LAKELAND, Fla. -- No. 17 Washburn bounced back from its first loss of the season 17 hours before and took down No. 6 Barry in straight sets for the Ichabods first sweep of the season. Washburn (2-1) heads back to Topeka for six straight matches beginning Thursday Sep. 7 at 3 p.m. against Christian Brothers.
The Ichabods swept the Buccaneers for the team's first ranked win of the season by set scores of 25-20, 25-15 and 26-24. Freshman Rylee Unruh set a program record with eight service aces in only her third match as an Ichabod.
Washburn jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the first set with Rylee Unruh landing three aces in the first six points alone. Barry (1-1) hung around between five to seven points back with a kill by Rachel Schwensen putting the Ichabods up 20-13. The Buccaneers were able to cut into the deficit, reeling off six of the next seven points. Back-to-back kills by Austin Broadie steadied the ship late in the set and one final swing from her ended the opener at 25-20.
In the second set Washburn jumped out to a 9-3 lead once again behind Unruh collecting four aces to give her seven in the match, tying the program record. Barry pulled within three at 13-10 but never got closer with seven errors in the set. The Ichabods took the final five points, three coming on blocks all involving Iyannah Jackson who teamed up with Unruh twice and Broadie once to put the finishing stamp on a 25-15 set.
Both teams were evenly matched early in the third splitting the first 14 points seven each way. The Buccaneers went on a 10-2 run in a strong hitting stretch with six kills. A second ace in the set from Corinna McMullen capped a 5-0 response by the Ichabods to pull within three.
Twice Washburn faced set point and both times it was overcome, first on a kill from Unruh then on a block by Bella Limback and Schwensen to tie the set at 24. A kill from Unruh broke the tie and another from Limback ended the match at 26-24.
The Ichabods nearly had advantages across the board with a 13 to two discrepancy in aces as the biggest difference. Washburn knocked down 42 kills at .245 while holding Barry to only 32 total at .194 and never more than 11 in a set.
In addition to eight aces Unruh led with 12 kills including four of the last seven points in the match clinching set and assisted on a team high four blocks.
Stevenson finished in double figures with 11 kills and Limback knocked down six on only nine swings with no errors. Corinna McMullen added 19 assists and eight digs to her three aces, Sydney Conner chipped in 14 assists, six digs and two aces of her own and defensively Taylor Rottinghaus paced the Ichabods with 15 digs.
Diana Akopova led the Barry attack with 18 kills, only two Buccaneers finished with more than one knockdown.
