CLEVELAND, Tenn. – No. 2 Washburn volleyball improved its record to 6-0 after defeating two Gulf South Conference teams Friday afternoon on day one of the Lee Invitational. The Ichabods will wrap up the weekend in Tennessee with two more matches on Saturday. Washburn will face Saint Leo at 8:30 a.m. (CT) before closing out the tournament against Trevecca Nazarene at 12:15 p.m.
MATCH ONE – Washburn 3, Lee 0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-17)
The Ichabods started the first set with a 6-4 lead when the Flames (1-4) went on a 5-1 run to go in front, 9-7.
Samantha Moburg stopped the run with a kill and back-to-back service aces from
Corinna McMullen gave the Ichabods the lead back at 10-9. Lee fought back and leveled the score at 10 and 11, but two attacking errors by the Flames aided a 4-1 Ichabod run to push their lead to 15-12. Lee was unable to overcome the deficit and the final point of the 25-19 game was awarded to Washburn on a Flames' service error.
After dropping the first point of the second frame, Washburn went on to claim the next four in a row and never trailed again. The Flames pulled within two at the 8-6 mark, but the Ichabods extended the lead with a 6-0 run that had five kills. A run of five unanswered points made it a double-figure difference in favor of the Ichabods at 22-11. Just like the first set, the final point of the second came on a service error by Lee as Washburn won the game, 25-15.
In the third set, Lee jumped out to its largest lead of the match with a 5-2 advantage early. The Flames didn't have the lead for long, though, as the Ichabods rattled off seven of the next eight points to go in front, 9-6. Holding an 11-9 lead, Moburg started a 4-0 mini run with kills from three different Ichabods. Washburn closed out the match with four-straight points to take the third set, 25-17.
The Ichabods hit .288 in the match and held the Flames to a .150 clip. Washburn led in kills, 40-33, and aces, 7-3, while Lee had a slight edge in blocks, 5-4.
Fourteen Ichabods saw action in the match and 11 of the 12 players that attempted a kill landed at least one. Halle Mesiter hit .500 on the afternoon after she knocked down seven kills on 14 swings with zero errors. Moburg also chipped in seven kills.
Kassidy Pfeiffer had a career-high six kills and was a part of two blocks.
Sydney Conner was one dig shy of a double-double as she finished with 18 assists and nine digs. C. McMullen notched 17 assists and two service aces. In the back court,
Sydney Pullen had 13 digs and
Sophie McMullen scooped up 11.
The Flames' offense was paced by nine kills from Macy Petty.
MATCH TWO – Washburn 3, Montevallo 1 (25-15, 25-18, 19-25, 25-21)
The Ichabods (6-0) began the match with a resounding 13-3 advantage after scoring the first eight points in a row. The closest the Falcons (2-4) were able to get was a six point differential as the Ichabods stayed in control of the set and won it, 25-15.
It was back-and-forth scoring to start the second set with seven tied scores and two lead changes. Montevallo held an 11-8 lead when a kill from Meister started a 12-2 tear to put Washburn up, 20-13. It was also Meister who knocked down the final kill of the 25-18 game to give the Ichabods a 2-0 advantage in the match.
The Ichabod offense struggled in the third frame and had just nine kills while the Falcons knocked down 16. Montevallo led 5-1 and then grew its lead to six at 16-10. Washburn slowly chipped away at the deficit with back-to-back kills from Stevenson and S. McMullen and then two consecutive Falcon errors trimmed their lead to 18-14. Washburn made one final push with three-straight points to make it 23-19, but Montevallo held on and won the next two points to erase the sweep.
The start of the fourth stanza was tightly contested between the two teams until
Bella Limback broke an 8-all tie score with a kill that sparked a 7-1 scoring run to put the Ichabods in front, 15-9. The Falcons' offense ignited and took back the lead with a big 9-0 run. The Ichabods rallied with five unanswered points, with
Sophie McMullen landing three service aces during the stretch and the duo of
Austin Broadie and Meister making two blocks. Holding a two point lead at 22-20, Broadie and Pfeiffer hammered down back-to-back kills to make it match point. Montevallo would score one more point before committing an attacking error to end the set at 25-21 and give the Ichabods the 3-1 victory.
At the conclusion of the match, the Ichabods had a .190 attacking percentage compared to the Falcons' .163 mark. Washburn led in aces, 11-4, including several clutch service aces down the stretch. Montevallo held the narrow advantage in kills (49-47), digs (72-70), and in blocks (8-6).
Stevenson recorded the first double-double of the season for Washburn and led the team with 14 kills and 11 digs. Broadie knocked down a career-best 11 kills and was a part of four blocks. Meister chipped in eight kills and hit .364.
At setter, Conner notched 16 assists and six digs while C. McMullen had 16 assists and nine digs. S. McMullen landed a team-high five service aces and also led in digs with 16. Pullen was right behind, totaling 15 digs.
The Falcons' Macy Martin led their offense with 16 kills.
