TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 4 Washburn will play the next five matches on the road starting Tuesday at Emporia State. First serve in White Auditorium is slated for 6 p.m.

FIRST SERVE …
>> The Ichabods swept the Hornets in Lee Arena earlier this season on Sept. 21 by the set scores of 25-18, 25-15, and 25-15.
>> Washburn is 19-3 overall with a 11-2 mark in MIAA action after going 1-1 last week.
>> The Hornets are 4-16 (2-11 MIAA) and are on a four-match losing streak.
>> When playing in Emporia this season, the Hornets are 2-5.
>> The Ichabods are 4-1 in true road matches this season.

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 (15.18 kills/set - first in DII), and assists per set (13.82
assists/set - second in DII).
>> The Ichabods also hold their opponents to a conference-low .140 hitting percentage as well as the lowest in opponent assists (9.7 assists/set), kills (10.74 kills/set), service aces (0.79 aces/set), and blocks (1.42 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 .373 on the year.
>> Washburn has won 61 of the 76 sets it has played this season while recording 13 sweep victories.
>> The Ichabods lead in total blocks this season, 171-108, and in aces, 95-60.
>> WU is currently third in the MIAA standings. Central Missouri and Northwest Missouri each have just one loss in conference action.
>> Against the Hornets earlier this season, the Ichabods hit .367 and held ESU to a .074 hitting percentage.
>> Maxwell led the team with 13 kills on 15 attempts with just two errors for a .733 attacking percentage to go with her five block assists.
>> Genna Berg and Jalyn Stevenson both landed nine kills.
>> The trio of Shelby Ebert, Orianna Clements and Megan Stretton all had seven kills.

COACH CHRIS HERRON …
>> Chris Herron is in his 20th year leading Washburn and holds a record of 550-110 (.835) while going 265-63 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 Emporia State, Herron is 33-7.
>> In three set matches, his teams have gone 367-42.

IN THE RANKINGS …
>> The Ichabods slid two places in the latest AVCA rankings to No. 4 after falling in four sets against previously No. 3-ranked Central Missouri last week.
>> Washburn has been ranked in the top-five in 23 of the last 24 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 eighth straight week, four of the top-10 teams in the AVCA poll are from the MIAA: Alongside Washburn is Central Missouri at No. 2 and Northwest Missouri at No. 3, Nebraska-Kearney is tied for No. 15.
>> The NCAA Central Region is always tough and this year is no different. There are 10 total teams from the Central Region that are ranked in the top-25.
>> Washburn is 5-3 against opponents ranked in the top-20 so far this season. Four of those matches were a top-10 battle.

LAST TIME OUT …
>> Washburn went 1-1 at home last week with a sweep over Fort Hays State and a four-set loss to No. 3 Central Missouri.
>> The Ichabods finished the match with their second-highest hitting percentage of the season at .404.
>> The trio of Genna Berg, Allison Maxwell, and Jalyn Stevenson recorded 10 kills apiece.
>> Berg registered 10 kills on 16 attempts with zero errors for a scorching .625 attacking percentage.
>> Kelsey Gordon had nine kills on 14 attempts with one error to hit .500 on the night.
>> In a duel between the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the nation, the Ichabods lost to the Jennies by the set scores of 19-25, 25-17, 28-30, and 22-25.
>> Five Ichabods finished with double-figure kills and Washburn led the match in kills, 67-57, but also in errors, 25-13.
>> Allison Sadler tied a career-high 62 assists and also had 10 digs.

TEAM LEADERS …
>> Genna Berg: Leads the team with 274 kills and is second in the conference with 3.61 kills per set. She has registered double-digit kills in four-consecutive matches and 16 matches overall this season.
>> Allison Maxwell: Led the Ichabods in kills in both matches last week. She is fouth in the nation with a .438 hitting percentage. She is also second in the conference with 87 total blocks.
>> Faith Rottinghaus: Averages 6.43 digs per set (fifth in Division II) and has 489 total digs (seventh in Division II). She has just two reception errors in 253 total attempts for a .992 reception percentage.
>> Kelsey Gordon: Is third on the team with 182 kills and is eighth in the MIAA with 65 total blocks. Her .341 attacking percentage ranks fifth in the league.
>> Jalyn Stevenson: Landed exactly 10 kills in both matches last week. In the back row, she has a .968 reception percentage after just 15 errors in 474 total attempts. She also averages 2.01 digs per set.
>> Allison Sadler: Leads the team with six double-doubles as she averages 10.39 assists per set (third in the MIAA) and is second on the team with 174 digs. Despite the Ichabods winning 14 matches in three sets, Sadler has still finished 15 matches with 30 or more assists.
>> Sydney Fitzgibbons: Is second in the conference and eighth in the nation with a .424 attacking percentage.  She has hit .400 or better in 15 matches this fall and has not committed more than three errors in any match this season.
>> Chloe Paschal: The freshman defense specialist has finished with double-digit digs in four of the last five matches, including 10 during the 3-0 win over FHSU.
>> Taylor Antonowich: Is third on the team with 150 digs and scooped up a dozen digs against No. 3 UCM.

MILESTONE TRACKER …
>> In five 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. 8 on the all-time kills list in 33 more kills.
>> Stevenson is 31 kills away from recording 200 this season.
>> Rottinghaus is second on the program's all-time career digs list with 2,332 in her time as an Ichabod. She needs 133 to surpass Erica Cowhick, who holds the program's record with 2,464.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION ...
Emporia State Hornets
>> The Hornets went 7-21 (3-17 MIAA) in the 2019 season and are currently 4-16 (2-11 MIAA).
>> As a team, ESU has a .122 hitting percentage and averages 10.7 kills per set.
>> Rylie Fornelli is ranked third in the MIAA as she averages 5.53 digs per set. She is also second on the team with 12 service aces.
>> Shelby Ebert and Orianna Clements lead the team offensively with exactly 143 kills each on the year.
>> Ebert has also landed a team-best 24 aces.
>> Setter Riley Bernskoetter is seventh in the conference averaging 8.09 assists per set. She also contributes 2.31 digs per set.
>> Bing Xu is in his 17th year as the head coach at Emporia State and holds a record of 278-188.
>> The Ichabods have won 22 of the last 23 meetings against the Hornets and are on a seven-match winning streak.

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 is set for two more road matches this weekend at Central Oklahoma and Newman, Oct. 29-30.