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THE PENNANT PLAYER PROFILE
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Jalyn Stevenson's senior high school volleyball season was a nightmare.
Comparatively, her first college campaign has been a dream, with the 5-foot-10 freshman outside hitter helping Washburn University's volleyball team achieve a No. 1 national ranking and a 14-1 record entering Friday's MIAA 6 p.m. home match against Missouri Southern.
Stevenson's 2020 season at Spring Hill was one she had waited her entire career for, but a freak on-court collision with a teammate early in the season resulted in a fractured ankle and put her on the sidelines for the remainder of the season.
"It was heartbreaking because I had played on that team for three years up until then and it was my senior year and I was like, 'Here we go,' '' Stevenson said. "The year before we were really, really good. We were very successful and we made it to state for the first time and we had another chance and then I got hurt.''
Stevenson still attended all of the Broncos' practices and games after her injury, but it wasn't easy.
"That was even worse, to sit and watch,'' she said. "I tried to help as much as I could. I shagged balls on my crutches and things like that, but it was tough.''
Fortunately Stevenson, who played for former Shawnee Heights and Washburn standout Erica Cowhick at Spring Hill, had already orally committed to Washburn so her college plans were set, but she had to presevere through a long rehabilitation period.
Jalyn Stevenson has bounced back from an injury as a senior in high school with a strong freshman season for the top-ranked Washburn volleyball team. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Fast forward to this fall and Stevenson is well on her way to replacing all bad memories with good ones.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Coaches in all sports talk about what a thrill it is to be able to build a program from the ground up.
Ottawa University bowling coach Geoff Poston has had that rare opportunity not once but twice and wouldn't trade the experience.
Poston launched Topeka West's program in 2006 in the infancy of high school bowling in Kansas and then got the same chance in the 2017-18 season at Ottawa, when the school instituted college bowling.
With Ottawa set to open its fifth season next week in Wichita, Poston, who coached state championship boys and girls teams at Seaman after his stint at West, said that coaching the Braves has been everything he thought it could be.
"Being able to start it from scratch was huge and in college you get to pick the kids that you want, which is a lot of different from high school obviously, so we've been able to build the team with good quality kids and we've gotten better each year,'' Poston said before Wednesday's practice.
Coach Geoff Poston (left) and returning NAIA All-American Jared Freed have helped put Ottawa University bowling on the map. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Walt Alexander has never been afraid to take on a rebuilding project in more than three decades as a high school football coach.
In fact, the former Topeka High coach has made a career of it.
Now, after a year at William Chrisman in Independence, Mo. as an assistant, Alexander is back in Kansas and back in charge, intent on turning around an Ottawa program that produced just three total wins over the last four seasons before Alexander took over this fall.
"I was enjoying Chrisman totally,'' Alexander said Wednesday after Ottawa's practice. "I loved Matt (Perry, the Bears' head coach) and loved a lot of things about it, but I'm closer to home now and when you've done it your way for so long, you just want to keep doing it your way and I really enjoy running my own program.''
Former Topeka High coach Walt Alexander talks to his Ottawa Cyclones after Wednesday's practice. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's boys soccer team survived a scare from Seaman to remain undefeated on the year with a 2-1 overtime decision Tuesday night at McElroy Field.
But the major topic of post-game conversation for both the winning and losing coaches was the gutsy performance turned in by the underdog Vikings against the 12-0-0 Junior Blues.
"Seaman did a great job of keeping us off the board early and they kind of got confidence as the game went on and they put all the pressure on us, which was good for us,'' said Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel, whose team got the win on an overtime goal from senior Ashton Rake. "We hadn't been behind all year in a game and we certainly hadn't been close to going to overtime, so all the credit to them.''
Washburn Rural senior Ashton Rake scored the game-winning goal in the Junior Blues' 2-1 overtime win over Seaman Tuesday night at McElroy Field. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Rake's goal, which came at the 7:18 mark of the first overtime period off an assist from senior Porter Schafersman, was the only time the Junior Blues led on the night.
"You're going to have a couple of nights like that, and it happened,'' said Hensyel, whose team was coming off a perfect 3-0 weekend in a national tournament in Iowa. "But to me, all of this is about Seaman. I thought they were great and they had an awesome plan. Whatever they were trying to accomplish they did it to perfection and we had to make some great plays to score twice.
"We were fortunate to win and congrats to Seaman on a great game.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Before Tuesday, the last time Class 6A volleyball powers Washburn Rural and OIathe Northwest had done battle was in last season's state semifinals, with the Ravens outlasting the Junior Blues in a three-set marathon on the way to a runner-up state finish.
Kevin Bordewick's nationally-ranked Junior Blues haven't forgotten that heartbreaker, which deprived them of a shot at an eighth state title, and Rural gained a measure of revenge with a 3-0 sweep of Northwest in Tuesday's home dual.
Washburn Rural, which improved to 21-0, blitzed the Ravens in the first two sets, 25-8 and 25-9, before rallying from seven points down to close out the match with a 26-24 third-set victory.
![Washburn Rural volleyball celebrates a point during Tuesday's dual win over Olathe Northwest. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]](/images/aa-images/RuraljubeONW.jpeg)
Washburn Rural volleyball celebrates a point during Tuesday's dual win over Olathe Northwest. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Rural junior Chloe Carlgren said the Junior Blues had added incentive entering Tuesday's rematch with Northwest.
"There definitely was,'' Carlgren said. "We wanted to come back with more fight than last year and we really wanted to beat them because we lost to them at state and if felt good to get back at them.''
Bordewick said that last year's state semifinal loss was a topic of conversation in the days leading into the Northwest dual.
"We talked about last year and how we were a little disappointed and we didn't think we competed as well as we should have,'' said Bordewick, whose Junior Blues finished third in 6A a year ago.
The Junior Blues, who are No. 10-ranked in the AVCA/USA Today national rankings, started off the night in the best way possible, scoring the first eight points with junior Taylor Russell serving as junior Brooklyn DeLeye and sophomore Jada Ingram dominated the net.
Rural went on to build 12-3 and 13-4 leads on Russell kills and took a 20-6 lead on a service ace from senior Katelynn Brogan and closed out the set with five straight points as Russell recorded an ace, DeLeye and Ingram combined for three kills and the set ended on a Northwest hitting error.
The second set was more of the same, with Rural opening up leads of 9-3, 16-5 and 21-6 en route to the 16-point win, which ended on a kill from Carlgren.
