WARRENSBURG, Mo. – After losing the first two sets, No. 3 Washburn stormed back to defeat No. 10 Central Missouri in a five set thriller at the Multipurpose Building on Saturday afternoon. The Ichabods close out the regular season with a record of 26-2 (18-2 MIAA) and the Jennies finish at 21-8 (15-5 MIAA). Washburn now looks towards the MIAA Championship Tournament next week (Nov. 21-23) at the HyVee Arena in Kansas City, Mo., as the No. 2 seed. The Ichabods will play the MIAA quarterfinal match against the No. 7 seed Pittsburg State (14-15) on Thursday, Nov 21, at noon. 
 
Washburn won by the set scores of 26-28, 25-27, 25-14, 25-18, and 15-12. The Ichabods hit .201 in the match while the Jennies hit slightly less with a .176 attacking percentage. Washburn led in kills, 71-51, and in digs, 92-67. In the match, there were 40 total tie scores and 17 lead changes.
 
The first set saw 18 tied scores and nine lead changes with neither team leading by more than two points at any time. Central Missouri was sitting at set point (24-22) when Washburn won the next two points to even the score. The teams exchanged points until the Jennies won the final two in a row to take the first set, 28-26.
 
The second set was very similar to the first as there were 19 ties and the lead was always within two points. The Ichabods led for the first half of the set until the Jennies put together the longest run of the set with three-straight points to go in front 16-14. Washburn answered and retook the lead, but the back-and-forth scoring continued. Genna Berg knocked down a kill to even the score at 24-all and then Erica Montgomery had a kill to knot up the score at 25-all, but again, Central Missouri claimed the final two points to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.

After the Jennies won the first point of the third set, Washburn went on a 4-0 scoring run and never trailed as they cruised to a 25-14 set victory. The Ichabods finished the set with 18 kills for a .353 attacking percentage.

Berg knocked down the first kill of the fourth set and then sparked a 6-1 run for the Ichabods to help them to a 7-3 lead. After trailing by as many as seven points, the Jennies got within two points at 18-16, but a kill from Allison Maxwell started a four point run and pushed Washburn's lead to 22-16. Kelsey Gordon registered a kill and then was a part of a block with Berg for the final two set winning points as Washburn evened the score at 2-2. Berg finished the set with eight kills and seven digs.
 
Washburn led the final frame start to finish as it jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two errors by the Jennies and back-to-back kills by Berg. The Ichabods then put together a 6-3 scoring run to go in front 10-3. Trailing 13-6, Central Missouri used a timeout to slow Washburn's momentum and came out of the huddle swinging as the Jennies knocked down three-consecutive kills, forcing Washburn to call a timeout leading 13-9. Central Missouri won the next three points to get within one at 13-12. Berg landed a kill to set Washburn up for the match point and the final point was awarded to the Ichabods after a setting error by Central Missouri.
 
Four Ichabods finished with double-figure kills, led by Berg, who recorded her 13th double-double of the season and tied a career-high in both categories with 25 kills and 22 digs. She also contributed three of Washburn's six service aces. Montgomery had 15 kills and Maxwell knocked down 13 of her own. Kelsey Gordon finished with 10 kills. Sadler recorded 60 assists to go along with eight digs and three kills. Faith Rottinghaus made a team-high 28 digs and Taylor Antonowich was a part of four blocks at the net and made 13 digs.