WICHITA, Kan. -- Washburn finished out the regular season winning its third straight match in sweeping fashion over Newman on Saturday afternoon in Wichita. The Ichabods move into fifth place in the MIAA with the finish and will take on Missouri Western in the quarterfinals of the MIAA Tournament on Thursday, Nov. 15.
The sweep over the Jets (0-28, 0-20) came without the home team reaching 20 points in any set with Washburn (17-10, 11-9) winning 25-17, 25-14 and 25-17 again to close it out.
Newman led 2-1 in the first set and it was the last time they led with Washburn going on a 4-0 run to go up by three. A dish from Sydney Conner setting up Austin Broadie for a kill forced the Jets to take a timeout at 10-5. Newman pulled within one point on two more occasions before the Ichabods rattled off seven of the next eight points beginning with Rylee Unruh knocking down a kill. WU won the final three points to take the first set.
The Ichabods wasted no time in the second set, Iyannah Jackson set the tone for the set stuffing an attack for the first set of the point to begin a 5-0 start. An ace by Broadie made it 11-3 early and Washburn kept rolling, hitting .326 in the set with 16 kills and just two errors. Jalyn Stevenson started and ended a 6-0 run to make it 19-10. The momentum never shifted and Bella Limback ended the set 25-14 with a kill.
Newman held its biggest lead of the day at 9-7 in the beginning of the third set. After trailing 10-11 the Ichabods returned to their first and second set form going on an 11-1 run to go up 21-12. The Jets won three straight points after Washburn had reached match point but Sophia Cavanaugh finished off the match with a kill at 25-17.
The Ichabods hit .292 in the match with 45 kills and just 10 errors while holding Newman to .084 hitting and only 24 kills. Washburn held advantages in digs 71-56 and assists 43-22 as well.
Jalyn Stevenson posted her second straight game with at least 16 kills, finishing with 16 and seven digs while hitting .371. Taylor Rottinghaus led all players by nine digs as she finished with 26 in just three sets, tied for the 11th most digs in a three-set match in program history. Corinna McMullen and Sydney Conner each had 16 assists with McMullen adding 10 digs for a double-double. Taryn Pridgett added eight kills on .318 hitting.
Olivia Parsley led in kills for the Jets with eight kills, Natalie Morales had 17 digs.
