By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University will put the capper on an amazing 2021 season this week in the mecca of college volleyball -- the NCAA Division II tournament in Tampa, Fla.
And the importance of the moment is not lost on veteran Ichabod coach Chris Herron, whose team earned its third-ever Elite Eight appearance with an impressive run through last week's Central Region tournament as the fifth seed, knocking off three straight ranked teams, including No. 1 Central Missouri.
"I told them before the start of the (championship) match Saturday, 'This is where legends are made and stories are written and stories are told and stories get better as the years go on about teams that win tonight,' '' Herron said.
Now the 29-5 Ichabods will be shooting for their first-ever national championship, beginning with Thursday morning's 11 a.m. national quarterfinal against 26-4 West Texas A & M at the Bob Martinez Athletics Center on the campus of the University of Tampa.
Washburn will begin its quest for a national volleyball championship at 11 a.m. Thursday against West Texas A & M in Tampa, Fla. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn enters the national tournament as the No. 3 seed and Herron said no matter what happens this week he couldn't be prouder of this year's team, particularly the super senior class which includes All-Americans Allison Maxwell, Faith Rottinghaus, Genna Berg and Kelsey Gordon and star All-MIAA setter Allison Sadler.
"This makes two out of their four years that they've gone to the Elite Eight, so obviously I'm extemely proud of them, but I'm proud of them for a lot of reasons,'' Herron said. "They're such good people and they're ridiculously good academically and they're just the most competitive bunch of women ever.
"This three days has nothing to do with the love I have for them. It's got nothing to do with it.''
Maxwell, a middle hitter, is third in the nation with a .422 hitting percentage for Washburn and has hammered down 361 kills this year. She also ranked second in the conference with 1.13 blocks per set and her 3.11 kills per set ranked ninth in the league.
Berg, an outside hitter, leads Washburn with 434 kills and averages 3.74 kills per set. She has recorded double-figure kills in 25 of the 34 matches played and in 18 of those matches, she has had 13 or more kills. She also averages 1.69 digs per set and has seven double-doubles on the year.
Rottinghaus, a senior Shawnee Heights product, averages 6.59 digs per set (third in Division II) and has 764 total digs (fourth in Division II). She has had 22 matches with 20 or more digs and has a .978 reception percentage, making just eight errors in 362 total reception attempts.
Gordon is third on the team with 291 kills and fifth in the MIAA with a .356 hitting percentage, while Sadler has compiled 1,237 assists on the season with 283 digs.
West Texas A&M earned its trip to the national tournament with wins over No. 8 Colorado School of Mines, No. 22 Texas-Tyler and No. 3 Metropolitan State-Denver.
In the regional championship match, the Lady Buffs lost the first two sets before rallying for an 18-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18, 15-8 victory.
Washburn is 2-2 all-time in the national tournament and advanced to the semifinals in 2007 and 2018.
All four national quarterfinals will be played on Thursday, followed by the semifinals on Friday and the championship match on Saturday.
Other quarterfinal matches will pit No. 7 Daemen vs. No. 2 Western Washington at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, followed by No. 4 Hillcrest vs. No. 5 Gannon at 4 p.m. and No. 8 Augusta vs. No. 1 Tampa at 6:30 p.m.
An Ichabod win on Thursday would place them in the national semifinal match on Friday at 4 p.m. against the winner of the quarterfinal match between No. 2 seed Western Washington and No. 7 Daemen College.
