PITTSBURG - The Pittsburg State University volleyball team fell in a heartbreaker Friday (Oct. 2) inside John Lance Arena against No. 14 Washburn in MIAA play.
For the Ichabods (15-3, 4-1 MIAA) they claimed the match with set scores of 23-25, 25-18, 20-25, 25-11, 15-12. Pittsburg State (11-6, 0-4 MIAA) hit .131 as a team with 55 kills and 30 errors from 191 attempts while also collecting 14 total blocks. Overall the two teams for the match recorded 22 ties and saw the lead change nine times, with sets one, three and five each saw three lead changes.
Crystal Smith (.455) finished with a match-high 20 kills and nine total blocks for 24.5 points.
Maliyah Johnson finished as the other member of the team to record double figures for kills with 11.
Kennedy Behnke accounted for 10.0 points from seven kills and five total blocks.
Brynna Zoeller (26) and
Jesa Wallace (22) split time as setters.
Kassidy Nixon (15), Zoeller (13), Wallace (11) and
Mason Palace (10) finished in double figures for digs.
Washburn was led offensively by Brynne Topolski (.214) with 18 kills and four assisted blocks for 20.0 points. Hayden Meats (16) and Brooklyn Morrissey (10) were the other Ichabods to finish with double-digit kill tallies. Emma Siron (31) and Lauren Tyler (22) split setting duties with Siron also accounting for eight kills and a block. Taylor Rottinghaus recorded a match-high 30 digs with Tyler (19), Siron (16) and Meats (13) the other members of the team to reach double figures for digs.Â
Up next for Pittsburg State will be a non conference match against the Rockhurst University Hawks, Tuesday (Oct. 6). First serve from John Lance Arena is set for 6:00 p.m. (CT).
Note: Crystal Smith finished the match with 100 total blocks for the season, becoming the 17th Gorilla since 1990 to accomplish the feat. For the season her 1.64 blocks per set average would be second-best among those that accumulated 100 or more total blocks in a season (Since 1990).
