By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University volleyball coach Chris Herron knows that his Ichabods will have a tougher road to hoe over the next two days of the Washburn Invitational.
But Thursday's opener against Christian Brothers was certainly a fun way to start.
Washburn volleyball celebrates a kill in Thursday's 3-0 sweep over Christian Brothers at Lee Arena. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn freshman Sophia Cavanaugh puts away a kill Thursday against Christian Brothers, one of 11 Ichabods to record at least one kill in the 3-0 WU sweep. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The 17th-ranked Ichabods rolled to a 25-11, 25-10, 25-9 three-set sweep over the Bucs and the lopsided outcome gave Herron the opportunity to get every player on his roster into the match, which made for a lot of smiles on the Ichabod bench.
"It's great, it's awesome,'' said Herron, whose team improved to 3-1 on the season. "As a matter of fact I'll sleep really well tonight because there's times where I'll go home and I'll worry about, 'Hey, I should have got so and so in,' and that stuff weighs on my mind a lot.
"And what I said just now is everybody got to play, everybody contributed and everybody can feel good tonight so lets enjoy it today.''
In fact, the only damper on the day was the fact that the WU runaway came at the expense of Washburn Hall of Famer Bre Lewis, the fourth-year coach of the Bucs.
"I'm going to be honest with you, I feel bad for Bre because Bre lost two of her primary passers last week in accidents so I feel bad for her and that team's kind of licking their wounds right now, but we're just thankful she's here and she came back and played in our tournament,'' Herron said.
Washburn and Christian Brothers were tied at 3-3 in the opening set but the Ichabods ran off five straight points to go up 8-3 and later used a 5-1 run to go up 20-7 on a kill from graduate student hitter Rachel Schwensen before closing out the set on a kill from junior Cair Paravel Latin product Taryn Pridgett.
The Ichabods jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the second set, capped by a Schwensen kill and went on to taka a 20-7 advantage before finishing off the 15-point win with late kills from sophomore Bella Limback, sophomore Corinna McMullen and Schwensen.
Christian Brocthers gave WU a battle early in the third set before the Ichabods pulled away to 14-5, 17-6 and 19-8 leads and closed out the match with the final six points.
Rachel Schwensen (9) led Washburn with nine kills in Thursday's 3-0 sweep over Christian Brothers at Lee Arena. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Schwensen ended the day with nine kills for the balanced Ichabods, who had 11 players with at least one kill.
McMullen had four service aces as seven WU players had at lease one ace.
Washburn will return to action at 11:30 a.m. Friday against Midwestern State and will play a 5 p.m. match against Oklahoma Baptist before closing out their tournament appearance with 2 p.m. Saturday match against Harding.
MATCH RESULTS
Washburn def. Christian Brothers, 25-11, 25-10, 25-9.
