2026 MIAA Volleyball In-Season Tournament
St. Joseph, Mo. • MWSU Fieldhouse at Looney Complex
 
Fort Hays State (14-8, 3-5 MIAA)
vs. #15 Washburn (18-4, 6-2 MIAA)
Friday, October 16 • 6 p.m.
 
at #8 Missouri Western (16-2, 6-1 MIAA)
Saturday, October 17 • 2 p.m.
 
It's déjà vu all over again for the Fort Hays State volleyball team as the Tigers return to St. Joseph, Mo. for the second weekend in a row, this time to face off with No. 15 Washburn and No. 8 Missouri Western in the inaugural MIAA volleyball in-season tournament. The Tigers and Ichabods will face off Friday (Oct. 16, 6 p.m.) before FHSU takes on the Griffons for the second time in nine days on Saturday (Oct. 17, 2 p.m.).
 
Team Records
- Fort Hays State heads into the weekend 14-8 overall and 3-5 in conference play.
- The Ichabods sit at 18-4 overall and 6-2 in league action.
- The Griffons are 16-2 on the year and 6-1 in league play.
- Both nationally-ranked programs will play their non-conference match on Thursday (Oct. 15) before playing the Tigers to wrap up the weekend.
 
Match Coverage
- Live video will be available on The MIAA Network. Fans can purchase access to single matches for $15, a reoccurring monthly subscription for $35 or a season-long all-access pass for $140.
- Live stats for both matches will be available here.
 
Tickets
- Tickets at Missouri Western are available for $7 and can be purchased online here.
 
About the MIAA Volleyball In-Season Tournament
With the addition of a 13th league school in Northeastern State this year, the MIAA coaches altered the league schedule to include one matchup against the other 12 schools. To fill some of the openings in the reduced schedule, the league introduced an in-season tournament that will count as regular season, non-conference matchups. The 13 schools are broken up into four pods, with Missouri Southern hosting No. 25 Central Oklahoma and Arkansas-Fort Smith, Newman hosting Northeastern State and Pittsburg State and Northwest Missouri State hosting No. 5 Nebraska-Kearney, No. 18 Emporia State and Central Missouri.
 
Home Away from Home
The Tigers will hope to travel to St. Joseph for a third time next month for the MIAA Championship Tournament, set for Nov. 12-14. With four conference games yet to play, Fort Hays State currently sits in eighth place in the league standings, one win in front of Pittsburg State while also holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Gorillas. The top eight teams in the standings at the end of the regular season will qualify for the conference tournament.

Second Time Around
- This weekend's contests will be FHSU's second meeting of the season with both Washburn and Missouri Western.
- The Ichabods swept the Tigers last month in Topeka, while FHSU took the Griffons to five sets before falling last week in St. Joseph.

Nationally Ranked Opponents
- The Tigers have played five nationally-ranked opponents so far this season, taking at least one set in three of those five matches.
- FHSU has four more contests against ranked opponents on the schedule, including both matches this week and upcoming dates with No. 25 Central Missouri and No. 5 Nebraska-Kearney.
 
MIAA Athletes of the Week
- Fort Hays State has earned three conference players of the week this season, with Annie Eaton picking up the setter award twice and Ella Goodwin garnering the offensive award once.
- The duo both earned MIAA Athletes of the Week after a big homecoming weekend, giving the Tigers multiple weekly award winners for the first time in a decade (Rebekah Spainhour and Hannah Wagy, 10/3/16).
- It was the second-straight weekly honor for Eaton, making her the first Tiger to earn multiple weekly awards from the conference office since Hannah Wagy in 2016.
- Goodwin averaged four kills per set and posted a swing rate of .478 in nine sets, totaling just four errors on the week. She added 10 digs and three blocks defensively.
- The right-side hitter reached double figures in kills in all three contests, totaling 15 against Kansas Wesleyan and adding 10 kills without an error to post a swing rate of .625 against Northeastern State.
- Eaton averaged 11.2 assists and 4.0 digs per frame while adding seven aces, five blocks and five kills.
- The setter recorded more than 30 assists in all three sweeps, including a weekly high of 35 against Arkansas-Fort Smith.
 
Closing in on 1K
- Eaton heads into the week with 999 career assists.
- The sophomore setter leads the MIAA and ranks 18th in Division II with 714 kills this season, while she ranks second in the conference with an average of 9.04 assists per set.

Climbing the List
- Now with 358 career blocks, Ashlyn Reeves ranks fifth at FHSU during the DII era (since 1992).
- The senior middle needs 16 blocks to tie for fourth (Lynn Smith, 1993-94, 374 career blocks).
 
Among the National Leaders
- Fort Hays State ranks second in Division II with 1,052 assists this season while ranking third nationally with 1,122 total kills.
- The Tiger offense leads the MIAA in both assists and kills per set, ranking sixth in Division II in assists per set (13.32) and eighth in kills per set (14.20).
 
On the Prowl
- Fort Hays State totaled 85 kills in its win over Pittsburg State, more than any other Division II team this season and tied for the most in a match at any level of NCAA volleyball in 2026 (Western Carolina, 85 kills vs. Samford, 10/2/26)
- That total is second-most at FHSU during the rally-scoring era (since 2001) and the most in a match by the Tigers since 2003.
 
Swinging for the Fences
After going 10 years without an attack percentage over .400 against a DII opponent, the Tigers reached that threshold twice in the first two weeks of this season. FHSU posted an attack percentage of .442 against Midwestern State at home and later added a swing rate of .425 against Sul Ross State in Grand Junction, Colo.
- The Tigers have hit .300 or better five times and have 13 performances of .250 or better.
 
Balanced Offensive Attack
- Four Tigers average at least 2.5 kills per set, with four more averaging more than 1.4 kill per frame.
- Goodwin is one of 14 hitters in the MIAA averaging at least three kills per frame, leading the Tigers at 3.05 per set.
- Mylie Brown ranks 16th in the conference with an average of 2.82 kills per stanza.
- Peyton Bergschneider ranks 20th in the league with an average of 2.74 kills per set.
- Reeves is fourth on the team with an average of 2.61 kills per set.
 
Conference Top 10
- Eaton ranks third in the conference with 29 service aces.
- Reeves ranks fourth in the conference and in the top 50 in Division II with a hitting percentage of .367, while her 0.97 blocks per set are inside the top 10 in the league.
- Haylee Wolf is eighth in the conference with an average of 4.47 digs per frame.
 
Looking Ahead
FHSU will wrap up non-conference play on Tuesday (Oct. 20) when the Tigers host Bethel College for the annual Pink Out Match. Action is set to begin at 6 p.m. inside Gross Memorial Coliseum.
 
Scouting the Opposition
No. 15 Washburn
Record: 18-4 (6-2 MIAA)
Series History: WU leads, 59-54
Streak: WU W5
Key Stats: Fourth in MIAA with team hitting percentage of .247...Taylor Rottinghaus fourth in MIAA with 4.82 digs per set...Brooklyn Morrissey ninth in MIAA with 1.01 blocks per set...Two Ichabods averaging more than three kills per set, with Brynne Topolski ranking seventh in the MIAA (3.15 k/s) and Emma Siron ranking eighth (3.08 k/s).
 
No. 8 Missouri Western
Record: 16-2 (6-1 MIAA)
Series History: MWSU leads, 54-14
Streak: MWSU W9, 21-1 since 2013
Key Stats: Fifth in DII with 2.56 blocks per set...Mackenzie Peters seventh in DII and second in DII with 1.36 blocks per set...Tanith Roush eighth in MIAA with 3.06 kills per set...Anna Weberg 19th in DII and second in MIAA with 5.12 digs per set.