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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Veteran Silver Lake volleyball coach Sarah Johnson expected her team to be good this fall, but she is quick to admit that she never really expected the 41-1 record that the Eagles will take into this week's Class 3A state tournament at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.

Silver Lake volleyball celebrates a point in last Saturday's Class 3A sub-state tournament at Silver Lake. [Photo by Jesse Bruner/Special to TSN]

Now the aim for top-seeded Silver Lake is to finish off its dream season with the school's 10th state title and first since 2018.   

"I honestly wasn't expecting this record at this point in the season, however, I did have very high hopes for this squad,'' Johnson said. "My first feeling of, 'this team has the potential to go far,' was this summer at the Mokan volleyball tournament at Washburn University.

"We came out first at that tourney with some tough competition. There is just something special about them. They are all bought in, willing to give their all, okay with being held accountable, and have a love and respect for one another cheering the other one on.''

Silver Lake's only loss came against 5A sub-state finalist Shawnee Heights in its 10th match of the season and the Eagles have reeled off 32 straight wins entering 3A pool play Thursday.  

"Leadership and unity is definitely part of it,'' Johnson said of the Eagles' success.  "A good sign of leadership is the ability to listen. I feel that they are all open to each other's ideas and feedback. They take it and learn from it. A big thing I've seen with this group leading to the success they've had thus far is the ability to not get rattled.

"We talk about getting uncomfortable in practices so when we are faced with uncomfortable situations in matches, it's familiar and we are comfortable. They have that calm confidence that helps them in those tough situations.''

Johnson knows that the Eagles are likely to encounter some of those tough situations in a 3A field that includes five teams with at least 33 wins and all eight with at least 26.

But the Silver Lake coach knows her team is extrememly capable of answering the challenge. 

"Yes, this weekend will be tough,'' Johnson said. "Our goal is to keep at it like we have all year -- limit our own errors, not let a team go on runs and adjust to different players/teams quickly and efficiently without getting rattled.

"(We want to) continue rising to the occasion and competing at a high level physically and mentally.'' 

In the brand new state tournament format installed by the Kansas State High School Activities Association, the 3A field will play its three pool matches on Thursday before a day off on Friday and the semifinals, championship and third-place matches on Saturday.

Silver Lake sophomore Karys Deiter spikes the ball during last Saturday's Class 3A sub-state tournament at Silver Lake. [Photo by Jesse Bruner/Special to TSN]

Silver Lake junior Jaylie Whitehead makes a return during last Saturday's Class 3A sub-state tournament at Silver Lake. [Photo by Jesse Bruner/Special to TSN]

The Eagles will open their state bid at 11 a.m. Thursday with a Pool I match against No. 8 seed Hesston (26-12). After a match off, Silver Lake will return to the court at 1 p.m. to face No. 5 seed Ellsworth (32-8) before closing out pool play with a 3 o'clock match against No. 4 Wichita Trinity (28-5).

On the other side of the 3A bracket are No. 2 seed Riverton (36-4), No. 3 Hoisington (36-4), No. 6 Holton (34-9) and No. 7 Osage City (27-12).

The top two finishers in both pools will advance to 9 a.m. semifinals on Saturday, followed by the championship and third-place matches.

CLASS 3A VOLLEYBALL

At Hutchinson Sports Arena

THURSDAY'S POOL PLAY

Pool I

10 a.m. -- Wichita Trinity (4: 28-5) vs. Ellsworth (5: 32-8).

11 -- Silver Lake (1: 41-1) vs. Hesston (8: 26-12).

12 p.m. -- Wichita Trinity vs. Hesston.

1 -- Silver Lake vs. Ellsworth.

2 -- Ellsworth vs. Hesston.

3 -- Silver Lake vs. Wichita Trinity.

Pool II

10 a.m. -- Hoisington (3: 36-4) vs. Holton (6: 34-9).

11 -- Riverton (2: 36-4) vs. Osage City (7: 27-12).

12 p.m. -- Hoisington vs. Osage City.

1 -- Riverton vs. Holton.

2 -- Holton vs. Osage City.

3 -- Riverton vs. Hoisington.

SATURDAY

9 a.m -- Semifinals.

(Championship and third-place matches 25 minutes after conclusion of last semifinal).

Eight-time Class 6A state champion Washburn Rural will be making its ninth straight state tournament appearance this weekend in Salina. [File photo/TSN]

Washburn Rural takes aim on ninth Class 6A state crown

Eight-time Class 6A state champion Washburn Rural will be looking for title No. 9 this weekend in its ninth straight state appearance.

The 30-7 Junior Blues earned the No. 4 seed for Friday and Saturday's 6A event at Tony's Pizza Event Center in Salina with a 30-7 record.

Six of Rural's seven losses have come against state tournament teams in 6A, 5A and 4A, while the seventh defeat came at the hands of a Gardner-Edgerton team that played in a 6A sub-state final.

And now Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick, who has led the Junior Blues to all eight of their state titles and ranks No. 2 on Kansas' all-time wins list, is hoping his team can step up its game even more this weekend.

"It's all about raising your level of play and your level of intensity, your mental toughness, and all those factors go into it,'' Bordewick said. "But we still have to be us. We can't be somebody we're not.

"The greatest teams make the routine plays more often than just making great plays and if we can just make routine plays more often than the other team we should be alright.'' 

The Junior Blues will open Pool I play in Friday's first match of the day at 10 a.m., facing No. 5 seed Olathe West (26-7), and Bordewick said he wants all of his team's focus to be on that match against an Owls team that defeated Rural 15-25, 25-19, 25-22 early in the season.

"We're just worried about Olathe West,'' he said. "We haven't really talked about any other teams yet. We did not feel like we played well against them, but they had a lot to do with that, too, when we played them way back in early Sept.

Brynn Anderson has turned in a banner freshman season, helping lead the Junior Blues to a ninth straight Class 6A state tournament berth. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

"I think overall, when you put everything together, we've come a really long way. We expect a lot out of ourselves and we have standards that people strive to get to and I think they've done that. They've continued what we've had for several years really, really well. I'm pretty proud of all of them.'' 

After a match break after facing Olathe West, Washburn Rural will face No. 8 seed Free State (20-12) at 12 p.m. before closing out pool play at 3 p.m. against top seed and two-time defending state champ Mill Valley (31-4).

On the other side of the 6A bracket are No. 2 seed Blue Valley West (30-4), No. 3 Wichita Northwest (30-6), No. 6 Manhattan (27-8) and No. 7 Olathe Northwest (28-9).

The top two finishers in both pools will advance to 1 p.m. semifinals on Saturday, followed by the championship and third-place matches.

CLASS 6A VOLLEYBALL

At Tony's Pizza Events Center, Salina

FRIDAY'S POOL PLAY

Pool I

10 a.m. -- Washburn Rural (4: 30-7) vs. Olathe West (5: 26-7).

11 -- Mill Valley (1: 31-4) vs. Free State (8: 20-12).

12 p.m. -- Washburn Rural vs. Free State.

1 -- Mill Valley vs. Olathe West.

2 -- Olathe West vs. Free State.

3 -- Mill Valley vs. Washburn Rural.

Pool II

10 a.m. -- Wichita Northwest (3: 30-6) vs. Manhattan (6: 27-8).

11 -- Blue Valley West (2: 30-4) vs. Olathe Northwest (7: 28-9).

12 p.m. -- Wichita Northwest vs. Olathe Northwest.

1 -- Blue Valley West vs. Manhattan.

2 -- Manhattan vs. Olathe Northwest.

3 -- Blue Valley West vs. Wichita Northwest.

SATURDAY

1 p.m -- Semifinals.

(Championship and third-place matches 25 minutes after conclusion of last semifinal).

Read more …

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University soccer showed off its resiliency and depth Sunday in Yager Stadium as the Ichabods stretched their unbeaten streak to 11 games with a 2-1 MIAA victory over Fort Hays State.

The Ichabods, now 10-2-3 overall and 7-0-2 in the conference, never trailed after freshman Bricelyn Betts scored her first career goal with 11:49 left in the opening half off an assist from sophomore Sam Searcey, but the Tigers (3-10-1, 1-7-1) squared the match just 1:39 into the second half on a goal from Chaley French.

The game remained tied for just over 30 minutes until junior Kylie Hinrichs recorded her first career goal for the game-winner, with Searcey again providing the assist, and the Ichabods were able to hold on the rest of the way.

Washburn freshman Bricelyn Betts is mobbed by her teammates after scoring the Ichabods' first goal in Sunday's 2-1 win over Fort Hays State. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn freshman Kylie Hinrichs delivers the game-winning goal in the Ichabods' 2-1 win over Fort Hays State Sunday in Yager Stadium. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

For the second straight game Washburn scored the game-winning goal in the final 15 minutes.

"The resiliency of this group, they just stay so committed to the process day-in and day-out, training, games,'' Washburn coach Davy Phillips said. "Teams have to beat us. They truly have to beat us and there'll be a moment here and there in games where they might get a goal, but takes a lot to beat us.    

"Credit the girls, they find a way. We are going to need that down the stretch here. We're going to need big moments late in games and knowing they can produce them is comforting and should give us confidence in these tight games down the stretch."

Read more …

By CHARLES SPURLOCK

Special to TopSports.news

WICHITA -- On a rain soaked Saturday morning, four local teams (Topeka High, Washburn Rural, Seaman, Topeka West) headed to Wichita’s L.W. Clapp Park to run in the Class 5A and 6A regional cross country championships.

 

In 6A, both the girls and boys teams from Washburn Rural qualified for the state meet and will run next Saturday at Rim Rock Farm north of Lawrence.

Washburn Rural senior Emily Graf finished fifth in Saturday's Class 6A regional at Wichita, leading Rural to a runnerup team finish. [File photo/TSN]

The second-place Washburn Rural girls were led by a fifth-place finish from senior Emily Graf, who finished in a time of 20:19.10. Two freshmen teammates also finished in the top ten -- Alyson Hinck in eighth with a time of 20:34.75 and 

Morgan Munson had a ninth place finish in 20:41.04.

 

The Washburn Rural boys tied Manhattan with 62 points, but Manhattan finished in first due to the tiebreaker of their sixth runner finishing four places ahead of Washburn Rural’s sixth-place runner.

Rural sophomore Duke Graf finished in second place in a time of 17:38.44 and was joined in the top 10 by fellow sophomore Clayton Fink with a time of 17:51.16.

 

Topeka High sophomore Easton Davis qualified for state individually based on his 14th-place finish in 18:09.80.

In Class 5A, the Seaman girls and boys will send one runner each to the state meet next Saturday.

Seaman junior Brynn Spencer was sixth in Saturday's Class 5A regional at Wichita, earning a state berth. [File photo/TSN]

Junior Brynn Spencer finished in sixth place with a time of 20:06.18 and commented on running in the rainy conditions,

“Knowing that everyone would be running in the same conditions, I wanted to go out and push the pace as much as I could,'' Spencer said. "All the puddles were fun to run through and I’m just really glad with how I did.”

In looking forward to next week’s state meet, Spencer said, “I’m kind of sad that the whole team didn’t qualify and I’ll have to run by myself, but it’s been a great season with all of them. My main goal for next week is to get a better time and place than last year at state. Coach (Rick) Brading wants me to push for the top 10 and into the elite runners group in our school.”

Seaman senior Brody Anderson finished second individually in Saturday's Class 5A cross country regional at Wichita. [File photo/TSN]  

Seaman senior Brody Anderson finished the boys race in 16:55.76, just 0.07 seconds behind regional champion Daniel Enriquez of Kapaun-Mt. Carmel.

Anderson talked about running the rain-soaked course, “It was a fun day to get out and race, but the conditions never produce fast times and that wasn’t the goal today. Coach (Luke) Wiens and I planned all week to go out today and qualify and put up either one or two points for the team.”

He is aware of what will happen next week, “State will be more strategic and I’ll be fighting for the win.”

Read more …