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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Veteran Washburn University volleyball coach Chris Herron isn't necessarily known for passing out praise freely.

So Herron's comments about Ichabod 6-foot senior rightside hitter Austin Broadie Saturday night after the Ichabods wrapped up a perfect 4-0 weekend in the Washburn Invitational should carry some real weight.

"Austin Broadie's playing like an All-American,'' Herron said. "She's hitting the crap out of the ball.''

Senior Austin Broadie (23) is congratulated by her Washburn teammates after one of her 17 kills Saturday against William Jewell in the Washburn Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Broadie was named the tournament most valuable player after helping 12th-ranked Washburn cap off a dominating weekend with 3-0 wins over Newman and William Jewell in the final day of the tournament.

Shawnee Heights product Taylor Rottinghaus was one of four Washburn players named to the Washburn Invitational All-Tournament Team after the Ichabods went 4-0 on the weekend. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Broadie was joined on the all-tournament team by WU teammates Taylor Rottinghaus, Bella Limback and Brynne Topolski after the Ichabods beat Newman 25-10, 25-16, 25-20 and William Jewell 25-22, 25-16 and 22-12.

"I felt good,'' Broadie said. "We started out a little rusty and then everyone started flowing. I felt like the setters were doing a really good job reversing the flow, so that's helpful.

"We did what we wanted to do. We know some stuff we need to work on now and I feel like that's going to give us an objective for the next weekend.''

Washburn is now 8-0 on the season, the first time the Ichabods have done so since the 2022 season that began 11-0.

The Ichabods started slowly against winless William Jewell (0-8) in the tournament finale, trailing as late as 18-17 in the opening set, but the Ichabods rallied for the three-point win and got stronger as the match wore on.

Herron admitted that he was not happy with the Ichabods' play out of the gate against the Cardinals.

"Absolutely, I was upset,'' Herron said. "This is something I try to tell these kids all the time, 'You're going to get people's best shot,' and that's the best they played all weekend, that team we just played. They were scrappy, they were hitting the crap out of the ball, they were finding holes and doing things that they hadn't done all weekend and good for them. 

"But we didn't respond in kind. We were just like, 'Oh, they'll make mistakes and we'll beat them in the end,' and that's the way we played for all of Set 1. In Set 2 we kind of found ourselves at the end and it carried into Set 3.''

With the second set score at 20-16, Washburn started a run of five straight kills, three coming from Broadie to end the set with a nine-pont win.  

The Cardinals got out to a 7-6 lead in the third set until a Topolski kill started a 6-1 Washburn rally.

The Ichabod offense took over shortly after, hitting .481 as a team in the set, including a 7-0 burst to create some separation at 20-11. The momentum carried over into a streak of five points to end the set and match on a Sydney Conner ace.

Washburn celebrates a match-ending ace from Sydney Conner (15) against William Jewell in Saturday'sWashburn Invitational. Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]  

Washburn tallied 49 kills across the three sets to hit .388 while William Jewell hit .128 and managed just 26 kills. The Ichabods nearly doubled the assist total at 46-24 while each team picked up exactly 37 digs.

Broadie started the match hot and stayed hot, registering a team-high 17 kills while hitting .607 for the match, good for the 17th highest attack percentage in a game in program history with a minimum of 20 attempts.

Corinna McMullen led the way with 23 assists while Rottinghaus snagged 10 digs from the back row.  

The Ichabods set the tone early in Saturday's first match against Newman, rolling to a 15-point win in the first set before securing 25-16 and 25-20 victories in the next two sets to top Newman (2-5).  

A 9-1 run highlighted the beginning of the match and was capped off by a kill from Natalie Hedlund that put Washburn up 10-2.

Newman was able to keep the match close until a 6-0 Ichabod burst pushed the lead to double figures, ending at 20-7 with an Abby Leaf block. Washburn's offense highlighted the first set, hitting .516 as a team with 18 kills.  

After leading just 5-4 in the second set, a 6-0 run for the Ichabods was capped off by an ace from Autumn Gibbs to create separation at 11-4.

As Washburn worked its bench into the game the lead continued to grow, reaching 10 at 21-11 after Shannon Frakes set up Josie Cleveringa for a kill. Washburn closed out the set shortly after with three straight points.  

Both teams split the first 10 points in the third set before the Ichabods took six of the next seven, with kills by four different players in the stretch.

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

EMPORIA – Washburn University men's basketball christened the new year in style as the No. 2-ranked Ichabods led for 39:33 of the 40-minute contest and by as many as 33 points, cruising to a 105-77 MIAA road win over Emporia State on Saturday in White Auditorium.

Sophomore Jack Bachelor led six double-figure scorers for Washburn with 19 points as the No. 2-ranked Ichabods rolled to a 105-77 road win over Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]

Washburn improved to 13-0 overall and 4-0 in MIAA play and will return to Lee Arena for the first time since Nov. 30 next Wednesday as the Ichabods will host Missouri Western at 7:30 p.m.
 
Washburn jumped out to a 13-3 lead 3:49 into the game behind Jack Bachelor's 11 points, including three-straight 3-pointers.

The Hornets (4-8, 1-3) trimmed the lead back to five at 17-12, but the Ichabods used another 13 to 3 run, doubling up Emporia State with 9:13 to play in the half.

ESU cut the lead to 11 but that margin was the closest the Hornets would get the rest of the game as the Ichabods finished the frame 9 of 11 from the field over the final 7:01 of the half, taking a 56-39 lead into the break.
 
Washburn shot 61 percent in the opening half, paced by 17 points from Washburn Rural product Bachelor and 10 points and eight assists from Jacob Hanna as the Ichabods reached at least 50 points in a half since scoring 52 against William Jewell on Nov. 23, 2024 in Lee Arena.
 
A 12-1 run over a three-minute stretch followed by a 16-7 Ichabod run stretched the Ichabod lead to a game-high 33 with 9:28 to play as Washburn snapped a four-game slide to the Hornets.
 
Bachelor finished with a game-high 19 points and added eight assists, leading six Ichabods in double figures.

Birthday boy Andrew Orr had 16 points as did Hanna, who also had eight assists and six rebounds.

Dillon Claussen had a career-high 15 points on 7 of 7 shooting while Brayden Shorter hit three 3-pointers en route to 11 points with six boards and Brady Christiansen had 11 points as well.
 
Malik Edwards scored 13 points to lead the Hornets.
 
After shooting 61 percent in the first half, the Ichabods improved to 67 percent in the second half, hitting 20 of 30 shots overall to close the game at a season-high 63 percent on 43 of 68 shooting.
 
Washburn outrebounded the Hornets 34 to 25 in the game and tallied 26 assists on 43 baskets in the game. Washburn also outscored the Hornets 58 to 22 in the paint and forced 22 turnovers, leading to 27 points for the Ichabods.
 
The 105 points scored by the Ichabods was the second time Washburn reached the century mark in the 222 previous meetings in the series, topping the old record of 103 set against ESU on Jan. 7, 2004 in Topeka.

The Ichabods just missed setting the largest margin of victory in the series as the Hornets hit a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left avoiding the record mark of 31 in a 73-42 Ichabod win on Jan. 16, 2010.