THE SETUP
After going 3-0 and last week, No. 7 Washburn volleyball (25-1, 13-1 MIAA) returns to Lee Arena to begin a four-match home stand to close the regular season. Looking to secure home-court advantage for the upcoming MIAA Tournament, the Ichabods welcome Lindenwood (13-11, 5-9 MIAA) on Friday (7 pm) and No. 15 Central Missouri (20-6, 10-4 MIAA) on Saturday (6 pm). Live stats and video for each match are available either by visiting wusports.com/live or the team's schedule on wusports.com.

THEY GOT HISTORY
• Friday's match with Lindenwood will be the final regular season MIAA meeting as the the Lions have announced that they will leave the conference following this season.
• Washburn extended its series lead, 7-2, earlier this season with a four-set win in St. Charles, Mo.
• Saturday's match with the Jennies will be the 70th meeting all-time with Washburn trailing the series, 17-52. 
• Washburn took the first meeting this season in Warrensburg, downing then-No. 13 UCM in four sets.
• Under head coach Chris Herron, Washburn is a combined 12-4 at Lee Arena when hosting Lindenwood (3-1) and UCM (9-3).

WIN WIN WIN
Washburn's 22-0 run to open the 2018 campaign was the best start in program history surpassing a 15-0 start in 2009 ... the streak tied the 2011 mark for second-longest in program-history ... the Ichabods 25 wins to begin the week was tied for second-most in Div. II with Wheeling Jesuit and Spring Hill ... WU's .962 win percentage meanwhile is second nationally only to undefeated Wingate.

SET DOMINATION
Washburn has been dominate this season winning 15 of 25 matches in 3-0 fashion ... additionally, the Ichabods have only dropped 14 of 89 sets they've played ... entering the 2018 campaign, WU had won 308 matches in straight sets ... the single-season record for most three-set victories is 24 and was set in 2008. 

AGAINST RANKED FOES
• Under head coach Chris Herron, Washburn is 63-61 all-time when facing teams mentioned among the AVCA Top 25.
• Saturday's meeting with UCM will be the fifth match against an AVCA ranked opponent in 2018.
• Since 2002, Washburn is 38-15 when hosting a ranked opponent at Lee Arena. 

TOUGH DEFENSE
• The Washburn defense is among the NCAA Division II Top 25 in opponent hitting percent (7th/0.111), digs per set (10th/19.80), total digs (24th/1,762), while listed 27th in blocks per set (2.25) and 32nd in blocks (200.5).
• In 23 of 26 matches, WU opponents have hit sub-.200 for a match, with 13 below the .100 mark including a season-low -.029 against Southeastern Oklahoma (8/25).
• Opponents have combined for 549 attack errors with the WU front line contributing with 200.5 blocks (second-most in the MIAA).
• Washburn tops the MIAA team leaderboard in digs per set, blocks per set while listed second in opponent hitting percentage and fourth in digs.

ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK
• Among the national leaderboard, the Ichabod attack is among the Division II's top 15 in kills per set (14th/14.40) and assists per set (15th/13.38) while ranking 30th in kills (1282) and 31st  in hitting (0.243). 
• Washburn has hit .250 or better in a match 13 times this season and have surpassed .300 hitting on four occasions including a season-best, .413 versus Southern Arkansas (8/31).
• WU had a season-high 67 kill vs Missouri Western (10/12) and a season-low of 37 vs Southern Nazarene (9/1).
• In the MIAA team leaderboard, WU tops the assists per set and kills per set categories while its 39.21 attacks per set is second overall.

GET YO MAK ON
• Makayla Maxwell's 626 kills is 31st-overall on the all-time Washburn kills list ... she posted a career-best 272 kills in 2017 and has averaged roughly 157 kills in her last three seasons.
• Maxwell's 351 career blocks is 14th on the career list ... she averaged 123 blocks in her last two seasons and if she continues the trend, would finished her career among the top 10 all-time - she notched 117 last season.
• Maxwell began the weekend sixth among MIAA leaders in blocks per set (0.99) while ranking eighth in hitting (.316) and blocks (80).

COUNT ON THE HAUS
• Faith Rottinghaus posted a career-best 38 digs in Saturday's win at UNK, as a result, she is now 22nd on Washburn's all-time list after beginning the year ranked 44th.
• Nationally, Rottinghaus is among the Div. II's Top 50 in in digs per set (43rd/5.26) and digs (49th 468), marks that have her listed fourth and fifth in the MIAA respectively.
• The sophomore libero is 155th on the Division II active career list for digs (1047), while her career 4.99 digs per set is 23rd-best among  division leaders.

COURTSIDE ASSISTANCE
• Shayla Conner continues to the climb the charts, now sitting at 12th on the career assist rankings (1,502) is now 107 from shy of the 10th spot on the career list.
• Conner has reached the 40-assists plateau eight times this season including a career-best 52 against UNK (9/15).
• Conner has a team-best 19 double-doubles for the year and has registered double-double efforts in 13-consecutive matches.
• Nationally, Conner's 842 assists and 9.57 assists per set, place her among the Top 100 and fourth and fifth, respectively, in the MIAA, while her 315 digs heading into the weekend is 16th-best among the MIAA leaders.

ALLI TO THE MAX
• Registered a career-best 24 kills on Oct. 12 against MWSU ... has 16 matches with double-figure kills ... had a seven-match streak (9/14-29) with 10+ kills.
• The sophomore has registered five or more blocks six times this season with a season and career-best 9.0 on Sept. 18 ... is coming off a six-block performance at Nebraska-Kearney (10/20).
• Maxwell is among the top 50 in Washburn's record book for career blocks (35th/176), kills (42nd/485) and points (45th/588).
• Maxwell began the week among the MIAA Top 10 in kills (9th/241), kills per set (7th/3.14), hitting (7th/.318), while defensively ranked  11th in blocks (78) and blocks per set (0.92).

NOTHING BUT A G-THING
• Genna Berg entered the weekend with double-doubles in four of her last five matches ... during the span, she has 56 kills and 58 digs.
• Among the MIAA leaders, Bergis 14th in kills (244), kills per set (2.77) and points per set (3.31).

TO THE 9
• Washburn's No. 9, Erica Montgomery, has been thriving of late posting double-figure kills in three of the last four outings ... during that four match stretch, she has tallied 53 kills including a season-best 20 against Emporia State (10/16).
• Among conference leaders, Montgomery is 10th in kills (258) and 11th in kills per set (2.93) while hitting .211 on the year. 

OTHER NOTABLES
• Taylor Antonowich had five aces and 23 digs last week and was a 47-for-47 on service receptions ... has had three 10-kill matches.
• Katie Heeter has been solid on the back line with 197 digs on the year ... had a career-best 19 earlier this season against UNK ... had 37 during last week's three-match slate.

MIAA HONORS
Washburn has collected seven weekly accolades with at least one representative in five of nine weeks. This week, Shayla Conner earned her fourth Specialist of the Week honors, became just the second volleyball student-athlete to garner four MIAA weekly accolades in a single-season since Marissa Cox in 2013. Allison Maxwell has been twice named the league's top hitter with Makayla Maxwell also being named once.

HOME SWEET HOME
The 2018 campaign marks the 29th season volleyball has called Lee Arena home ... the Ichabods are 8-1 when playing at home this season ... since 1990, Washburn has enjoyed a fair amount of success at home as it began the year with a 286-105 all-time record ... during its time at Lee Arena, WU has gone perfect four times, the last being 2016 when it went 15-0 ... in 2007, WU recorded the most wins (17) at Lee Arena in program-history ... that season Washburn also hosted the NCAA Division II National Championship despite being the No. 4-seed ... over the last 15 seasons, the Ichabods have continuously been ranked among NCAA Division II's top 15 in attendance.

50TH SEASON
The 2018-19 academic year marks the 50th season of women's athletics at Washburn University, which began with volleyball, basketball, softball, field hockey and  gymnastics. Although, field hockey and gymnastics are no longer available, the offerings for female student-athletes have grown to eight sports with the addition of soccer, tennis, and most cross country and track and field.