Washburn volleyball has one last weekend to determine the championship: 'It’s there if you want it’

The Washburn volleyball team doesn’t need any more motivation to get up for its final weekend. In fact, they’re working hard to hold back the emotion to stay focused on the task.

It’s not just that the matches on Friday and Saturday will help determine the MIAA champion. It’s not just that the Ichabods look to avenge a mid-season loss to archrival Northwest Missouri State University. Saturday is also Senior Night, when a group of highly decorated and extremely tightknit seniors will be honored.

The group actually held a meeting to tone down the excitement.

“We’re just trying to take it as just one more game,” senior Allison Maxwell said about Senior Night. “We’re trying to take the emotion out of it, because, playing Northwest is already like (riding) a rollercoaster. We are going to keep the sappiness out of it until later.”

First, the Ichabods must take care of business against Missouri Western University (6-12 in the MIAA) Friday at 6 p.m.

Saturday at 6 p.m., Washburn hosts Northwest Missouri, 15-3 and in third place in the MIAA.

Washburn, 16-2, trails only 17-2 Central Missouri in the league race. Maxwell said the team has adopted the attitude "It’s there if you want it."

“It’s so true. We have so much potential as a team, and such a great opportunity,” the senior middle hitter said. “We’ve put ourselves in position to be co-champs of the regular season. We have a great opportunity to be champs (outright) of the MIAA if we want to be. It’s really up to us.”

Rated first in the NCAA Div. II rankings for a time in early October, prior to losing matches at Northwest Missouri and at home to Central Missouri, the Ichabods have inched back into second place nationally. Washburn trails only Metropolitan State University (MSU)-Denver in the poll.

The MIAA is loaded with contenders. Central Missouri dropped two places to No. 4 in the most recent national poll. Northwest Missouri rounds out the top-five for the second-consecutive week. Nebraska-Kearney jumped up three places this week to No. 12 after defeating Central Missouri last Saturday.

There’s a lot on the line.

“Coach Herron always says that pressure is just between your ears,” Maxwell said. “I think we just take one game at a time and don’t think ‘Oh, if we lose, this happens.’ We’re more just like, ‘Let’s win.’ That keeps you from playing not to lose.”

Maxwell said knowing that the Ichabods will host a first-round match of the MIAA tournament means Senior Night won’t be the seniors’ last time to play in Lee Arena.

“It’s cool that we get to host the first round,” Maxwell said. “So thankfully, Saturday won’t be the last time we play here. That will take a little of the emotion out of it.”

For the native of Jefferson City, Mo., facing Northwest Missouri is always meaningful. Maxwell, who has received numerous All-American and all-MIAA honors in her five years at Washburn, was not recruited by the Bearcats. Several times a year, she drives I-70 between her home and campus, passing Maryville, Mo. along the way.

“It’s a miracle that I even got recruited to come here,” Maxwell said. “I wasn’t recruited by many (colleges) in high school because I wasn’t that good. If you go back and look at my tape, it’s embarrassing.

“But Coach Herron really developed me into the player I am today. The only reason he recruited me was that he saw me at a club tournament, recorded me hit one ball, and then walked out and said ‘That girl’s ours.’ So, thankfully, he saw the potential in me that others didn’t.

“I think a lot of us (on the team) have that similar motivation. My teammates were recruited by these rival schools, or not recruited by them. Either way, they’re motivated to show what they can do.”

Maxwell is one of a group of seniors that had the opportunity to graduate last year. But the pandemic afforded one more opportunity to play for championships.

“We had the decision to either stay or leave and go on with our lives,” Maxwell recalled. “We’re really close as a class, and we decided that it’s all or none. So, we all stayed. It tells you a lot about our relationships and the chemistry on this team.”

On track to graduate in December with a degree in kinesiology, Maxwell hopes to continue playing volleyball in a program in the United Kingdom that will allow her to pursue a master’s degree in marketing or business administration.

Like several of her teammates, Maxwell is creeping up the statistical lists of Washburn greats. She ranks 18th in career kills, and seventh in attack percentage and blocks.

“Coach keeps our heads on straight, so I don’t really know what my stats are,” the senior said. “It’s cool. But it all comes down to how you play the next game. I think ultimately, having really good teammates who are also in those types of stat lines, we keep each other humble, and we push each other every day.

"It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, so we’re focused on pushing every day.”

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Washburn volleyball prepares for the postseason