By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The one at a time concept has worked just fine for the Washburn University volleyball team so far, and with the Ichabods now just two wins away from a national championship, they don't plan to change that approach now.
The No. 3-seeded Ichabods dispatched No. 6 West Texas A&M 3-1 in Thursday's opening NCAA Division II tournament quarterfinal at the Bob Martinez Athletics Center in Tampa, Fla., advancing to Friday's 4 p.m. national semifinal to face the winner of Thursday's later quarterfinal match between No. 2 seed Western Washington and No. 7 Daemen.
Washburn celebrates a kill from freshman Jalyn Stevenson (10) during Thursday's 3-1 quarterfinal win over West Texas A&M in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament. [Photo courtesy of Joy Smith/Washburn Athletics]
"I think we're going to prepare the exact same way that we always do,'' Washburn senior libero Faith Rottinghaus said about the semifinal match. "It is a lot about our side and that's the biggest thing is we can only control what's on our side of the net.
"We'll watch (the opponent) and we'll do some scouting, but (when) we play tomorrow all we can control is our side of the net and each play that we do.''
Senior middle hitter Allison Maxwell agreed.
"I think ultimately we just take every play one ball at a time and that's what weve been emphasizing this whole time,'' Maxwell said.
Washburn, fresh off winning the Central Region championship, took a 25-22, 25-19, 21-25, 25-21 decision over the Lady Buffs, improving to 30-5 on the season.
"I thought we played very hard and obviously stayed focused,'' Washburn coach Chris Herron said. "Our offense was diverse enough to keep them guessing in what we might do, so I'm really excited for them.''
The Ichabods got their day off to a hard-earned win in Set 1, which included seven ties before WU scored two straight points to take an 18-16 lead.
WU eventually went in front 22-17 with senior Allison Sadler serving, but West Texas rallied to within 22-21 before the Ichabods regained control on kills from seniors Kelsey Gordon and Genna Berg to put Washburn up 24-21. Then, after a point from the Buffs, Maxwell ended the set with a kill.
Washburn senior Allison Maxwell spikes the ball during Thursday's NCAA quarterfinal match in Tampa, Fla. [Photo courtesy of Joy Smith/Washburn Athletics]
Washburn never trailed in the second set after opening up early 3-0, 4-1 and 6-2 leads.
West Texas fought back to knot the set at 8-8 but Washburn answered with three straight points, including kills from Sydney Fitzgibbons and Jalyn Stevenson.
Washburn later used a 5-1 run to go up 17-11 and went in command 19-12 on a service ace Taylor Antonowich.
The Buffs got no closer than four points the rest of the set before Maxwell and Berg finished off the six-point win with kills.
West Texas A&M bounced back to extend the match with a 25-21 third-set victory, taking control of the set with four straight points to take a 22-19 lead. WU got as close as 23-21before West Texas closed out the win with two straight points.
Herron said Washburn's goal between sets was to forget about the loss and the Ichabods were able to maintain control throughout the match-clinching Set 4 win.
"I just told them that it was over,'' Herron said. "Every point is important and as soon as that point is over it's no longer important because there's nothing you can do about the last point. It's the same thing with a set, match, whatever. It's over, it's history now so we just decided, 'That one's over with, let's go to the next one.''
"I think the biggest thing is we're confident enough in each other that we know if we go out there and play our best game of volleyball we're not going to be disappointed in ourselves no matter the outsome,'' said Rottinghaus, a former state champion at Shawnee Heights.
MATCH RESULTS
Washburn def. West Texas A&M, 25-22, 25-19, 21-25, 25-21.
