TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 1 Washburn hits the road for the first time in almost three weeks to take on No. 9 Northwest Missouri and Missouri Western this weekend. First serve in Maryville, Mo. is set for 6 p.m. on Friday and the Saturday match against the Griffons in St. Joseph, Mo. is slated for a 7:30 p.m. start.

FIRST SERVE …
>> Washburn is on a nine-match winning streak and holds a record of 17-1 (9-0 MIAA).
>> The Ichabods are 3-0 in true away matches this season, with their most recent road victory occurring in four sets at then-ranked No. 7 Central Missouri on Sept. 25.
>> The Bearcats have won seven in a row and are 14-2 (7-1 MIAA). Their only conference loss was against Central Missouri.
>> NWMSU has only played three home matches so far this season and holds a record of 2-1.
>> The Griffons hold a record of 11-7 (3-6 MIAA) and have lost their last three matches. MWSU will host Emporia State on Friday evening before taking on the Ichabods on Saturday.
>> The Griffons are 3-1 when playing in the Missouri Western Fieldhouse this season.

QUICK HITS …
>> As a team, Washburn leads the MIAA in nine of its 12 statistical categories, including hitting percentage (.314 percent - second in DII), kills per set (15.03 kills/set - fourth in DII), assists per set (13.62
assists/set - fifth in DII), and blocks per set (2.37 blocks/set - 21st in DII).
>> The Ichabods also hold their opponents to a conference-low .127 hitting percentage as well as the lowest in opponent assists (9.26 assists/set), kills (10.26 kills/set), service aces (0.79 aces/set), and blocks (1.28 blocks/set).
>> Allison Maxwell and Sydney Fitzgibbons are the only two hitters in the MIAA who currently hold an attacking percentage above .400.
>> Washburn has won 52 of the 61 sets it has played this season while recording 11 sweep victories.

COACH CHRIS HERRON …
>> Chris Herron is in his 20th year leading Washburn and holds a record of 548-108 (.835) while going 263-61 in MIAA play.
>> Herron has led Washburn to five MIAA titles and 15 trips to the NCAA Tournament since taking over the program.
>> He has coached at least one All-American in every year but 2002 and 2017 season.
>> Against Northwest Missouri, Herron is 32-4, and he is 29-4 against Missouri Western.
>> Herron is 82-78 when playing teams ranked in the top-25.
>> In three set matches, his teams have gone 365-42.

MIAA CO-SETTER OF THE WEEK …
>> Allison Sadler received MIAA Setter of the Week honors for the second time this season on Oct. 11
>> She averaged 10.43 assists per set and guided an Ichabod offense that hit .311 last weekend.
>> In the sweep over Pittsburg State on Saturday, she recorded her fourth double-double of the season finishing with 38 assists and 13 digs.
>> Washburn has at least one player receive MIAA Athlete of the Week honors in each of the six weeks this season.

IN THE RANKINGS …
>> The Ichabods are ranked the No. 1 team in the nation for the fourth week in a row and are the only team to hold down the top ranking for more than one week this season.
>> Washburn has been ranked in the top-five in 21 of the last 22 official polls (excluding the 2021 spring season), dating back to the final rankings of 2018. The Ichabods were ranked No. 8 in this fall's preseason poll.
>> Prior to this season, Washburn had never been ranked No. 1 before.
>> Washburn held down the No. 2 spot for the first three weeks of the 2008 season and then again in the seventh week during the 2010 season.
>> Four of the top-15 teams in the latest AVCA poll are from the MIAA: Central Missouri is No. 4, Northwest Missouri is No. 9, Nebraska-Kearney is No. 15. Central Oklahoma received votes in the poll for the fourth-straight week.
>> Washburn is already 5-1 against opponents ranked in the top-20 so far this season.
>> During the 2019 season, the Ichabods faced a tough schedule and went 4-4 against opponents ranked in the top-25. Six of those opponents were ranked in the top-10.

LAST TIME OUT …
>> Washburn recorded a 3-0 victory over Nebraska-Kearney on Tuesday to complete the regular season series sweep after the Ichabods defeated the Lopers earlier this year on Sept. 18.
>> Washburn has now shut out UNK twice in its program history, with the other sweep victory happening on Sept. 15, 2015 in Lee Arena.
>> The Ichabods won all three sets with the identical score of 25-22.
>> WU's middle hitters led the team offensively as the trio of Allison Maxwell, Sydney Fitzgibbons, and Kelsey Gordon combined for 31 of the 46 kills.
>> Washburn held Nebraska-Kearney to its second-lowest hitting percentage of the season at .138 after holding the Lopers to a .134 clip back in September.

TEAM LEADERS …
>> Genna Berg: Leads the team with 217 kills and has a conference-best 3.56 kills per set. She has finished with double-figure kills in 12 matches.
>> Allison Maxwell: Has the third-highest hitting percentage in Division II (.460) and leads the conference in total blocks (73). She has hammered down 12 or more kills in each of the last three matches and has totaled 188 on the year.
>> Faith Rottinghaus: Averages 6.08 digs/set, which leads in the MIAA and ranks eighth in the nation. She has been named the MIAA Defensive Athlete of the Week four times this season and has committed just two reception errors in 208 total attempts for an incredible reception percentage of .990.
>> Kelsey Gordon: Is third on the team with 151 kills and is second with 53 total blocks. In the sweep over UNK, she hit a blistering .571 with nine kills on 14 attempts and one error.
>> Jalyn Stevenson: Leads Washburn with 23 service aces and has tallied 135 kills to go with 107 digs.
>> Allison Sadler: Averages 9.65 assists per set and is second on the team with 135 digs. She leads the team with four double-doubles this season.
>> Sydney Fitzgibbons: Is 10th in the nation in hitting percentage at .422 and she averages 2.21 kills per set.
>> Chloe Paschal: The freshman defense specialist tied a season-high in digs against the Lopers as she scooped up 11. She has 67 total digs on the year.

MILESTONE TRACKER …
>> Maxwell needs eight more total blocks to be one of five players in Washburn's history to record 1,000 kills and 400 total blocks.
>> In 23 more digs, Berg will enter Washburn's history books as the 10th player to have 1,000 career kills and digs. She is also two kills away from entering the top-10 of Washburn's all-time kills list.
>> Sadler is 80 away from 3,000 career assists. Only four other players in Washburn's history have recorded 3,000 or more career assists.
>> Fitzgibbons needs 10 more kills to reach 200 in her career.
>> Rottinghaus is second on the program's all-time career digs list with 2,214 in her time as an Ichabod. She needs 251 to surpass Erica Cowhick, who holds the program's record with 2,464.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION ...
Northwest Missouri Bearcats
>> The Bearcats finished the 2019 campaign with a record of 21-9 (13-7 MIAA) and reached the MIAA Tournament semifinal.
>> This season, the Bearcats are hitting .238 and are second in the MIAA in kills per set (14.44 kills/set - eighth in Division II).
>> Payton Kirchhoefer leads the team with 212 kills per set and averages 3.48 kills per set, which ranks third in the league.
>> Setter Alyssa Rezac's 11.20 assists per set is ranked second in the MIAA and eighth in the nation.
>> Defensively, libero Hannah Koechl scoops up 4.66 digs per set.
>> Amy Woerth is in her 10th year as the head coach and holds a record of 149-111.
>> These two programs first played in 1976 and Washburn leads the all-time series, 50-20.
>> When playing in Maryville, Washburn is 19-7.
>> The Ichabods won both matches against the Bearcats in 2019. The first meeting was a five-set thriller in Topeka (25-20, 30-32, 25-18, 23-25, 15-7) and then Washburn swept Northwest Missouri in the second to last match of the season.

Missouri Western Griffons
>> The Griffons went 17-13 (11-9 MIAA) in 2019 and fell to the Bearcats in the quarterfinal of the MIAA Tournament.
>> MWSU started off the 2021 season 7-1 and currently hold a record of 11-7 (3-6 MIAA).
>> As a team, the Griffons are hitting .200 and average 12.0 kills per set.
>> Ali Tachen leads the way with 178 kills for a 2.78 kills per set average. She is also second on the team with 37 total blocks.
>> Allie Kerns is close behind as she contributes 2.66 kills per set.
>> Setter Jenna Boland averages 9.36 assists per set and has tallied 21 service aces.
>> Hailey Crane has landed a league-leading 29 service aces
>> Marian Carbin is in her ninth year leading the Griffons and has a 133-89 career record at Missouri Western.
>> Although Washburn has won the last three meetings, Missouri Western holds a slight edge in the all-time series, 47-43.

2021 SQUAD …
>> There are 13 Ichabods returning from the 2019 squad and they lost just two letterwinners from that team.
>> Ten seniors will take the court for their final season and are joined by two juniors, two sophomores, and one redshirts freshman.
>> Washburn added four freshmen in 2020 and three more for this fall.
>> Two transfer student-athletes also join the team in Jaycee Burghart (Cloud County CC) and Payton Nutter (Concordia-St. Paul).

2019 & 2020 SEASON REWIND …
>> In 2019, Washburn completed its second-straight season ranked as a top-five team in the AVCA national final rankings as the Ichabods checked in at No. 5 in all of Division II.
>> The team finished the season 27-4 and 18-2 in MIAA matches with their only two losses of the regular season coming against Nebraska-Kearney.
>> Washburn started the season undefeated through nine matches while only suffering one set loss amid eight 3-0 sweep victories.
>> The Ichabods were awarded the No. 2 seed in the MIAA Tournament and swept their quarterfinal game against Pittsburg State before falling in five to Central Missouri in the semifinal.
>> Washburn earned its 15th trip to the NCAA Tournament and was tabbed as the six-seed in the Central Region and played against the three-seed and No. 3 nationally-ranked Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears in the quarterfinals.
>> CSP won sets one and three and WU claimed sets two and four to send it to the deciding fifth, which the Golden Bears won  15-8 ultimately ending the Ichabods' season.
>> Although the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MIAA teams agreed to a shortened conference-only schedule in the spring of 2021 to have the opportunity to compete.
>> Official statistics were not kept, but the competition level remained high and the Ichabods finished with a mark of 14-5 and recorded 11 sweep victories.

TAKE A LOOK AHEAD …
>> The Ichabods return home for midweek matches against Fort Hays State (Tuesday, Oct. 19) and No. 4 Central Missouri (Thursday, Oct. 21).