KEARNEY, Neb. -- Washburn's conference winning streak came to an end Saturday night as the Ichabods fell to No. 3 Nebraska Kearney 3-0. They stay on the road next weekend taking on Missouri Southern on Friday, Oct. 18 at 6 p.m.
In the first set Washburn (13-4, 4-3) came up just short falling 25-23 and the Lopers (19-0, 7-0) carried the momentum into a 25-12 second set victory. The Ichabods would play extra points in the third set but fell 26-24 as Nebraska Kearney stayed unbeaten with the victory.
Both teams went back and forth early on with eight ties in the first 16 points of play. The Lopers won three straight points to briefly go up by two before Washburn responded with three in a row capped off by an ace from Jalyn Stevenson. After Nebraska Kearney went back on top Stevenson sparked another rally, knocking down two kills as part of a 4-0 run to lead 18-16. After the Ichabods led 20-18 the Lopers won the next five points and would hold on the rest of the way to win by two.
A kill from Austin Broadie put Washburn up 3-2 early in the second set just before Nebraska Kearney began an 8-0 run to put them up 10-3. The lead was extended to double-digits at 17-7 and the Ichabods were unable to pull any closer. The Loper offense raised its hitting percentage in the set to .357 to thwart any comeback as Washburn fell 25-12.
In the third set the home squad quickly built a 7-3 lead. But this time the Ichabods were able to stay pace with the early attacks, using three kills from Heather Schemper in the first half of the set to tie it up at 10-10. After trailing by two Washburn landed four points in a row to flip the deficit around after an ace by Taylor Rottinghaus. They pushed the lead to three with a Stevenson kill before the Lopers began to come back, tying the set at 23 all. Natalie Hedlund slashed a kill to make it 24 going both ways but the final two points both went to Nebraska Kearney to finish out the match.
Washburn ended the match hitting .208 as a team with just 12 errors while the Lopers tallied a .299 hitting percentage on 58 kills. UNK had a 55-37 advantage in assists and out-dug the Ichabods 61-54.
Nine kills and a .348 hitting percentage from Heather Schemper led the offense. Corinna McMullen tossed out a team-high 22 assists while Taylor Rottinghaus posted 16 digs.
Emilee Lane had a match-high 18 kills while hitting .500 for the Lopers and Peyton Neff passed her way to 52 assists across the three sets.
