TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 20 Washburn will begin postseason play this week at the MIAA Volleyball Tournament in St. Joseph, Mo. as the No. 5 seed taking on the No. 4 seed at No. 21-ranked Central Oklahoma in the quarterfinal match on Thursday at 7:30 p.m

FIRST SERVE …
>> The Ichabods went 1-1 last week and finished the regular season 21-7 (12-6 MIAA).
>> The Bronchos (24-6, 14-6 MIAA) also split their final weekend of regular season play, sweeping Newman before falling at Northwest Missouri in straight sets.
>> This will be the third meeting between these two teams this fall and the Ichabods are looking for the revenge match as the Bronchos have won both matchups.

MIAA TOURNAMENT INFORMATION …
>> The three-day MIAA Tournament will be held at the Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Mo. on Nov. 10-12.
>> Northwest Missouri won the regular season title and will be the No. 1 seeded team taking on the No. 8 seed Missouri Southern in the quarterfinal.
>> Nebraska-Kearney earned the No. 2 seed and will play No. 7 seed Missouri Western in the first round.
>> Central Missouri is the No. 3 seed after winning the tie-breaker over UCO and will take on the No. 6 seed Pittsburg State.
>> The semifinals will be at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Friday and the championship will take place on Saturday at 6 p.m.
>> All matches will be live streamed on the MIAA Network and have live stats.
>> Fans making the trip to St. Joe can purchase tickets online here.

WASHBURN IN THE MIAA TOURNAMENT …
>> Washburn is 14-14 all time in the MIAA Tournament and 10-2 in quarterfinal matches.
>> The Ichabods have played Central Oklahoma three times (2015, 2016, and 2018) in the conference tournament and have gone 2-1 in those postseason matchups.
>> The most recent time these two teams played in the MIAA Tournament was the semifinal match in 2018 where the Ichabods won, 3-1, after losing the first set.
>> Halle Meister is the only remaining player on Washburn's current roster who was on the team in 2018.
>> Current assistant coach Shayla Conner played in that match against UCO and totaled 49 assists and 17 digs.
>> Washburn is 0-1 all-time as the No. 5 seed and has gone 3-1 versus the No. 4 seed.
>> The only other time Washburn has been the No. 5 seed was in 2003.
>> The Ichabods won the MIAA quarterfinal against Pittsburg State last year before falling to Northwest Missouri in the semifinal.
>> Washburn has played in four championship matches, but not won an MIAA tournament title.
>> WU has played an MIAA Tournament match in St. Joseph only one time back in 2017 when the Ichabods faced Missouri Western in the quarterfinal and lost.

WASHBURN ALL-MIAA SELECTIONS …
>> Washburn had four Ichabods earn All-MIAA honors which were released on Wednesday afternoon.
>> There have now been 114 All-MIAA awards earned by Washburn volleyball during Coach Herron's tenure.
>> Additionally, 44 of those awards are first-team selections earned by 25 different Washburn players.
>> Senior middle blocker Meister has turned in a career year and earned her first all-conference award landing on the first-team.
>> Also receiving first-team honors was sophomore outside hitter Jalyn Stevenson, who picked up her second-consecutive All-MIAA award after being named an Honorable Mention last year ... she becomes the youngest Ichabod to earn all-conference first-team honors since the trio of eventual All-Americans Genna Berg, Allison Maxwell, and Faith Rottinghaus did so as sophomores in 2018.
>> After seeing limited action in the two non-conference tournaments to start the year, freshman right side hitter Kealy Kiviniemi has made the most of her time since conference play began and was named to the All-MIAA second team.
>> Corinna McMullen, also a true freshman, has handled the majority of the setting duties for the Ichabods and received an All-MIAA Honorable Mention nod.

TEAM LEADERS …
>> As a team, the Ichabods are hitting .226 and average 13.7 kills per set.
>> The Ichabods have held opponents to a .159 attacking percentage, which is the second-lowest in the MIAA ... WU has held opponents to hitting below .150 in 13 matches, with six of those below .100.
>> Jalyn Stevenson: is sixth among conference hitters with 286 kills and seventh in kills per set (3.11 kps) ... she is also second on the team in aces (34) and third in digs (315). She has a streak of 13-consecutive matches with double-figure digs and has had 10 or more kills in five of the last six matches. Stevenson has totaled 11 double-doubles.
>> Halle Meister: finished the regular season leading the conference with a .363 attacking percentage and has totaled 237 kills (2.33 kps) ... she has hit above .400 in 12 matches including nine above .500. She also helps the team defensively and is second on the squad with 74 blocks.
>> Kealy Kiviniemi: is third on the team in kills with 207 kills and a .276 attacking percentage after playing in 92 of the 106 sets this fall ... she has recorded six or more kills in 15 of the last 16 matches with five matches with double-digit kill totals and has also made 52 blocks.
>> Austin Broadie: is up to 180 kills and 53 blocks in her first year of action. She has knocked down at least one kill in all 28 matches with seven double-digit kill performances.
>> Kassidy Pfeiffer: ranks seventh in the conference hitting .308 and has 115  kills on the year ... she is also eighth in the MIAA with 0.88 blocks per set (79 total, seven solo blocks).
>> Sydney Pullen: has racked up a team-high 453 digs (4.36 digs per set/seventh in MIAA) ... she also has recorded 89 assists and 18 aces. She has had nine matches with 20 or more digs.
>> Sophie McMullen: does a little of everything for Washburn with a team-high 41 aces, 406 digs (second on team), and 146 kills (fifth on team) to go with a .957 reception percentage after committing only 17 errors out of 394 total attempts.
>> Corinna McMullen: is the only Ichabod to have played in all 106 sets this fall as she's guided the offense with 691 assists (6.52 assists/set) and has notched 25+ assists in 15 matches with six 30+ assists ... she also averages 2.33 digs per set and has achieved a team-best 12 double-doubles.
>> Sydney Conner: splits setter duties with McMullen and has handed out 478 assists (4.73 aps) and recorded 192 digs (1.90 dps). She has also notched seven double-doubles.

LAST TIME OUT …
>> Washburn swept the regular season series against Central Missouri with a four-set victory in Warrensburg (25-21, 25-21, 22-25, and 25-19).
>> Washburn finished the match with a .251 attacking percentage and Central Missouri hit .228.
>> It was fairly evenly matched down the stat line as the Jennies had one more kill than the Ichabods, 62-61, and had the edge in digs, 88-83, while Washburn had one more assist, 56-55, and out blocked Central Missouri, 11-8.
>> The Ichabods recorded all six service aces that occurred in the match.
>> Stevenson knocked down a personal-best 24 kills while hitting .370 and added 17 digs.
>> Kiviniemi had a .400 attacking percentage with nine kills.
>> S. McMullen and Austin Broadie each recorded eight kills.
>> In the regular season finale, Washburn fell at Missouri Western, 3-1 (19-25, 22-25, 25-17, and 18-25).
>> The Ichabods hit .169 on the afternoon and the Griffons finished slightly lower with a .157 attacking percentage.
>> The Ichabods landed two more kills, 48-46, and the Griffons had one more dig, 73-72.
>> Missouri Western had the advantage in blocks, 8-2, and in aces, 9-3.
>> Offensively, the Ichabods were led by Meister and Broadie who finished with 11 kills each.
>> Stevenson also had double-figure kills with 10 and added a team-best 18 digs.

IN THE RANKINGS …
>> The Ichabods were not ranked in the last set of NCAA regional rankings before Selection Sunday (Nov. 13) after checking in at ninth last week ... the top-eight teams will advance to the NCAA Central Region Tournament.
>> The conference tournament winners from the MIAA, NSIC, and GAC will receive an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
>> The Ichabods went 1-1 last week and fell three places to No. 20 in the final AVCA Top-25 poll of the regular season.
>> The MIAA conference and Central Region continues to have some of the best competition in Division II volleyball as four MIAA teams are ranked in the top-25 with another receiving votes ... nine of the top-25 teams are from the Central Region, six of which are in the top-10.
>> The Ichabods have now been ranked in the AVCA Top-25 for 50 straight weeks, dating back to Sept. 17, 2018.

MILESTONE TRACKER …
>> C. McMullen needs nine more assists to hit the 700 mark.
>> Pullen is eight digs shy of reaching 700 in her career.
>> Stevenson needs 17 more kills and 28 more digs to reach 600 in both for her career.

HEAD COACH CHRIS HERRON …
>> Chris Herron is in his 21st year leading Washburn and holds a record of 583-120 (.830) while going 278-68 in MIAA play.
>> Herron has guided Washburn to five MIAA titles, three NCAA Regional championships, and to all 16 of its trips to the NCAA Tournament since taking over the program in 2002.
>> He has coached at least one All-American in every year except 2002 and 2017 season and has seen his players earn 48 All-America awards.
>> Herron is 13-9 all-time against Central Oklahoma.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION ...
Central Oklahoma Bronchos
>> The Central Oklahoma roster consists of only one upper classman (a junior) and has turned in an impressive season as the Bronchos rank in the top-five in Division II in eight team statistical categories, including assists (1,508/first), kills (1,638/first), and digs (2,208/second).
>> Five Bronchos earned All-MIAA honors with three landing on the first-team.
>> Libero Jaedyn Evans was a unanimous first-team pick as she leads the nation in total digs (734) and digs per set (6.55 dps). She also has a .968 reception percentage.
>> Outside Hitter Sydney Huck was dubbed the MIAA Freshman of the Year and earned a place on the first-team as she has totaled 420 kills (3.96 kps) while hitting .261. She is also second on the team  in digs (327 digs/3.08 dps) and has recorded 39 blocks and 24 aces.
>> Jenna Karp rounded out the UCO selections on the first-team as she has started all 30 matches and tallied 277 kills and is third in the league hitting .340. Defensively, she has made a team-high 82 blocks which consists of 22 solo blocks.
>> Lindsey Houran, an all-conference second teamer, finished the regular season leading all MIAA setters with an 11.96 assist per set average to rank third in all of Division II. Her 1,339 assists are the most in DII.
>> Mallorie Koehn also received All-MIAA second team honors as she is second on the team in kills (309/2.97 kkps) and leads the squad with 35 service aces.
>> Edgar Miraku is in his 11th year at the helm for UCO and has compiled a record of 236-84.
Series History
>> These two teams have played 27 times since 1995 and WU leads the series, 16-11.
>> The last time Washburn lost back-to-back matches to Central Oklahoma was in the 2017 season.
>> In Herron's tenure, the Bronchos have been ranked in the top-25 in 12 matchups against Washburn and the series is now tied at 6-6 when UCO is ranked.

LAST TIME AGAINST CENTRAL OKLAHOMA ...
Oct. 21, 2022
>> Washburn lost a five-set marathon to Central Oklahoma (26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 31-33, 12-15).
>> WU found itself down 20-12 in the opening set before rallying back to even the score at 22 and 24 then back-to-back kills gave the Ichabods the win.
>> The Ichabods held a 2-1 lead, but were unable to put away the win in the fourth set, despite being at match point on four occasions, or in the fifth game after holding an 8-2 lead.
>> Both teams finished the night with exactly a .193 attacking percentage. Central Oklahoma had the advantage in kills (80-68), digs (134-130), and aces (7-4) and both teams made the same number of blocks with eight.
>> Stevenson had 19 kills to go with a career-high 25 digs.
>> Meister hit an even .500 in the match with 15 kills and was a part of three blocks.
>> S. McMullen led WU with 34 digs and added eight kills.
>> Four Bronchos had double-figure kills ... Karp had 20, Brynn Egger had 19, Lari Migliorino had 16, and Mallorie Koehn finished with 15.
>> Evans led all players with 36 digs.

TAKE A LOOK AHEAD …
>> A win would advance the Ichabods to the semifinal on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of the Northwest Missouri/Missouri Southern quarterfinal.