EDMOND, Okla. -- The No. 6-ranked Washburn volleyball team won the first set, but couldn't keep the momentum going as it fell to Central Oklahoma on the road Thursday evening, 3-1. The Ichabods will close out this week's road trip with a match at Newman in Wichita, Kan. on Friday at 6 p.m.
 
The Ichabods lost by the set scores of 25-23, 18-25, 22-25, 13-25 and are now 11-2 overall with a 3-2 mark in MIAA play.
 
It was neck-and-neck to begin the match as the first set saw 16 ties and six lead changes while neither team ever led by more than three points with the largest lead being held by UCO at 6-3 and then 8-5. Washburn called a timeout after a 3-0 min-run pushed the Bronchos in front, 22-21. After the timeout, Kealy Kiviniemi landed a kill that sparked a 4-1 run to close out the first set win. The Ichabods recorded 19 kills and had a .349 attacking percentage in the opening frame.
 
The Bronchos (14-1, 4-1 MIAA) took control of the second set as the only lead the Ichabods held was at the 3-2 mark. Washburn trailed 17-11 when it slowly trimmed the deficit and eventually pulled within three at 20-17, but Central Oklahoma went on to win five of the next six points to even the match at one game apiece. Washburn's offense struggled, landing just nine kills with six errors while Central Oklahoma had 15 kills and hit .286.
 
After the Ichabods won the first two points, the Bronchos answered with five in a row to take the early lead. Washburn fought back and won five of the next six points to go in front, 7-6. The teams took turns scoring until UCO got two points consecutively to jockey in front, 12-11. The back-and-forth scoring continued until the Bronchos went on a 7-3 run to take a 21-17 advantage. Coming out of a Washburn timeout, the Ichabods put together a 5-2 run to pull within one, 23-22. The Bronchos held on, though, and won the final two points on a service error and a kill to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
In the fourth set, Washburn led 4-3 when Central Oklahoma ripped off a 14-3 scoring tear to go up, 17-7. The score difference would get no closer than seven as the Bronchos cruised to the 25-13 win to close out the match.

Over the course of the four sets, there were 34 tied scores and 12 lead changes. UCO had the advantage in ever category, leading in kills (62-51), digs (65-56), blocks (6-4), and aces (7-3) while hitting .329 compared to WU's .234 attacking percentage.

Offensively, Jalyn Stevenson knocked down a career-high 17 kills and added seven digs. Ella Waters and Austin Broadie each chipped in eight kills. Kiviniemi finished with six kills and a .385 hitting percentage. Sydney Pullen had a team-high 20 digs and Corinna McMullen led the squad with 25 assists.

The Central Oklahoma attack was led by Sydney Huck and Mallorie Koehn, who had 21 and 16 kills, respectively.