TOPEKA, Kan. --- The Washburn Ichabod volleyball team enter their final weekend of invitational/tournament play of the regular season with a trip to Russellville, Ark., to participate in the Arkansas Tech Invitational on Sept. 15-16. The Ichabods will face Christian Brothers and Harding on day one, before squaring off against Ouachita Baptist and Alabama-Huntsville on day two.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
The 2017 lineup for the Ichabods features 11 underclassmen including seven true freshmen ... in their match against Western State, the Ichabods started five freshmen for the first-time ever under head coach Chris Herron ... going into this weekend's slate of games freshman Genna Berg leads team in kills per set (2.58) while classmate Faith Rottinghaus also headlines the list of names for digs (121) and digs per set (4.32) ... Kelsey Gordon is second in blocks (21) and blocks per set (0.88) with Allison Sadler holds the same position in assists (73) and assists per set (4.29).
HODGE & MONTGOMERY ARE ACES
After the first two weekends of action Washburn has tallied 51 services ... pacing the Ichabods are Jade Hodge and Erica Montgomery who account for over 50 percent of the team's aces enter the weekend with 14 aces apiece ... Hodge opened the season with 10 services aces during the first weekend including a career-best five aces against East Central on Sept. 1 ... Montgomery followed the lead by posting seven at the Missouri S&T Classic including a five-spot of her own against Upper Iowa on Sept. 8 ... as a result of their five-ace performance, Hodge and Montgomery are now amongst the list of tied for the ninth-best single-match outing in program-history.
RUSSELLVILLE
Washburn returns to Russellville, Ark., this weekend for the first time since the 2015 campaign ... that season the Ichabods trekked to Russellville for the MIAA/GAC Crossover on Sept. 18-19 ... Washburn is 4-0 in its last four matches played in Russellville.
ARKANSAS TECH INVITATIONAL
The Arkansas Tech Invitational will take place Sept. 15-16 with all matches being played at Tucker Coliseum ... day one for Washburn will feature matches at 9 am with Christian Brothers and at 1 pm with Harding ... day two's schedule will see the Ichabods face Ouachita Baptist at 11 am before wrapping up the tournament with Alabama-Huntsville at 3 pm ... other teams participating include host Arkansas Tech, Central Missouri and St. Edward's (Texas) ... live stats and video will be available for all matches ... links can be found either at wusports.com/live or by visiting the Arkansas Tech Invitational page.
WEEKEND WRAP-UP
Washburn finished last weekend at 3-1 to move its season total to 6-2 ... the Ichabods opened and closed the their slate of games with a 3-0 victories, first over William Jewell then against Ashland while also defeating Ohio Domincian, 3-1 ... Washburn's lone defeat with a 3-0 sweep from eventual tournament champion, Upper Iowa.
1,000-WIN CLUB
Washburn volleyball began the 2017 season seven wins shy of it's 1,000th victory in program history ... the Ichabods now stand just one win shy of the milestone ... to date, the feat has only been accomplished by 47 NCAA programs across all divisions, with nine Division II members ... the last school to reach 1,000 program victories was Division III member, McDaniel College (Md.).
THEY GOT (SOME) HISTORY
Washburn's match with Christian Brothers will the first-ever meeting ... the Ichabods are however slightly more familiar with regional foes Harding and Ouachita Baptist ... Washburn is 9-2 all-time against the HU including a 6-2 mark in neutral site matches ... the all-time series between the Ichabods and Tigers is tied at 2-2 ... Alabama-Huntsville meanwhile holds a narrow 4-3 lead over the Ichabods in the all-time series, although are tied 3-3 in neutral site matches
THE PECKING ORDER
The Ichabods begin the weekend slate of games ranked No. 23 and it's the first-time a Washburn volleyball team has been ranked outside the AVCA top 20 since the final season rankings in 2006. The ranking however extends Washburn's top 25 streak to 177 consecutive polls dating back to the final ranking of 2003 and 199 all-time mentions.
MIAA PRESEASON POLL
The Ichabods were predicted to finish third in the MIAA after earning 101 points and one first-place vote. Last season's champion Nebraska-Kearney topped the poll with 120 points and 10 first-place votes, while Central Oklahoma came in second with 105 points and also garnered one first-place nod ... WU finished the 2016 season with a 16-2 conference record and run to the conference tournament finals.
RECORD WATCH LIST
• Junior Shayla Conner is among the top 25 in Washburn's all-time assists list ... Conner ranks 22nd overall with 562 assists and is 27 assists shy of moving into the top 20 ... in her last two seasons, Conner has averaged 194 assists.
• Junior Makayla Maxwell ranks 36th on Washburn's all-time block chart with 158 blocks ... Maxwell has averaged 65 blocks her in last two seasons.
• Senior Carley Swan currently sits at 20th on the Washburn's block per set chart (0.73) ... Robin Rusink and Marissa Cox are tied for 18th with 0.74.
• Senior Taylor Selk is 31st-overall on the Washburn blocks per set list (0.51) ... Selk is also 33rd in kills per set (1.81) and 38th in kills (509).
STRONG START
Washburn is 34-15 in season openers all-time and 22-6 since joining the NCAA and MIAA in 1989 ... Under Chris Herron, the Ichabods have a history of starting the season hot in the first month of play, as it has gone 39-6 over the last three seasons ... All-time under Herron, Washburn is 230-31 in the first month the season ... Since Herron's arrival, the Ichabods have not lost more than four matches in the first month of the season.
HERRON TIDBITS
Ichabod head coach Chris Herron begins his 16th season at the helm and his 19th season in the collegiate ranks ... Herron was inducted into the Kansas Volleyball Association Hall of Fame on June 3, 2017 ... The longtime head coach has gone 457-85 at Washburn ... has gone 211-46 in MIAA matches ... has been named the MIAA Coach of the Year four times ... has led the Ichabods to five MIAA regular-season championships ... has led the program to 13 NCAA postseason berths ... his players have received 32 All-America awards, 63 all-region awards and has had 31 first team All-MIAA selections and 82 overall who have been honored by the conference ... has coached four CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, six CoSIDA Academic All-District selections, six MIAA Academic Excellence award winners (4.00 GPA), 29 MIAA Scholar Athletes (3.50+ GPA and all-MIAA honoree) and 121 MIAA Academic Honor Roll (3.00+ GPA) selections.
TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE
The Ichabods have made a habit out of appearing in the NCAA tournament, reaching the milestone 13 times in the past 15 seasons under head coach Chris Herron ... Washburn has won five MIAA Championships under Herron and were runners-ups in 2016 ... In the last five seasons, Washburn volleyball has had 12 All-Americans, including three in 2016.
