EDMOND, Okla. -- No. 19 Washburn (10-4, 4-3) was unable to force a fifth set Thursday night falling short to No. 22 Central Oklahoma (15-3, 6-2) 3-1. The Ichabods play a second straight evening game taking on Pittsburg State on Friday at 6 p.m.
Washburn dropped the first set 25-19 and forced extra points in the second before falling 28-26. They got on the board with a 25-20 third set victory and were unable to hold on late in the fourth, losing 26-24.
The Ichabods led for most of the beginning of the first set, taking a 15-13 lead after coming away with four straight points. The Bronchos responded with four right back and held the lead for the remainer of the set. Central Oklahoma scored 12 of the final 16 points in the set to win 25-19.
Washburn got another fast start in the second set, a 4-0 run of kills capped off by Sophia Cavanaugh put WU up 9-5. An attack error from the Bronchos forced a UCO timeout at 17-14, and an ace by Emma Williams later in the set resulted in the home team taking another with the score at 22-19.
Out of the break Central Oklahoma won six of the next eight points to force set point in its favor. Cavanaugh and Jalyn Stevenson each got kills to flip the advantage back to Washburn but the Bronchos reeled off three more to take the second set after extra points 28-26.
After being slowed the first two sets the Ichabod offense was unlocked in the third. It was back-and-forth early in the set with both teams tied at 10 through 20 points. Washburn won the next two on a block from Iyannah Jackson and Rachel Schwensen and another kill by Schwensen. The Ichabods never led by more than five the rest of the way but stayed ahead with an offense attacking at a .519 clip with 16 kills to win 25-20.
It was a 3-0 start for Washburn in the fourth set with a kill by Stevenson doubling the score of the Bronchos at 10-5. Back-to-back blocks by Austin Broadie with Cavanaugh and Rylee Unruh teaming up on them put WU up 15-11 and forced a Central Oklahoma timeout. Kills by Broadie and Schwensen created set point at 24-21 but the Bronchos were able to win the final five points and the match.
Washburn was out-hit .235 to .274 in the match with Central Oklahoma holding a 62 to 55 kill advantage. The Bronchos also scooped more digs, 78-67, and collected more assists 60-52.
Stevenson had a double-double finishing with 13 kills an 10 digs, hitting .231. Schwensen and Broadie each had 12 kills while hitting over .300 at .344 and .308 respectively. Corinna McMullen had 25 assists to lead the Ichabods while Sydney Conner had 23. Taylor Rottinghaus paced in digs with 23.
Addison Wimmer had 17 kills and hit .429 to lead UCO, Lindsey Houran had a match-high 56 assists and Jaedynn Evans had 37 digs.
