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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden's girls basketball team didn't play nearly as clean or as crisp as coach Carvel Reynoldson would have liked Tuesday night, but that often happens in a season-opener.
But even though the Wildcats didn't shoot particularly well from either the field or the foul line and turned the ball over 20 times, Hayden achieved its biggest objective, taking a 52-38 Centennial League win over an improved Highland Park team on the Scots' home floor.
"We came out right away and I didn't think we were playing very hard and then from about a minute and a half on I thought we played really hard, we just didn't play very smart,'' Reynoldson said. "And the problem is we have a lot of young girls on the court, but they weren't the biggest culprits.
"It was the ones that should know better, but I think it was kind of a situation where we've been practicing for so long against each other and we got out there and were just a little too excited.''
Senior Macy Smith returned from a knee injury last season to score 18 points in Hayden's 52-38 season-opening win over Highland Park Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Except for a 2-0 defict and a tie at 5-all, Hayden never trailed against Highland Park (0-2, 0-2) and survived some Highland Park runs along the way to lead 14-5 at the end of the first quarter, 31-21 at the half and 41-32 at the start of the third quarter.
Hayden led by 15 in the first half and by 16 midway through the third quarter, but Highland Park wouldn't got away, getting within seven points (45-38) with 3:08 remaining on a 3-pointer from senior Aisya Taylor before the Wildcats scored the final seven points.
Senior Macy Smith, who missed most of last season with an ACL injury, scored a game-high 18 points for the Wildcats while senior Carly Stuke added 13 points and freshman Brylee Meier eight points and 10 rebounds.
Senior Atiya Gonzales led Highland Park with 15 points, including three 3-pointers, while senior Taylor added 8 points with a pair of 3s.
HAYDEN GIRLS 52, HIGHLAND PARK 38
Hayden 14 17 10 11 -- 52
Highland Park 5 16 11 6 -- 38
Hayden (1-0, 1-0) -- Lenherr 0-3 0-0 0, Sandstrom 2-5 1-1 5, Anguiano 0-4 0-1 0, Smith 9-17 0-1 18, Stuke 3-14 5-7 13, Delgado 0-1 0-2 0, Huscher 1-2 0-0 3, Schmidtlein 0-2 0-0 0, Meier 3-5 2-2 8, Greco 2-5 1-2 5, Reid 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 9-16 52.
Highland Park (0-2, 0-2) -- Gonzales 6-12 0-0 15, Sanders 1-15 0-0 3, Taylor 3-9 0-2 8, Mitchell 0-6 0-0 0, Parker-Brown 1-2 0-0 3, Reed 2-6 0-0 5, Nunez 0-2 0-0 0, Shutts 0-0 0-0 0, Ramsey 2-10 0-0 4. Totals 15-62 0-2 38.
3-point goals -- Hayden 3 (Stuke 2, Huscher), Highland Park 8 (Gonzales 3, Taylor 2, Sanders, Parker-Brown, Reed) Total fouls -- Hayden 8, Highland Park18. Fouled out -- none.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Four Washburn University volleyball seniors have earned AVCA All-America honors, led by first-team selection Allison Maxwell.
Genna Berg and Faith Rottinghaus garnered second-team accolades and Kelsey Gordon earned honorable mention.
Allison Maxwell
Genna Berg
Faith Rottinghaus
Kelsey Gordon
Maxwell, a senior middle hitter from Jefferson City, Mo., becomes the fifth player in Washburn's history to earn AVCA All-America first team honors and the first since Marissa Cox in 2013.
Maxwell earned AVCA All-American honorable mention recognition in 2018.
Maxwell is third in the nation with a .422 hitting percentage and has 361 kills this year. She was also second in the MIAA with 1.13 blocks per set and her 3.11 kills per set ranks ninth in the league. In 21 matches this fall, she has recorded a hitting percentage of .400 or higher. She has also had seven or more kills in 32 of the 34 matches played.
Maxwell become the fifth player in Washburn history to have over 1,000 career kills and 400 total blocks.
Berg, a senior outside hitter from Blue Springs, Mo., was also named to the AVCA All-America second team in 2019. This season Berg is leading the Ichabods with 434 kills and averages 3.74 kills per set.
Berg has recorded double-figure kills in 25 of the 34 matches played and in 18 of those matches, she has had 13 or more kills. She also averages 1.69 digs per set and has seven double-doubles on the year.
Shawnee Heights product Rottinghaus, a senior libero, earned her first AVCA All-American award with a second-team selection.
Rottinghaus has had a stellar year defensively, averaging 6.59 digs per set (third in Division II) and has 764 total digs (fourth in Division II). She has had 22 matches with 20 or more digs and has a .978 reception percentage, making just eight errors in 362 total reception attempts.
Rottinghaus etched her name in Washburn's record book this fall as she became the all-time career digs leader and currently has 2,607 digs.
Gordon is also a first-time AVCA All-American award winner. Gordon, a senior opposite hitter from Emporia, is third on the team with 291 kills and fifth in the MIAA with a .356 hitting percentage. She has hit .350 or better in 18 matches this fall and has had knocked down eight or more kills in 22 contests. Gordon is also second on Washburn's squad with 90 total blocks, including 11 solo stops.
Washburn AVCA All-Americans
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University volleyball coach Chris Herron will never forget the three-day run his fifth-seeded Ichabods put together last week en route to the Central Region championship in Warrensburg, Mo.
Herron's only regret is that the Ichabods didn't have more time to savor -- and recover from -- that tournament before taking aim on an even bigger prize in the 2021 NCAA Division II National Tournament Thursday through Saturday in Tampla, Fla.
Washburn, which is making its third appearance in the Elite Eight and looking for its first national championship, returned to Topeka late Saturday night after claiming the regional title with a 25-22, 25-20, 25-19 win over Concordia-St. Paul and, after just a couple of days back on campus, the Ichabods departed for Tampa before daybreak Tuesday morning.
"It's very hectic,'' Herron said. "The turnaround is just crazy, trying to get everything done in two days and really just one day.''
Washburn, the No. 3 seed in the Eite Eight, will take a 29-5 record into Thursday's 11 a.m. quarterfinal match (Topeka time) against No. 6 seed West Texas A&M (26-4) at the Bob Martinez Athletics Center on the campus of the University of Tampa.
Washburn's volleyball celebrates its NCAA Division II Central Region championship last Saturday in Warrensburg, Mo. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn benefitted from a week off between the MIAA Tournament and the Central Regional, but won't have that luxury this week, playing the very first match in the Elite Eight.
"It did us so much good,'' Herron said of the earlier break. "Our bodies got to recup and so on and so forth. Now it's just a battle of attrition -- who can stay the most not hurt. That's what it amounts do.''
West Texas A&M earned a trip to the NCAA national tournament with wins over No. 8-ranked Colorado School of Mines, No. 22 Texas-Tyler and No. 3 Metropolitan State-Denver. In the regional championship match, the Lady Buffs dropped the first two sets before bouncing back to take an 18-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18 and 15-8 victory.
Washburn is 2-2 all-time in the national tournament and advanced to the semifinals in 2007 and 2018.
All four national quarterfinals will be played on Thursday, followed by the semifinals on Friday and the championship match on Saturday.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn Rural and Topeka High girls are ranked second and eighth in Class 6A in the first Kansas Basketball Coaches Association state rankings of the regular season.
Both the Junior Blues and Trojans are 1-0 on the season entering Tuesday night's games, with Rural taking a 54-14 win over Topeka West and Topeka High beating Manhattan, 63-41, in last Friday's season-openers.
Senior Emma Krueger (11) and the Washburn Rural girls are currently ranked No. 2 in Class 6A in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association state rankings. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN'
Defending 6A champion Shawnee Mission Northwest is ranked No. 1 in 6A while other top-ranked teams in the KBCA rankings include St. Thomas Aquinas (5A), Bishop Miege (4A), Hugoton (3A), Sterling (2A), Little River (1A-Division I) and Central Plains (1A-Division II).
No Shawnee County boys teams are ranked in this week's KBCA rankings.
Top-ranked boys teams include Free State (6A), Maize (5A), Bishop Miege (4A), Hesston (3A), Hillsboro (2A), Olpe (1A-Division I) and Hanover (1A-Division II).
KANSAS BASKETBALL COACHES ASSOCIATION STATE RANKINGS
GIRLS
Class 6A
1. Shawnee Mission Northwest; 2. Washburn Rural; 3. Olathe North; 4. Shawnee Mission West; 5. Blue Valley North; 6. Derby; 7. Dodge City; 8. Topeka High; 9. Wichita Heights; 10. Olathe Northwest.
Class 5A
1. St. Thomas Aquinas; 2. Andover Central; 3. Salina Central; 4. Lansing; 5. Maize; 6. St. James Academy; 7. Maize South; 8. Emporia; 9. Bishop Carroll; 10. Goddard Eisenhower.
Class 4A
1. Bishop Miege; 2. Louisburg; 3. Andale; 4. Paola; 5. Clearwater; 6. McPherson; 7. Labette County; 8. Wellington; 9. Eudora; 10. Wamego.
Class 3A
1. Hugoton; 2. Cheney; 3. Nickerson; 4. Goodland; 5. Phillipsburg; 6. Eureka; 7. Nemaha Central; 8. Haven; 9. Southeast-Saline; 10. Hesston.
Class 2A
1. Sterling; 2. St. Mary's Colgan; 3. Garden Plain; 4. Smith Center; 5. Valley Heights; 6. Hillsboro; 7. Trego Community; 8. Wabaunsee; 9. Atchison County; 10. Moundridge.
Class 1A-Division I
1. Little River; 2. Burlingame; 3. St. John-Hudson; 4. Pretty Prairie; 5. Centralia; 6. South Central; 7. Doniphan West; 8. Spearville; 9. Osborne; 10. St. Paul.
Class 1A-Division II
1. Central Plains; 2. Hanover; 3. Lebo; 4. Golden Plains; 5. Hutchinson Central Christian; 6. Wheatland-Grinnell; 7. St. John's-Beloit; 8. Attica; 9. Dighton; 10. South Haven..
BOYS
Class 6A
1. Free State; 2. Shawnee Mission Northwest; 3. Wichita Heights; 4. Blue Valley Northwest; 5. Blue Valley West; 6. Blue Valley North; 7. Lawrence; 8. Olathe South; 9. Blue Valley; 10. Dodge City.
Class 5A
1. Maize; 2. Basehor-Linwood; 3. Andover; 4. Blue Valley Southwest; 5. Kapaun Mt. Carmel; 6. Bishop Carroll; 7. Maize South; 8. Hays; 9. St. James Academy; 10. Andover Central.
Class 4A
1. Bishop Miege; 2. Tonganoxie; 3. Louisburg; 4. Rose Hill; 5. McPherson; 6. Abilene; 7. Buhler; 8. Wamego; 9. Parsons; 10. Holton.
Class 3A
1. Hesston; 2. Galena; 3. Royal Valley; 4. Wichita Collegiate; 5. Cheney; 6. Nemaha Central; 7. TMP-Marian; 8. Wichita Trinity; 9. Hugoton; 10. Holcomb.
Class 2A
1. Hillsboro; 2. St. Mary's; 3. Wabaunsee; 4. Lyndon; 5. Inman; 6. Valley Falls; 7. Ellinwood; 8. Jefferson County North; 9. Erie; 10. Trego Community.
Class 1A-Division I
1. Olpe; 2. South Gray; 3. Troy; 4. Little River; 5. Meade; 6. Centralia; 7. Wichita Classical School; 8. Solomon; 9. Frankfort; 10. Osborne.
Class 1A-Division II
1. Hanover; 2. Northern Valley; 3. Axtell; 4. Wheatland-Grinnell; 5. Logan-Palco; 6. Pawnee Heihgts; 7. Attica; 8. Elyria Christian; 9. Wavelry; 10. St. John's-Beloit.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University will put the capper on an amazing 2021 season this week in the mecca of college volleyball -- the NCAA Division II tournament in Tampa, Fla.
And the importance of the moment is not lost on veteran Ichabod coach Chris Herron, whose team earned its third-ever Elite Eight appearance with an impressive run through last week's Central Region tournament as the fifth seed, knocking off three straight ranked teams, including No. 1 Central Missouri.
"I told them before the start of the (championship) match Saturday, 'This is where legends are made and stories are written and stories are told and stories get better as the years go on about teams that win tonight,' '' Herron said.
Now the 29-5 Ichabods will be shooting for their first-ever national championship, beginning with Thursday morning's 11 a.m. national quarterfinal against 26-4 West Texas A & M at the Bob Martinez Athletics Center on the campus of the University of Tampa.
Washburn will begin its quest for a national volleyball championship at 11 a.m. Thursday against West Texas A & M in Tampa, Fla. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn enters the national tournament as the No. 3 seed and Herron said no matter what happens this week he couldn't be prouder of this year's team, particularly the super senior class which includes All-Americans Allison Maxwell, Faith Rottinghaus, Genna Berg and Kelsey Gordon and star All-MIAA setter Allison Sadler.
"This makes two out of their four years that they've gone to the Elite Eight, so obviously I'm extemely proud of them, but I'm proud of them for a lot of reasons,'' Herron said. "They're such good people and they're ridiculously good academically and they're just the most competitive bunch of women ever.
"This three days has nothing to do with the love I have for them. It's got nothing to do with it.''
