TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 15 Washburn wrapped up its weekend homestand with a second straight sweep taking down Northeastern State in straight sets in the first meeting between the two sides in program history. The Ichabods will head on the road next time out to face Pittsburg State at 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2.
Washburn (14-3, 3-1 MIAA) battled through a tight first set to win 25-21 before breaking through to win 25-12 and 25-18 in the ensuing two sets to secure a third sweep in conference play.
The RiverHawks (1-13, 0-4 MIAA) jumped in front early leading 10-8 after a three-point burst. The visitors stayed in control late into the set until the Ichabods rattled off three in a row to build a 21-19 lead after Brynne Topolski landed a kill. Washburn ended the first set on a 4-1 run with Topolski also delivering the final blow in the opening set that saw the Ichabods hit .452 as a team.
The momentum carried over into the second set with Washburn leading 5-0 after Morgan Sears took a pass from Lauren Tyler to the floor. Later on, back-to-back kills by Hayden Meats capped off a 6-1 burst and made the score 13-4. The Ichabods pushed the lead to double-digits late in the set and went on to win 25-12.
Northeastern State fought back early in the third set, building a 5-1 lead. Shortly after an 8-0 run for Washburn that began with a Topolski kill flipped the set and put the home squad up 10-6. The lead grew to six points in the middle of the set after a 3-0 run that was capped off by an ace from Lauren Tyler. Emery Keebaugh delivered the final two points of the set and match, both on kills, to take it 25-18.
Washburn hit .396 as a team in the match with 45 kills while holding the RiverHawks to just 29 kills and a .067 hitting percentage as a group. The Ichabods led 44-28 in assists as well as 47-36 in digs and 6-1 in blocks.
Brynne Topolski led the way offensively with 17 kills on 21 attempts for a .810 hitting percentage, the best in program history and the best across DII in 2026 with a minimum of 20 swings taken. Her .810 hitting percentage is also the highest in DII in a single match since the 2023-24 season. Hayden Meats added 10 kills along with nine digs while Lauren Tyler dished out 36 assists with seven digs. Taylor Rottinghaus scooped up a team-high 12 digs.
Lanie Brown and Simeon Paradiso led Northeastern State with six kills each.
