TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn volleyball ends its regular season on Saturday with a trip to Wichita to face the Newman Jets at 3 p.m. 
 

SETTING THE SCHEDULE … 

>> Washburn volleyball wraps up the 2023 regular season on Saturday with a trip to Wichita to face Newman. 

>> The Ichabods face the Jets at 3 p.m. on Saturday, it's only the second 3 p.m. start time of the season. 

>> Washburn began the week with a second consecutive victory taking down Emporia State in the home finale by set scores of 25-15, 21-25, 25-16 and 25-18. 

 QUICK HITS …

>> Washburn is now 16-10 on the year and 10-9 in the MIAA.

>> With a two game lead over Missouri Southern they can not drop down in the standings. They are a half game behind Northwest Missouri in 5th place and could move up with a win and a loss by the Bearcats. 

>> Washburn is receiving votes in the AVCA Poll for a second consecutive week after dropping out of the top-25. 

>> The Ichabods were picked to finish fourth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll just behind Central Oklahoma and one spot ahead of Central Missouri. 

>> Washburn finished fifth in the 2022 MIAA regular season standings.

>> The Ichabods will begin postseason play at the MIAA Tournament in St. Joseph, Mo. on Thursday, Nov. 16

THE WEEK THAT IS

>> Washburn got an early start on the final week of the regular season hosting Emporia State in the final regular season iteration of the turnpike tussle and came away with a 3-1 victory in the home finale. 

>> The Ichabods are now 3-7 on the road in 2023 and 11-3 at home. 

>> Washburn has eight sweeps this season. 

>> The Ichabods have won back-to-back matches for the first time since Oct. 10-12. 

>> Jalyn Stevenson led Washburn in kills with 18 against the Hornets and hit .359 in the process. She picked up her fourth straight double-double with 13 digs as well. 

>> Taryn Pridgett tied a career high with 13 kills against ESU and hit a team-high .435 in the match while also adding three assisted blocks. 

>> Corinna McMullen and Sydney Conner were each over 20 digs with McMullen dishing out 28 and Conner, 24. 

>> Taylor Rottinghaus paced the Ichabods and the match by making 22 digs. 

>> Rylee Unruh got into double figures with 11 kills while hitting .370 as well as adding nine digs. 

>> Washburn hit .374 as a team in the match, its third most efficient hitting performance of the season. 

 STACKING UP THE STATS

>> The Ichabods are knocking down 13.2 kills per set, picking up 12.4 assists, making 17.6 digs and stuffing 2.1 attacks. 

>> Opponents are netting 11.8 kills per set, 10.9 assists, 16.2 digs and 2.2 blocks.  

>> Washburn is hitting .223 as a team through 26 matches while opponents are hitting .171

>> The Ichabods have 173 aces on the year (1.8 per set) while only allowing 103 (1.1 per set). 

>> Washburn is fourth in the conference in hitting percentage at .223 for the year

>> The Ichabods passing attack rates fourth in the MIAA and 28th nationally with 12.47 assists per set

>> The defense sits at sixth among conference foes at 17.40 digs per set

>> Washburn is first in the MIAA in aces per set at 1.84

>> When the Ichabods out-kill their opponents they are 16-3

>> When Washburn collects more digs than opponents they are 14-2

>> The Ichabods are 16-3 when they have more assists than oppoennts.

>> Corinna McMullen leads all players in the conference with .51 aces per set and is first overall with 46 total.

>> Jalyn Stevenson is fourth in the MIAA in kills per set at 3.22 as well as sixth in points per set at 3.68.

>> Bella Limback and Rachel Schwensen are both in the top-five in hitting percentage in the MIAA with Limback at No. 2 and Schwensen at No. 5. 

 TEAM LEADERS 

>> Jalyn Stevenson leads Washburn with 308 kills on the year (3.21 per set) while hitting .211. She is second on the team with 298 digs (3.10 per set) and has combined for 28 blocks. 

>> Rachel Schwensen is up to 247 kills (2.81 per set) and is hitting .297 across 632 attacks. She is also third on the squad with 60 blocks. She has missed the last two matches. 

>> Corinna McMullen leads the Ichabods with 577 assists (6.01 per set) and is third with 261 digs (2.72 per set). She leads the Ichabods with 46 aces on the year.

>> Taylor Rottinghaus leads Washburn with 382 digs (4.29 per set) while adding 75 assists and holding a .951 reception percentage on 384 receptions. 

>> Rylee Unruh is third on the team with 186 kills (2.00 per set) and has done a little bit of everything, adding 23 aces, 224 digs (2.41 per set) and has been apart of 31 blocks. 

>> Austin Broadie has knocked down 175 kills (1.86 per set) while carrying a hitting percentage of .227. She is second with 69 total blocks and leads with eight solo blocks. 

>> Bella Limback has 141 kills on the year (1.57 per set) while hitting .280. She has the most blocks of any Washburn player with 80 total (.89 per set) and has recorded 60 digs. 

>> Sydney Conner has chipped in 444 assists (4.63 per set) and 181 digs (1.89 per set) and has 21 aces.

>> Iyannah Jackson has totaled up 69 kills across 57 sets hitting a team best .347, as well as combining to make 54 blocks.

>> Taryn Pridgett has made 89 kills (2.01 per set) while hitting .201. She has combined to make 25 blocks. 

>> Maddie Steiner has made 106 digs on the year (1.80 per set).

>> Sophia Cavanaugh has 22 kills on the year, she also has nine blocks

 BY THE NUMBERS … 

>> 2 : NCAA Central Region championships won by Washburn in the past four official seasons.

>> 4 : upperclassmen on this year's team ... the fewest since the 2014 roster also featuring four

>> 8 : Number of sweeps for the Ichabods this season 

>> 10 : student-athletes who were on the roster last year who are not on the 2022 roster

>> 21 : consecutive winning seasons for Washburn.

>> 122 : consecutive victories when winning the first two sets of a match

>> 602 : wins that Herron has at Washburn.

 MILESTONE TRACKER … 

>> Bella Limback is 3 blocks away from 100 in her career and eight kills away from 200. 

>> Jalyn Stevenson is 43 kills away from 1,000 in her career and 50 digs away from 1,000 as well.  

>> Sydney Conner is 1005 assists away from 1,000 career.  

>> Austin Broadie is four kills away from 400 in her career. 

 SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION ...

Newman Jets

>> The Jets are 0-27 on the year after falling 3-1 to Emporia State on Nov. 9. They are 0-19 in MIAA play and 0-9 at home. 

>> In 2022 Newman went 8-22 overall and 3-17 in the MIAA. They didn't qualify for the MIAA Tournament. 

>> The Jets are led by Marissa Compton in her 2nd season at Newman. 

>> Assistant Coach Rylee Meloy and student assistant Abby Borough round out the coaching staff.

>> The Jets average 9.0 kills per set on .097 hitting, 8.2 assists, 1.5 blocks and 14.1 digs.

>> Ozioma Ajekwu has 158 kills (2.05 per set) to lead the Jets and hits .222. She also has 54 blocks on the year, second most on the squad. 

>> Natalie Meyer is second on Newman with 142 kills (1.65 per set) and hits .223 to lead NU. She is also first with 55 blocks. She has also served 26 aces. 

>> Natalie Morales leads Newman with 344 digs (3.91 per set), she's also chipped in 77 assists and has served 12 aces. 

>> McKinzie Weaver has the top spot on the Jets' assist chart with 331 this year (4.09 per set). She's second on the team with 162 digs (2.00 per set)

>> Makenna Reinert has 141 kills (1.86 per set) with 66 digs and 12 blocks. 

>> Washburn is 20-5 all-time against the Jets going back to 1975. The Ichabods have won 18 straight matches with the last loss coming on Oct. 6, 1981.

 TAKE A LOOK AHEAD …

>> The MIAA Championship Tournament begins on Thursday Nov. 16 in St. Joseph, Mo. at the Civic Center.