MARYVILLE, Mo. --- The Washburn volleyball team fell to Northwest Missouri, 3-1, on Friday evening in Maryville as they offense was held to .136 hitting. As a result, the Ichabods' season mark slipped to 15-8 on the season while moving to 5-5 in the MIAA. 

Washburn, which entered the day part of four-team tie for fifth in the conference with the Bearcats (12-10, 6-4 MIAA), were held to sub-.100 hitting in the of the four sets with a .216 mark in the second being the team's best.

Genna Berg and Erica Montgomery combined for 28 of the Ichabods' 50 kills as Montgomery finished with 12 while Berg put away a career-best 16. Allison Sadler dished out 42 assists while picking up her eighth career double-double with a 10 dig effort. Makayla Maxwell tallied seven blocks.

After dropping the first two sets, 25-14 and 25-20 respectively, the Ichabods began the third frame trailing NW Missouri 2-0. Early tic-tac scoring to open the set was quickly replaced with a 5-0 run by Washburn as it pushed out to a 7-3 advantage before staving off a sweeping loss to win the third set, 25-20. 

During the third, Washburn held the Bearcats to a match-worst .049 hitting. Berg led the Ichabods during the set with five kills on 10 attempts as she hit .300.

In the fourth, Northwest Missouri accounted nine of the set's opening 11 points, claiming a 9-2 lead before scoring four unanswered to take a 13-5 advantage. Trailing 18-10, Washburn began to rally down the stretch beginning with a 6-2 run cutting the Bearcat lead to four. The Ichabods eventually pulled within two late as Taylor Selk recorded one of her six kills making it 23-21, but the rally was cut short as NWMSU secured the decision with consecutive kills to take the set, 25-21.

Washburn will return to action Saturday evening as it goes down the road to face Missouri Western in St. Joseph at 6 p.m.