TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 21 Washburn volleyball (13-6, 7-5) fell in its return to Lee Arena on Friday evening, dropping a 3-0 contest to Central Missouri (14-7, 11-2). The Ichabods are right back at it at 6 p.m. again on Saturday against Missouri Southern.
The Jennies led a close match early with the lead growing as the sets went on. UCM won in 25-22, 25-19 and 25-14 sets.
Central Missouri started the match on a 5-1 run and stayed in front. Washburn was able to pull within two at 9-7 after back-to-back kills by Jalyn Stevenson from Sydney Conner. It was back and forth the next few points until the Jennies went on a 3-0 run with two kills starting it to go up by six and force a timeout.
Washburn got two kills in a row from Bella Limback out of the break to hang around. A 4-0 run for the Ichabods with half the points coming on kills by Rylee Unruh pull WU within one at 22-21. The Ichabods got within one on one other occasion in the set but Central Missouri won the final two points to win 25-22.
The second set had a much better start for the Ichabods with a 4-1 lead after an ace and a kill by Corinna McMullen. A block from Unruh and Taryn Pridgett kept Washburn in front at 8-5 but the Jennies came back to tie the set at 10. Washburn had two more leads in the set, both by one point and UCM was able to pull away with an 8-1 run and go up 23-15 before finishing off the set.
Washburn once again got out to a 4-1 lead in the third set after two straight kills from Rachel Schwensen but the score was quickly tied at seven. The Central Missouri offense was too much to handle with the Jennies hitting .484 in the third set and committing just one error. They ended the match on a 9-1 run to win 25-14.
Central Missouri's hot hitting in the third set led the way in a .384 performance in the match with 50 kills to Washburn's 36 kills and .171 attacking. The Jennies also had advantages in digs, 54 to 46, and assists 44 to 34.
Stevenson led the Ichabods with 11 kills and hit .257 in the match while adding nine digs. Schwensen had 10 kills on .318 hitting. McMullen led in passing with 17 assists to go with nine digs and Taylor Rottinghaus was the lone player in double-digits with 14 digs.
Rachel Ziesman paced UCM with 13 kills on .565 hitting and Olivia Olson picked up a match high 39 assists.
