EMPORIA STATE VOLLEYBALL STARTS WASHBURN WEEK AT HOME

Women's Volleyball | 10/27/2014 11:17:00 AM

RIVALRY WEEK
The Emporia State volleyball team returns to White Auditorium on Tuesday to start Washburn Week along the Kansas Turnpike. The Hornets and Ichabods will meet in three different sports this week.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Emporia State won their third straight match with a 3-0 sweep of Lindenwood on Saturday night in St. Charles, Mo.  It is the first three match winning streak for the Hornets since opening the season 4-0.
The first set had 13 ties and five lead changes before Josie Williams gave the Hornets a 25-23 win with a kill.  There were nine ties and five lead changes in the second set with six of the ties and four of the lead changes coming after the score was tied at 24. An attack error by the Lions and a kill by Katie Deutschmann gave the Hornets a 31-29 win.  Lindenwood took an 18-17 win in the third set when Emporia State finished on an 8-1 run to sweep the set with a 25-19 win.
Carly Spicer had 13 kills, ten digs and four blocks for the Hornets. Courtney Haring added eight kills and six blocks for Emporia State.  Josie Williams had five kills and 17 digs while Kelly Holden added 16 digs. Kimberly Bell and Sydney Hartman combined for 33 assists with Bell dishing 18 and Hartman 13.
THE COACHES
Bing Xu is 222-95 in his tenth year as the head coach at Emporia State.  He has led the Hornets to five NCAA Tournament appearances and has won at least 18 matches in each of the last seven seasons. He is 4-16 against Washburn.
Chris Herron is 381-65 in his 13th year at Washburn and 456-94 in his 16th season as a head coach. He is 21-6 against Emporia State.
 
SCOUTING THE HORNETS
Emporia State is 11-9 on the season, 6-8 in the MIAA and have won four of their last five matches.  Eight of the Hornets 20 matches this year have gone five sets with Emporia State going 4-4 in those matches.  Only seven of the Hornets 20 matches have been sweeps.
Carly Spicer is sixth in the MIAA in the latest conference rankings at 3.64 kills per set.  She has at least ten kills 16 of 20 matches this season and has recorded double-doubles in 13 matches in her first year playing the full rotation. She is averaging 3.73 kills and 3.36 digs during the Hornets current three-match winning streak. She had a career high 25 digs to go with 17 kills and three blocks at Pittsburg State. She tied her career high with 21 kills and added 18 digs at Northwest Missouri, her second match this season with at least 20 kills and 15 digs. She has failed to reach double figures in either kills or digs in just two matches this season.
Courtney Haring is averaging 1.11 blocks per set to rank fifth in the MIAA. She is the Emporia State record holder in block assists with 391 and her 479 total blocks are second all-time for the Hornets. She is also averaging 2.10 kills per set on a team best .276 hitting percentage. She had 11 kills and nine blocks, with four of them solo, in the Hornets win at Central Missouri.
Kelly Holden is sixth in the MIAA in digs and is averaging 4.67 per set. After getting nine digs in the first match of the year, she has recorded at least ten in the last 19 matches. She had a career high 25 in four sets at Southwest Baptist,again against Missouri Western in five sets and then last weekend in the five set win at Central Missouri. She has at least 20 digs in nine of her last 12 matches.
Kimberly Bell is averaging 5.94 assists and Sydney Hartman 4.18 assists per set in the Hornets two-setter system.
 
SCOUTING THE ICHABODS
Central Missouri is 19-4 on the year, 11-4 in the MIAA and ranked #8 in last week's AVCA National Poll. They lead the MIAA in team digs at 18.33 per set. Sarah Vicory leads the MIAA with a .364 hitting percentage. Marissa Cox is third in the MIAA in kills with a team best 3.77 per set.  Mattie Swenson is fourth in the MIAA with 1.15 blocks per set. Alyssa Carney is fifth in the MIAA at 5.06 digs per set. Natalie Bates is eighth in the MIAA at 8.80 assists per set.
  
LAST TIME AGAINST WASHBURN
Emporia State's string of five set matches was stopped at three in a 3-0 loss at #5 Washburn on in Topeka.  The Ichabods won 25-18, 27-25, 25-20 in a match that saw 26 ties and 13 lead changes in the final two sets.
Washburn jumped out to a 3-1 lead and never trailed in the first set.  A 7-0 run turned a 9-8 set into a 16-8 lead on the way to the 25-18 win.  The second set had 16 ties and nine lead changes as both teams fought off a set point before the Ichabods pulled out a 27-25 win. Emporia State took an 11-7 lead in the third set on back to back kills by Katie Deutschmann before Washburn answered with a 6-2 run to tie the score at 13.  The two teams traded points until Washburn got back to back points to take a 19-17 lead. They went back and forth again until Washburn scored the final three points of the match for a 25-20 victory.
Carly Spicer had ten kills on .200 hitting and nine digs while Courtney Haring added nine kills on .500 hitting and two blocks.  Josie Williams had a team high 11 kills with a .179 hitting percentage and Kelly Holden had 19 digs.
 
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 95th meeting between Emporia State and Washburn. The Hornets lead the all-time series 63-31, however the Ichabods have won ten straight dating back to 2009. Of those ten matches three have gone five sets and there have been at least five individual sets that went to extra points.
NEXT SERVE
The Hornets make their last road trip of the season when they travel to Missouri Southern and Central Oklahoma this weekend. First serve on Friday in Joplin, Mo. is set for 6:00 p.m. and will be at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday in Edmond, Okla.