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Northwest Missouri State’s quest to re-create last year’s thrilling home win over Washburn came up woefully short.
The No. 6-ranked Ichabods handled Northwest easily in the first two games and fought off the Bearcats late in game three to sweep the match 25-13, 25-16, 25-20 Tuesday at Bearcat Arena.
After beating Washburn in five last year and losing a close three-setter in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the new-look Bearcats simply weren’t capable at this point in the season of hanging with the veteran Ichabods.
"We're just a whole different team," said Northwest head volleyball coach Jessica Rinehart. "We have three freshmen on the court that have never played, never seen Washburn, never played on our homecourt until tonight. I don't think it's fair to compare this year to last year. For us, we're not even remotely close. For Washburn, it was the same team they had last year minus one player.”
Northwest Missouri State senior Laira Akin, one of just three returning starters from last year, was unwilling to use youth as a crutch for Tuesday’s loss.
"I think that's part of the problem is that we're buying into the fact that we're a young team," said Akin. "Just because we're a young team doesn't mean we can't beat these big teams, and I think that's where it comes from. We have to come in and know who we are first. I think we're still working on that."
The Icahbods (9-1, 2-0) took all of the energy out of the building during the first two sets, leading for all but five points.
They used a 7-0 run with the score tied at 7 to take control of game one and broke open game two with a 5-0 run.
Northwest (3-7, 0-2) was much more competitive in game three, never trailing by more than three points until the very end.
The Bearcats tied it at 17 on a kill by Whitney Mason, but Washburn scored the next two points and maintained the lead from then on.
Washburn's Molly Lacy and Breanna Lewis blocked Northwest's Alex Hanna on match point.
"We had a good game plan coming in and games one and two we failed to execute it," said Akin. "Game three, we came out and played more of our game. We did what we've been wanting to do this whole match. We let them dictate it a lot, so we need to go back to practice and work on some things."
Northwest Missouri State’s quest to re-create last year’s thrilling home win over Washburn came up woefully short.
The No. 6-ranked Ichabods handled Northwest easily in the first two games and fought off the Bearcats late in game three to sweep the match 25-13, 25-16, 25-20 Tuesday at Bearcat Arena.
After beating Washburn in five last year and losing a close three-setter in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the new-look Bearcats simply weren’t capable at this point in the season of hanging with the veteran Ichabods.
"We're just a whole different team," said Northwest head volleyball coach Jessica Rinehart. "We have three freshmen on the court that have never played, never seen Washburn, never played on our homecourt until tonight. I don't think it's fair to compare this year to last year. For us, we're not even remotely close. For Washburn, it was the same team they had last year minus one player.”
Northwest Missouri State senior Laira Akin, one of just three returning starters from last year, was unwilling to use youth as a crutch for Tuesday’s loss.
"I think that's part of the problem is that we're buying into the fact that we're a young team," said Akin. "Just because we're a young team doesn't mean we can't beat these big teams, and I think that's where it comes from. We have to come in and know who we are first. I think we're still working on that."
The Icahbods (9-1, 2-0) took all of the energy out of the building during the first two sets, leading for all but five points.
They used a 7-0 run with the score tied at 7 to take control of game one and broke open game two with a 5-0 run.
Northwest (3-7, 0-2) was much more competitive in game three, never trailing by more than three points until the very end.
The Bearcats tied it at 17 on a kill by Whitney Mason, but Washburn scored the next two points and maintained the lead from then on.
Washburn's Molly Lacy and Breanna Lewis blocked Northwest's Alex Hanna on match point.
"We had a good game plan coming in and games one and two we failed to execute it," said Akin. "Game three, we came out and played more of our game. We did what we've been wanting to do this whole match. We let them dictate it a lot, so we need to go back to practice and work on some things."
Northwest hit a lowly .044 for the match, while Washburn hit .429 in the second game and finished at .295.
Amy Majors and Brooke Bartosh tied for the team lead with eight kills. Alex Hanna came on in the third game to finish with seven kills but hit only .100.
"Washburn has a good block," said Rinehart. "They play good defense and then our hitters weren't making good choices. They were getting flustered, making an error after we swung the second time, and so we just need to make better choices."
Akin led Northwest with 23 assists, while Tori Beckman made a match-high 14 digs.
Washburn had five players with at least five kills but no one was in double-figures. Hillary Hughes led all players with nine kills.
Jessica Fey added eight.
Northwest is back on the road Friday to play Fort Hays State.
