .135 in the frame. Midwestern State took its first lead of the match at 14-13 over Washburn. Neither team would get ahead by more than two from the other team until the end as the teams were tied at 22 and 23 before a kill by Vicory and a kill by Willer wrapped up the win 25-23 for Washburn.

Victory led the Ichabods with 10 kills and no errors in 13 attempts for a .769 hitting percentage while Bates had 27 assists. Carney had a match-high 12 digs and Willer recorded 11.

Willer finished the day with 20 kills allowed by Vicory's 19 and Selk's 10. Bates recorded 48 assists averaging 8.00 assists per set while Carney had 4.17 digs per set and Willer had 3.33 digs per set.