By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman volleyball got through a tough early-season stretch without senior star Maegan Mills and is now back at full strength and beginning to flash the form that produced the first Class 5A state championship in school history last fall.
Mills, the reigning Topeka Shawnee County Player of the Year and a 5A All-Stater, missed the Vikings' first three matches after suffering a minor knee injury in Seaman's jamboree, but Seaman went a respectable 2-1 during that stretch and has not lost since, improving to 6-1 with a sweep of Thursday's home quadrangular.
Seaman celebrates a point in Thursday's volleyball quadrangular sweep on the Vikings' home court. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Seaman, ranked third in 5A by the Kansas Volleyball Association, opened its night with a 25-19, 25-14 win over Manhattan, followed by a 25-14, 25-21 decision over Silver Lake and a 25-14, 25-17 win over Shawnee Heights.
"You never complain when you go 3-0 against some pretty decent teams,'' Seaman coach Tatiana Dowling said. "I think that we definitely have our stuff that we've got to work on -- defensively, connecting with our hitters, speeding up our offense -- but I'm happy with how they stayed calm, cool and collected no matter what the situation is.
"I think that their experience really shows in those situations. They don't seem rattled.''
Seaman senior Maegan Mills spikes the ball in Thursday's quadrangular sweep at Seaman. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Mills, who has orally committed to Tulsa, also gave her team passing grades for its performance thus far, but is expecting more as the season moves on.
"I think we're doing pretty good,'' said Mills, who has committed to Tulsa. "I would say we definitely have a lot of ways to improve. We've worked on blocking a lot, but I think today we blocked pretty well. Our defense has been struggling a bit but we've just been doing a lot of defensive work in practice and we just need to work on coming out strong.
"The first couple of games we kind of came out kind of weak in a sense and we've just been focusing on coming out strong. We have our areas where we need to improve, but it's been a really good season so far.''
Mills said Seaman realizes that teams will be shooting for the Vikings as the defending state champion, but she said her team is up to the challenge.
"I would say we know there's pressure, but I don't think we feel it,'' Mills said. "We just know that everyone's going to come in guns blazing and they're not going to lay off so, we have to come out stronger and just really focus on our side and keep our errors down and that just comes from being a mentally strong team.''
Manhattan played Seaman tough in the first set of the opening match, including 15-15 tie, but the Vikings took control late for the six-point win.
The second set was tied at 3-3, but Seaman ran off three straight points and never trailed again.
A kill from senior Ava Esser put the Vikings in front up 19-12 and Seaman went on the pull away for the 11-point win, capped by a Campbell Chabot kill.
Silver Lake, which finished third in 3A a year ago, played Seaman close early in the opening set of the Vikings' second match of the night but the hosts pulled away for a 17-8 advantage on a long service run from senior Kinley Wilhelm and went up 23-12 on a block from Ally Steiner before closing out the 11-point win.
Silver Lake volleyball celebrates a kill during Thursday's quadrangular at Seaman. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Eagles gave Seaman a battle throughout the second set, including an 18-17 advantage, before the Vikings scored the final three points to win, 25-21.
Seaman took control early in its final match against Shawnee Heights, closing out its 11-point first-set win on a kill from senior Maggie Moulden.
Seaman and Shawnee Heights were tied at 5-all in the second set before the Vikings pulled away for a 14-7 advantage on a Moulden kill and went on to close out an eight-point win.
Shawnee Heights went 2-1 in Thursday's volleyball quadrangular at Seaman, with the T-Birds' lone loss coming against defending Class 5A state champion Seaman. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Shawnee Heights went 2-1 on the night, taking a 25-16, 25-22 win over Silver Lake and a 25-16, 30-28 victory over Manhattan.
Manhattan went 1-2, outlasting Silver Lake in a three-game thriller, 25-14, 26-28, 25-20.
After dropping the first set to the Indians, the Eagles took a 7-3 second-set lead on a block from junior Paige Heiman.
The set was tied at 18-18 and 22-all before Silver Lake took a 23-22 lead on a kill from senior Alana Brewster.
After ties at 24, 25 and 26 Silver Lake scored back-to-back points to take the win.
Silver Lake took a 6-4 third-set lead on a Heiman kill and the Eagles went up 10-8 on a kill from freshman Karys Deiter and led as late as 15-12 before Manhattan rallied for a 23-17 lead and held on for the 25-10 win.
MATCH RESULTS
Seaman def. Manhattan, 25-19, 25-14; Shawnee Heights def. Silver Lake, 25-16, 25-22; Seaman def. Silver Lake, 25-14, 25-21; Shawnee Heights def. Manhattan, 25-16, 30-28; Seaman def. Shawnee Heights, 25-14, 25-17; Manhattan def. Silver Lake, 25-14, 26-28, 25-20.
