THE SETUP
The Washburn Ichabod volleyball team will take to the road for week two of the season when it partakes in the South Central Classic hosted by Southeastern Oklahoma from Aug. 31-Sept.1 in Durant, Okla.

THE SCHEDULE
The Ichabods make their second appearance in the South Central Classic and first since 2014 where they went 3-0. Washburn opens the weekend on Friday against East Central and Southern Arkansas, before turning its attention to New Mexico Highlands and Southern Nazarene as it wraps up play in Durant on Saturday. Match times for each day will be 12 pm and 5 pm respectively.

THEY GOT HISTORY
Entering the weekend, head coach Chris Herron has a combined 10-0 record against the three regional opponents in East Central, Southern Arkansas and Southern Nazarene, while Saturday will mark his first meeting with New Mexico Highlands ... under Herron, Washburn is 5-0 when facing East Central with every decision decided in no more than three sets including their meeting last season which the Ichabods claimed 26-24, 25-13, 25-14. Against the Muleriders, WU is 3-1 all-time with its lone loss coming during the 1999 season. In their last two outings however, the Ichabods have swept SAU in 2004 (30-15, 30-16, 30-7) and again nine years later (25-13, 25-7, 25-20). In the all-time series against SNU, WU is 3-1 with the three victories coming in 2012, 2014 and 2015. 

STRONG START
For the 16th time in 17 seasons, the Ichabods began the season at 4-0 ... since 2002, Washburn as complied a 57-11 record during the second week of the season, which includes a 12-3 mark during over the course of the last four seasons ... Washburn improved to 35-15 in season openers all-time and 23-6 since joining the NCAA and MIAA in 1989 after defeating Dallas Baptist to open 2018 ... under Chris Herron, Washburn has a history of starting the season hot as it is 64-1 during the season opening weekend since his start in 2002 ... in the first month of play, the Ichabods have gone 40-11 over the last three seasons ... all-time under Herron, Washburn is 234-31 in the first month the season. 

SWEEPING SUCCESS
Washburn's three victories decided in 3-0 fashion last weekend marks the first since 2016 the team has started the year with three or more three-set wins ... since 2014, the Ichabods have won a combined 22 matches during the first two weeks of the season ... entering the 2018 campaign, Washburn has won 308 matches with the score 3-0 ... the most shutout wins in a season is 24, recorded in 2008. 

ACES HIGH
In three of four matches this season Washburn first point of the match has been an ace ... the Ichabods are averaging 2.31 service aces per set as a team and as a result are ranked 23rd in Division II and second in the MIAA ... WU's 30 total aces meanwhile is 19th-best in the nation and third-overall among the MIAA leaderboard ... Faith Rottinghaus leads the way with 11 aces, good for ninth in Division II, while her 0.85 aces per set is 11th on the NCAA Division II landscape ... Rottinghaus is second in the conference for both categories. 

TOUGH DEFENSE
The Washburn defense has picked up where it left off in 2017 as the Ichabods open the 2018 campaign among the nation's best after the opening weekend of action ... as a team, Washburn is among the top 50 in hitting percentage as opponents are hitting .124, good for 44th-overall ... last season the Ichabods where tops in the MIAA in blocks per set (2.32) and 22nd in Division II, while also racking up 281 blocks, 17.94 digs per set and 2,171 digs, each placing Washburn third among the league leaderboard. On the national landscape, the team's block total was 18th-overall while the dig total earned them 33rd, the digs per set mark fell outside the top-50 as Washburn was listed at 53rd.

ALL OUT ATTACK
Through four games this season, the Ichabod offense is clicking as they're among the top 25 teams in Division II in hitting percentage (sixth), kills per set (20th), aces per set (23rd) and assists per set (25th) to name a few ... Washburn offensively is hitting .322, second-overall in the MIAA ... individually, Allison Maxwell is fronting the Ichabod attack with a team-best .386 hitting percentage, while Genna Berg, Taylor Antonowich and Makayla Maxwell are hitting .308 or better, with Erica Montgomery just outside with a .297 hitting percentage ... early on, the offense is running through Shayla Conner who's 97 total assists this season is eighth-best on the MIAA leaderboard.

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. Herron, who's already the winningest coach in program-history, also started the year six wins shy of 550 for his overall career.

HERRON TIDBITS
Ichabod head coach Chris Herron is in his 17th season at the helm and his 20th season in the collegiate ranks ... a KVCA Hall of Fame inductee in 2017, Herron has amassed a 471-98 record at Washburn ... will posting a 221-56 mark in MIAA matches ... he has been named the MIAA Coach of the Year four times (2002, 2005 , 2007, 2011) ... has led the Ichabods to five MIAA regular-season championships ... has led Washburn 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 87 overall who have been honored by the conference ... has coached four CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, six CoSIDA Academic All-District selections, five different MIAA Academic Excellence award winners (4.00 GPA), 32 MIAA Scholar Athletes (3.50+ GPA and all-MIAA honoree) and 135 MIAA Academic Honor Roll (3.00+ GPA) selections.