THE SETUP
With the regular season behind them, the Washburn Ichabod volleyball team now focuses their attention on postseason play, beginning with the quarterfinal round of the MIAA Championship on Tuesday. As the second-seed, Washburn will host rival and seventh-seed Emporia State at Lee Arena at 7 pm.
THEY GOT HISTORY
• Tuesday will be the third meeting of the 2018 season after Washburn swept the home-and-home series.
• Washburn has won three of the last four meetings against ESU and is 17-1 when playing host since 2002.
• Tied at 1-1, Tuesday will mark just the third time in thier long history that Washburn and Emporia State have met in the MIAA Tournament with both previous matches played at Lee Arena ... ESU took the first meeting, 3-0, on Nov. 5, 1997 with WU winning the most recent showdown, 3-0, on Nov. 10, 2005.
• All-time, Washburn trails the series 42-76 but has been dominate of late winning 29 of the last 36 meetings.
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.
SET DOMINATION
Washburn has been dominate this season winning 17 of 30 matches in 3-0 fashion ... additionally, the Ichabods have only dropped 20 of 101 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.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Tuesday's appearance will be Washburn's 22nd MIAA Volleyball Championship match in since becoming a member in 1990 and the 11th straight appearance since the tournament returned in 2012 after a four-year hiatus.
• The Ichabods are 10-11 all-time in the MIAA Tournament with a 7-2 record in the quarterfinals, having advanced to semifinal round seven times between 2004 and 2016.
• Washburn is 9-2 when hosting a MIAA Championship match.
• This is the fourth-time in six seasons Washburn has been the No. 2-seed in the tournament, most recently 2016 ... all-time holds a record of 4-3.
ABOUT THE HORNETS
• Emporia State enters Tuesday at 14-17 on the year while finishing 8-10 in the MIAA and are looking for its third consecutive win.
• The Hornets went 2-2 in their last four including a pair of five set decisions with nationally-ranked Central Missouri and Central Oklahoma.
• The Hornets secured the No. 7-seed on the last day of the regular season after rallying from 0-2 down against No. 17 Central Oklahoma to take the third set, 31-29, before completing the comeback 25-20, 15-11.
• Among the MIAA, the Hornet attack had the fourth-most kills (1493) but finished in the bottom half in hitting (9th/.174) and kills per set (7th/12.65).
• Defensively, ESU was fourth-highest in opponent hitting (.188) was conceding the third-most kills per set (12.80).
TOUGH DEFENSE
• The Washburn defense is among the NCAA Division II Top 25 in opponent hitting percent (10th/0.116), digs per set (9th/19.93), total digs (23rd/1,893), while listed 28th in blocks per set (2.23) and 38th in blocks (211.5).
• In 24 of 28 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 211.5 blocks (third-most in the MIAA).
• Among the MIAA, Washburn surrendered the fewest kills against (1090), while finishing second in kills per set against (10.79)
ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK
• Among the national leader board, the Ichabod attack is among the Division II's top 20 in kills per set (14th/14.35) and assists per set (18th/13.31) while ranking 30th in kills (1363) and 31st in hitting (0.240).
• Washburn has hit .250 or better in a match 14 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 33 vs Central Oklahoma (11/2).
• In the MIAA team leader board, WU is second in the kills per set and third in hitting.
THE BRACKET SHAKEDOWN
Winners of Tuesday's first-round matches will advance to the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 9 with the championship match slated for Saturday. Semifinal and Final rounds are hosted by the highest remaining seed, after the first round, with match times announced at a later date.
LEE ARENA
The 2018 campaign marks the 29th season volleyball has called Lee Arena home ... the Ichabods are 10-3 when playing at home this season ... since 1990, Washburn has enjoyed a fair amount of success at home as it began the 2018 campaign 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 with 17 wins in 2017 as the program's most home victories in a single-season ... Washburn ended the regular season listed among the Division II's top 10 in attendance (6th) and average attendance (8th).
500-WIN CLUB
After helping Washburn become just the 10th NCAA Division II program to 1,000 victories last season, head coach Chris Herron began the 2018 campaign 29 wins shy of 500 since taking over at Washburn in 2002. Already the winningest coach in program-history, Herron enters the MIAA postseason just two wins shy of his 500th at Washburn. His Washburn wins alone, Herron would be among the Division II top 50 in victories all-time (45th), factor in his 75 wins from Benedicitine (Kan.) and Herron is 30th.
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.
