#4 Wayne State College fell to #7 Washburn 25-16, 25-14, 25-22 Thursday morning in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Central Region Volleyball Tournament in Kearney, Nebraska.  The Wildcats end the season with a record of 27-5 while the Ichabods advance to Friday's semi-finals with a 27-4 mark.     
            The first set saw the Ichabods grab an early 5-1 lead forcing a Wildcat timeout.  The 'Cats were still down 11-7 when a WSC block by Mattie Kamery and Chloe Hanel, a Kamery service ace and a pair of Washburn attack errors knotted the score at 11-11 forcing Washburn to take a timeout.
            Washburn scored the next three points out of the time out to take the lead for good at 14-11.  WSC got as close as two at 17-15 following a Laney Kathol solo block, but the Ichabods closed the opening set strong and finished with a 25-16 opening set win.
            Miller had five kills to lead the Wildcats in the opening set.
            The second set was controlled by Washburn, who jumped out to 7-2 and 12-3 leads on the Wildcats, and finished with a 25-14 set win.
            Hanel had three kills in the second set for the Wildcats.  
            The Wildcats came out strong in the third set and held the lead the entire way until late in the set.
            An Anna Borner service ace put the 'Cats in front 11-6.  Washburn rallied and got within three at 14-11, but the 'Cats got a Molly Romano kill off an overpass, a block by Hanel and Romano and an ace from Kamery putting the 'Cats back up 17-11.  
            A Channatee Robles kill gave WSC an 18-12 lead, but Washburn started to rally and scored five of the next six points to cut the Wildcat lead to 19-17.  Wayne State's final lead in the set was 21-20 following a Kamery kill.  Washburn scored the next two points for a 22-21 lead, then Robles evened the set at 22-22 on a kill.  But the Ichabods scored the final three points of the set to close with a 25-22 set win.  
            Miller led Wayne State hitting in the contest with 11 kills followed by Robles with seven.  Hanel had five blocks and setter Molly Romano had her 11th double-double of the season with 25 set assists and 12 digs.  Kamery had two of Wayne State's three service aces.
            Wayne State finished the match hitting .085 on 31 kills with 19 errors and 142 attacks while Washburn had a .250 percentage on 48 kills with 15 errors and 132 attacks.
            The match was the final contest for Wayne State's lone senior Taylor Bunjer, who was a part of three NSIC regular season titles and an NCAA Central Region title in 2023.