HAYS, Kan. -- No. 3 Washburn volleyball posted its sixth shutout victory of the season on Friday evening with a sweep at Fort Hays State to begin the MIAA schedule. The Ichabods wrap up the MIAA opening weekend tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 18) with a top-three showdown at No. 1-ranked Nebraska-Kearney.
The Ichabods won by the set scores of 25-19, 25-19, and 25-20 to improve their record to 9-1 (1-0 MIAA).
Although Fort Hays State (5-4, 0-1 MIAA) won the first point of all three sets and kept things close, Washburn put together several key scoring runs to come out on top in the end. The match started out back-and-forth with neither team leading by more than two points until a kill from Genna Berg started a 5-1 run to give the Ichabods a 12-7 advantage. Washburn held on to its lead for the remainder of the game and won the final point of the 25-19 decision with a block from Allison Maxwell and Madison Johnson.
In the second set, the Tigers scored first and led 10-8 when Maxwell hammered down a kill to begin a 7-1 scoring run to give the Ichabods their first lead of the frame. Washburn added a 3-0 mini run to extend its lead to 19-13 and went on to win their second 25-19 set victory to go up 2-0 in the match.
The Tigers continued to fight early in the set to begin the third. FHSU held a one point advantage at 7-6 and then 9-8 when the Ichabods rattled off five-straight points to take a 13-9 lead. FHSU clawed its way back to within two points when another Washburn run pushed its lead to 22-16. The front row that made eight total blocks on the night finished the match with one final stop by Halle Meister and Kelsey Gordon to close out the 25-20 third set win and secure the sweep.
Berg led Washburn with 15 kills and Maxwell also recorded double-figures with 10 kills on 16 attempts with one error for an impressive .563 hitting percentage. Sydney Fitzgibbons totaled eight kills and had two assisted blocks and a solo stop. Allison Sadler had 32 assists and Faith Rottinghaus scooped up 20 digs in the back court.
For the Tigers, Claire Olson recorded 10 kills with a .450 attacking percentage and Jaida Felix finished with 20 assists and eight digs.
