TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 2 Washburn looks to remain undefeated at home with two midweek matches against Fort Hays State and No. 3 Central Missouri this Tuesday and Thursday. Both matches will begin at 6 p.m. in Lee Arena.

FIRST SERVE …
>> Washburn went 2-1 last week and is now 18-2 (10-1 MIAA) on the year.
>> The Tigers have won their last two matches with sweeps over Missouri Southern and Pittsburg State. FHSU is an even 10-10 overall this season with a 4-7 mark in MIAA play.
>> The Jennies are on a six-match winning streak and hold a record of 16-2 (9-1 MIAA).
>> The Ichabods have already recorded wins against both teams this season as they swept Fort Hays State in the conference opener on Sept. 17 and then defeated then-ranked No. 7 Central Missouri in four sets on Sept. 25.

QUICK HITS …
>> As a team, Washburn leads the MIAA in nine of its 12 statistical categories, including hitting percentage (.302 percent - second in DII), kills per set (15.03 kills/set - second in DII), and assists per set (13.68 assists/set - fourth in DII).
>> The Ichabods also hold their opponents to a conference-low .133 hitting percentage (ninth in Division II) as well as the lowest in opponent assists (9.54 assists/set), kills (10.57 kills/set), service aces (0.80 aces/set), and blocks (1.33 blocks/set).
>> Allison Maxwell and Sydney Fitzgibbons are the only two hitters in the MIAA who currently hold an attacking percentage above .400. The next closest hitter is Anna Squiers from Nebraska-Kearney who is hitting .356 on the year.
>> The Ichabods are 11-1 in Lee Arena this season.
>> Washburn has won 57 of the 69 sets it has played this season while recording 12 sweep victories.
>> The Ichabods are 18-1 this season when winning the first set.
>> WU dominates in the opening set as it has outscored its opponents 497-327 in the first frame.

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 Fort Hays State, Herron is 30-3, and when coaching against Central Missouri, he holds a record of 19-22. 
>> The Jennies have been ranked every time Herron has coached against them.
>> Herron is 82-79 when playing teams ranked in the top-25.
>> In three set matches, his teams have gone 366-42.

IN THE RANKINGS …
>> The Ichabods checked in at No. 2 in the latest AVCA rankings after falling in five sets at previously No. 9 Northwest Missouri last week.
>> Washburn has been ranked in the top-five in 22 of the last 23 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.
>> Washburn was atop the AVCA national poll for four weeks and prior to this season, WU 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.
>> For the seventh straight week, three of the top-10 teams in the AVCA poll are from the MIAA: Alongside Washburn is Central Missouri at No. 3 and Northwest Missouri at No. 6, Nebraska-Kearney is No. 16. Central Oklahoma received votes in the poll for the fifth-straight week.
>> Washburn is already 5-2 against opponents ranked in the top-20 so far this season. Three have been ranked in the top-10.
>> 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 went 2-1 last week with sweeps over No. 15 Nebraska-Kearney and Missouri Western and a five-set loss at No. 9 Northwest Missouri.
>> The Ichabods suffered their first conference loss of the season in a five set battle at NWMSU by the set scores of 25-20, 26-28, 27-25, 15-25, and 7-15.
>> Washburn was held to a .187 hitting percentage, the first time this season it has hit below .200.
>> Four Ichabods finished in double-digit kills and five had double-figure dig totals.
>> In the shutout win over Missouri Western, Washburn held the Griffons to their second-lowest hitting percentage match of the season at .075.
>> Allison Sadler became just the fifth player in Washburn's history to eclipse 3,000 career assists as she did so during the second set against MWSU.

TEAM LEADERS …
>> Genna Berg: Leads the team with 249 kills and is tied for a conference-best 3.61 kills per set. She landed 18 kills in the sweep against Missouri Western and has registered 15 or more kills in seven matches.
>> Allison Maxwell: Led the Ichabods in kills in all three matches last week. She is third in the nation with a .449 hitting percentage and has hit above .350 in 17 of the 20 matches. She has also hit over .435 in 14 matches. She also has a team and conference-high 78 total blocks and 13 solo stops.
>> Faith Rottinghaus: Averages 6.41 digs per set (third in Division II) and has 442 total digs (seventh in Division II). In the sweep victory at Missouri Western, she totaled 35 digs (11.6 digs/set).
>> Kelsey Gordon: Is third on the team with 162 kills and is second with 58 total blocks. Her .337 attacking percentage ranks sixth in the league.
>> Jalyn Stevenson: Finished with a double-double at No. 9 Northwest Missouri with 11 kills and a career-high 18 digs.
>> Allison Sadler: Leads the team with five double-doubles as she averages 9.97 assists per set and is second on the team with 159 digs.
>> Sydney Fitzgibbons: Is second in the conference and eighth in the nation with a .427 attacking percentage. In three matches last week, she hit a blistering .472 and totaled 37 kills with just three errors. She hammered down a career-high 17 kills and hit .441 in the five set match at NWMSU and added five blocks.
>> Chloe Paschal: The freshman defense specialist has finished with double-digit digs in the last three matches and had a career-best 14 against Missouri Western.
>> Taylor Antonowich: Scooped up a season-high 19 digs against Northwest Missouri.

MILESTONE TRACKER …
>> Maxwell needs three more total blocks to be one of five players in Washburn's history to record 1,000 kills and 400 total blocks.
>> In 13 more digs, Berg will enter Washburn's history books as the 10th player to have 1,000 career kills and digs.
>> Berg will also move up to No. 9 on the all-time kills list in 18 more kills.
>> Stevenson is 51 kills away from recording 200 this season.
>> Rottinghaus is second on the program's all-time career digs list with 2,285 in her time as an Ichabod. She needs 180 to surpass Erica Cowhick, who holds the program's record with 2,464.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION ...
Fort Hays State Tigers
>> The Tigers have already improved on their record from 2019, when they went 7-21 (4-16 MIAA). They are currently 10-10 (4-7).
>> In Washburn's sweep win at Hays, Berg led the Ichabods with 15 kills. For the Tigers, Claire Olson hit .450 and landed 10 kills.
>> The Tigers' offense averages 12.6 kills per set and hit .194.
>> Riley Tinder leads the way with 2.61 kills per set and 188 total kills. She is also second on the team with 16 service aces.
>> Morgan Christiansen and Isabelle Reynolds have both recorded 156 kills and average 2.17 kps.
>> Christiansen leads the team with 73 total blocks.
>> Elysia Glowacz averages 5.64 assists per set and defense specialist Jaden Daffer averages 3.96 digs per set.
>> Jessica Wood-Atkins is in her third year leading the Tigers and has a record of 15-43 at FHSU.
>> The Ichabods are on a 10-match winning streak against the Tigers and lead the series, 50-46. The last eight-consecutive victories have been 3-0 sweeps.
>> Washburn is 24-10 when playing FHSU in Topeka.

Central Missouri Jennies
>> The Jennies went 23-10 (15-5 MIAA) in 2019 and reached the NCAA Central Region Tournament before falling to Minnesota Duluth in the first round.
>> In the matchup earlier this season, three Ichabods finished in double-figure kills led by Berg's 18 while the Jennies also had three in double-digits kills with 14 from Sydney Lierz.
>> Rottinghaus was all over the court defensively and tied Washburn's single-match record with 51 digs that was achieved back in 2006.
>> This fall, the Jennies are hitting .249, which is good for third-best in the league.
>> Audrey Fisher and Kersti Nix lead the Jennies offensively with 198 and 197 total kills, respectively.
>> Fisher is hitting .349 (fourth in the MIAA) and is second on the team in blocks with 60 total, including a team-high 12 solo blocks.
>> Ally Offerdahl has recorded 600 assists this season (9.52 assists/set) and is second on the team with 191 digs (3.03 digs/set).
>> Libero Rylie Barnum averages 4.82 digs per set and has a .972 reception percentage.
>> Flip Piontek is in his 13th season as the Jennies' head coach and is beginning his 36th year overall with the program. As the head coach, Piontek holds a career 303-74 record.
>> The Jennies lead the all-time series, 54-20, and hold a slight edge when playing in Topeka, 15-11.

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 …
>> Washburn will play three road matches next week at Emporia State (Oct. 26), Central Oklahoma (Oct. 29), and Newman (Oct. 30).