TOPEKA, Kan. --- With the season's non-conference slate in its rearview mirror, Washburn volleyball now turns its attention to a grueling MIAA schedule. The Ichabods, which began the week at 12-0, open the conference schedule at home as they host Fort Hays State on Friday at 6 pm and Nebraska-Kearney at 3 pm Saturday.
THEY GOT HISTORY
• Friday's match will be the 92nd all-time meeting between Washburn and Fort Hays State ... the Ichabods trail the all-time series 45-46 ... WU has won the last five meetings and 16 of the last 17 dating back to 2010 ... Washburn is 22-10 at home.
• Saturday's match against the Lopers will be the 45th meeting in the series ... UNK leads the all-time series 34-10 including wins in its last three meetings ... the Ichabods are 5-4 all-time when hosting UNK ... on Oct. 7, 2016, WU upset a third-ranked UNK team in four sets, and ended a 20-plus match win streak for the Lopers.
STREAKING STARTS
Washburn's 12-0 start is its best since the 2015 season when it began 13-0 ... the 2018 streak is the fourth best start during the Chris Herron era and is preceeded by 13-0 marks in 2005 and 2015, 14-0 in 2004 and 2012; and a 15-0 start in 2009.
STRONG STARTS
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, WU has a history of starting the season hot as it is 64-1 during the season opening weekend since his start in 2002 ... since 2015, the Ichabods have gone 47-11 during the first month of play ... all-time under Herron, Washburn is 234-31 in the first month the season.
SWEEPING SUCCESS
During its win streak, 10 of 12 Washburn victories have been decided in 3-0 fashion ... entering the 2018 campaign, WU has won 308 matches in straight sets ... the program-record for most shutout wins in a season is 24, recorded in 2008.
ACES HIGH
Washburn's ability to gain points from the service line has them rounding out the national top 25 as with 2.10 aces per set, while its 82 aces through the first 12 matches is 12th-best among the NCAA Division II team leaderboard ... in both categories on the conference level, the Ichabods are second before Pittsburg State ... the Ichabods' 2018 season-high for most aces in a match is 10, which they established in the season opener vs. Dallas Baptist (8/24) and a day later against UCCS ... the team record for most aces in a match is 19, set on Aug. 31, 2002 at Lee Arena in a four-set match versus Anderson (S.C.) ... the single-season record for aces is 327 and was set in 1984 ... Faith Rottinghaus leads the team with 16 aces, good for 66th in Division II, while her 0.41 aces per set is 162nd on the NCAA Division II landscape ... Carol Williams' 98 aces in 1975 is the most in a single-season, while Lindsey Kersting and Abby Wittman share the mark for most aces in a single-match with seven ... Kersting set her record on Oct. 20, 2001 before Wittman matched the mark on Sept. 24, 2013.
CREAM OF THE CROP
With an 12-0 record heading into the weekend slate, Washburn is just one of 11 teams in Division II with an unblemished record and just one of two teams in the nation with 12 wins ... the Ichabods join the company of perennial regional powers Gannon, Barry, Northern State, Palm Beach Atlantic, West Chester, Cal State-Los Angeles and top-ranked Nebraska-Kearney, each has 10 or more wins ... the Lopers and Ichabods each has 12.
TOUGH DEFENSE
The Washburn defense is among the top 50 on the NCAA Divsion II team leaderboard in several categories including opponent hitting percent (15th/0.100), digs per set (22nd/18.69) and team digs (26th/729) while its blocks (76.5) and blocks per set (1.96) are 54th and 76 respectively.
ALL OUT ATTACK
In addition to its standings in aces and aces per set, the Washburn offense is among the nation's top 25 in several other categories such as kills per set (5th/14.49), assists per set (6th/13.67), hitting percentage (16th/0.263), team assists (16th/533) and team kills (19th/565).
MAK EFFORT
• Makayla Maxwell's 537 kills is 138 kills shy of 30th on the all-time kills list ... she posted a career-best 272 kills in 2017, though is averaging roughly 157 kills per season
• Maxwell's 302 career blocks is 18th-best on the Washburn record book, as she surpassed WU legend Tessa Jones (2005-07) after last weekend's performance in Lubbock.
•Maxwell is averaging 123 blocks in her last two seasons and if she continues the trend, would put herself among program's the top 10 all-time.
• Maxwell's .376 hitting percentage is 4th in the MIAA and 35th nationally.
COUNT ON THE HAUS
• Faith Rottinghaus began the year ranked 44th with 579 career digs ... she has since added to her total and has climbed to 34th all-time with 744 digs.
• Rottinghaus is ranked among the top 75 in Division II in digs (47th/195), digs per set (61st/5.0) and aces (66th/16).
• Rottinghaus has a team-best 16 aces this season ... her six aces against DBU on Aug. 24 was tied for third-best in a single-match.
COURTSIDE ASSISTANCE
• Shayla Conner continues to the climb the charts, now sitting at 17th on the career assist rankings with 1,003.
• Conner's 343 assists is 74th in Div. II and 5th among the MIAA, while her 9.03 assists per set has her listed 100th nationally and 7th among the league.
• Over the last three seasons, Conner averaged about 224 assists per year with 283 assists in 2017 as a single-season career-best.
• Allison Sadler is 16th on the career chart with 1,067 assists ... she is 92 assists shy of tying Amanda Dunbar for 15th on Washburn's all-time list.
• Entering the weekend Conner has a team-best six double-doubles on the year and is the MIAA's reining MIAA Specialist of the Week.
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.
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.
