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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn volleyball opened the PSU Regional Challenge with six straight set victories for a pair of wins over Missouri S&T and Harding.
Washburn volleyball improved to 8-1 on the season with a pair of three-set sweeps on Friday in the PSU Regional Challenge. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will finish out the tournament at 9 a.m. on Saturday against Henderson State.
Every set of the day was won by at least four points for Washburn as the Ichabods took match one over by Missouri S&T by set scores of 25-12, 25-20 and 25-17. The win over Harding in match two went 25-21, 25-13 and 25-21.
Match one: Washburn 3, Missouri S&T 0
Washburn jumped ahead early as it blanked the Miners (2-6) for the first six points of the match.
The lead grew to 10-2 after a kill from Austin Broadie. Missouri S&T was able to cut into the lead with a 4-1 run but never got any closer.
Three kills from Jalyn Stevenson made up most of a 5-1 run for the Ichabods. Three straight points finished off the set as Washburn held the Miners to a .000 hitting percentage in the 25-12 win.
After the Ichabods jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set, Missouri S&T landed the next four points to take the lead.
The Miners' lead grew to a match-high four points at 9-5 after four straight points. Washburn worked back and was able to take its first lead of the set with Alex Dvorak and Emery Keebaugh combining for a block to cap off a 4-0 run.
After taking the lead the Ichabods didn't look back, with only one tie the rest of the way as WU took a 25-20 win, once again holding the Miners to under a .100 hitting percentage.
In the third set Washburn held a small lead early until back-to-back aces from Corinna McMullen called for a Missouri S&T timeout and put the Ichabods up 11-6.
Washburn had doubled up the Miners at 18-9 to create an advantage that would last the rest of the way. McMullen assisted Dvorak on each of the last two kills to finish off the match.
The Ichabods hit .235 as a team with 43 kills while holding the Miners to a .064 hitting percentage and 29 kills with 21 errors. Washburn picked up 43 assists to 27 for MS&T while also controlling the match in digs, 61 to 52.
Stevenson and Broadie led with eight kills each. Stevenson added 13 digs, tied for a team high, while Braodie had six total blocks.
Sidney Conner and McMullen had 18 and 17 assists, respectively.
Isabelle Monaco was one of two players from Missouri S&T to finish with double-digit kills as she finished with 12 along with nine digs.
Match two: Washburn 3, Harding 0
Just like in the first match of the day, Washburn (8-1) pulled ahead early with a 6-1 lead after three straight kills on passes from Conner.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 20-ranked Washburn University soccer team rolled to a 6-0 win over Black Hills State (S.D.) on Friday in Kearney, Neb. as five Ichabods scored goals in WU's third straight win.
Former Washburn Rural standout Hunter McWilliams scored her first career college goal for Washburn in Friday's 6-0 win over Black Hills State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The 3-2 Ichabods will stay in Kearney for their final non-conference contest against Western Colorado at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
Washburn put the pressure on the Yellow Jackets from the opening kickoff, racking up a total of 16 shots in the first half, with seven coming on goal.
The Yellow Jacket defense would hold firm until the 26th minute, when Lakin Rold converted on a shot outside the box for her first career goal.
A fresh set of Ichabod substitutes came in and contributed to the offensive attack, highlighted by Preslee Amick's first career goal off an assist from fellow sophomore Kylee Hinrichs.
The Washburn defense would hold Black Hills State without a shot attempt in the first half.
The Ichabods continued to control possession and attack the Yellow Jacket net in the second half, with Khloe Schuckman finding Washburn Rural product Mackinly Rohn in the center of the box to put Washburn up 3-0.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
In his long college coaching career, Washburn University football coach Craig Schurig has learned to accept the good, bad and in between and move on.
Washburn sophomore D.J. Bell returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in last Saturday's 31-28 loss to No. 5-ranked Colorado School of Mines. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Highland Park product Tre Richardson had 168 all-purpose yards, including an 85-yard touchdown reception, in Washburn's 31-28 loss to No. 5-ranked Colorado School of Mines on Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But some games are a little harder to forget, and last Saturday's 31-28 home loss to No. 5-ranked Colorado School of Mines is likely to be one of those.
The Ichabods took the Orediggers, the national runnerup the past two seasons, down to the end before a missed 44-yard field goal allowed CSM to avoid overtime and escape with the win.
"Obviously we played a very good team and we did enough good things to possibly win the game and when you come away not winning the game it does hurt,'' Schurig said. "But it hurts in a good way in the sense that we played a lot better and you take away some positives and you hope it makes the guys and coaches focused on, 'OK, now the details really matter between those wins and losses.' ''
Washburn (0-2 overall, 0-1 MIAA) will be back in Yager Stadium on Saturday, hosting its second straight top-10 opponent as No. 10-ranked Pittsburg State comes to town for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Washburn's Family Day.
The Gorillas (2-1, 1-1) will also be looking to bounce back after falling to No. 21-ranked Emporia State 24-21 last Saturday at PSU.
Schurig said he feels like his team has recovered well from last week's heartbreaker.
"It seems like practice-wise they've done really good,'' Schurig said. "We still have some things that we have to correct to win those style of games but I think they have confidence in the sense that toe to toe they can handle personnel-wise going up against anybody.
"We've played two really good teams and you try to win individual battles and we feel like we've won a lot of individual battles.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Former Washburn Rural football star JC Heim has never been a fan of sitting.
JC Heim
So when the Washburn University football coaching staff opened the door for the 6-foot-3, 225-pound linebacker to play as a true freshman, Heim jumped at the chance.
And two games into his college career Heim has taken full advantage of that opportunity.
"I knew I had great people in front of me and I was surrounded by great leaders around me,'' Heim said. "We had a great summer together and putting on the weight and the size through this awesome strength and conditioning program that we had throughout the summer definitely helped me get prepared for fall camp.
"And with the group of leaders we have, it helped me become successful throughout fall camp to learn the plays, get the plays down and be able to make plays.''
Washburn freshman linebacker JC Heim (25) posted five tackles in the second college game of his career, last Saturday's 31-21 loss to No. 5-ranked Colorado School of Mines. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Heim saw spot duty on defense and also played on special teams in the Ichabods' season-opener at Emporia State, recording one assisted tackle, and stepped up his work load in last week's 31-28 loss to Colorado School of Mines, recording five tackles on the day.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Topeka West boys soccer team continues to stack wins, going on the road to Seaman Thursday night to get its fourth win of the season, 2-1 over the Vikings.
The battle of 3-1 teams in the Class 5A class didn’t disappoint.
Topeka West junior Giancarlo Valenzuela (10) scored the game's first goal in Thursday's 2-1 Charger win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka West celebrates a goal in Thursday's 2-1 UKC soccer win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Chargers withstood several near-misses by the Vikings early, then scored the first goal with 7:14 remaining before halftime when Giancarlo Valenzuela launched a long bomb from well outside the penalty box that eluded the Vikings’ leaping goalkeeper.
Seaman senior Lucas Cross (19) is congratulated after scoring the Vikings' lone goal in Thursday's 2-1 loss to Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman tried to grab the momentum from the visitors just two minutes into the second half. The Vikings’ Lucas Cross took a pass in the heart of the Charger defense and punched home a shot to tie the score at 1-1.
Topeka West didn’t let the home team enjoy the moment for long. Just six minutes later, the Chargers’ Diego Gonzalez-Talavera guided a pass through the Seaman defense to teammate Cain Cianciarulo, who headed the ball in for what turned out to be the winning score.
“Since we started seeing these guys come together, we could tell that we have guys with a lot of talent,” said Charger coach Josh Kutter. “We’ve been talking about putting together a full 80 minutes as a team and working on that mental toughness to stay focused for a whole game. I think tonight they showed that.”
