TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 15 Washburn picked up its 20th win of the season on Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 sweep over Northwest Missouri State on senior day inside of Lee Arena. The Ichabods will hit the road for the final three matches of the 2026 regular season beginning next Friday facing Central Missouri at 6 p.m. in Warrensburg, Mo.
Prior to the match, all five Ichabod seniors: Autumn Gibbs, Taylor Rottinghaus, Chloe Carlgren, Lauren Tyler and Natalie Hedlund were recognized along with senior student assistants Katie Borough and Heather Schemper.
Washburn (20-6, 7-3 MIAA) got off to a strong start winning 25-17 in the opening set and only improved from there, defeating the Bearcats (7-14, 4-4 MIAA) 25-16 and 25-13 in each of the next two sets.
The match began with the Ichabods jumping out to a 9-3 lead after Morgan Sears and Emma Siron combined to make a block. The lead grew to eight points at 16-8 after Sears slammed home a kill on a pass from Siron. Washburn hit .359 as a team in the first set and it was a kill by Chloe Carlgren that ended it at 25-17 to go up 1-0 in the match.
Back-to-back aces served by Lauren Tyler put the Ichabods up 5-1 early in the second set but Northwest Missouri responded with four points in a row to tie it back up. Both sides traded points with seven ties in the first 26 points of the match. A kill by Siron started a 4-0 run that created separation and put Washburn up 17-13. They ended the set with five straight points to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
After the Bearcats got out to a 4-1 lead in the third set the Ichabods responded with seven straight points, the first on a kill by Hayden Meats, to go up 8-4. A string of six straight points shortly after pushed the lead to 15-6 after Avery Willey landed an ace. Washburn took care of business the rest of the way, trading points for a 25-13 third set victory and sweep.
Across three sets the Ichabods hit .320 with 39 kills while Northwest Missouri was just behind with 35 kills but hit just .125. Blocks went 10-3 in favor of the home squad as did assists, 37-34 and digs, 50-46.
Hayden Meats led a balanced offensive effort with nine kills, Brynne Topolski had eight while hitting .304. Taylor Rottinghaus scooped up 19 digs in the back row while Morgan Sears made seven blocks up front. Emma Siron chipped in 13 assists, eight digs and five kills and Lauren Tyler had 15 assists with four aces served.
Sophia Gartner led Northwest Missouri with 12 kills and Mya Karrick dished out 32 assists.
