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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After an uncharacteristic third-place finish in last year's city girls tennis tournament, perennial city power Washburn Rural found its way back to the top Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center, riding its balance to a 28-23 victory over 2020 champion Seaman.
The Junior Blues advanced their entire team to the finals to put themselves in position to win the tournament and finished the day with two titles and two runner-up finishes to claim the team championship.
Washburn Rural's girls tennis team poses for a team picture after winning the city championship by a 28-23 margin over Seaman Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural got titles in No. 2 singles from Mena DiMarzio and in No. 2 doubles from Hailey Beck and Shelby Schmutzler while Sheriden Wichman finished second in No. 1 singles and Meredith Kucera and Kate Fritz took second in No. 1 doubles.
DiMarzio captured the No. 2 singles title with an 8-1 win over Seaman's Katie Krumins while Beck and Schumutzler remained undefeated on the season with an 8-1 win over Hayden.
"It was a good team win for the girls, to have the No. 2s come through like we thought they could,'' Washburn Rural coach Kevin Hedberg said. "I really like our depth and our depth really came through today.''
Hayden freshman Ainzley Zulueta won the No. 1 singles title in her first city tournament. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Hayden freshman Ainzley Zulueta was a hit in her first city tournament, claiming the No. 1 singles championship, while Seaman senior Grace Unruh and junior Lauren Sweeney successfully defended their No. 1 doubles championship.
Zulueta claimed the No. 1 singles crown with an 8-1 win in the finals over Rural two-time city champ Wichman.
"The past two tournaments have been kind of tough and I had some tough losses, so it felt pretty good to win again,'' Zulueta said. "I was nervous going into the finals match, but it just kind of fell my way once I started getting the lead.''
Zulueta said getting out in front early was the key to the match.
"It helps a lot,'' she said. "Usually when I lose the first game I'm kind of discouraged, but after winning the first game I kind of carried on with that.''
Until recently Zulueta wasn't aware of the city meet, but was happy to get Thursday's win.
"I didn't even know there was a city meet, to be honest,'' Zulueta said. "I only knew about regionals and state, but once it was the month of September I saw the city meet and thought, 'That's pretty important.' A lot of people told me about it and it seemed like something I wanted to win.''
Seaman's Lauren Sweeney (left) and Grace Unruh won their second straight city title in No. 1 doubles Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Unruh and Sweeney swept the city, Centennial League and regional doubles titles a year ago before finishing fourth in the Class 5A state meet and are off and rolling again, improving to 17-0 with Thursday's win over Kucera and Fritz in the championship match.
Unruh captured her third city doubles title and second with Sweeney and said the experience the duo has together is a key factor in their success.
"This is my first year ever having the same partner and the confidence we have in each other is so different than playing with somebody for one year,'' Unruh said.
Sweeney agreed.
"Not only are we great doubles partners, but we're very close outside of tennis,'' Sweeney said.
TOPEKA CITY GIRLS TENNIS TOURNAMENT
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THE PENNANT PLAYER PROFILE
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
About the only stat Washburn University senior volleyball star Allison Maxwell pays a lot of attention to is the final score.
"It's pretty much the parents that pick out stats and will tell us afterwards, like, 'Oh, you had this many kills,' '' Maxwell said. "Then you're like, 'That's, cool,' but mainly we focus on winning and mostly having fun.''
Washburn senior Allison Maxwell (8) delivers a kill in Tuesday's 3-0 MIAA volleyball sweep over Emporia State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But the 6-foot-1 middle hitter out of Jefferson City, Mo. is proud of the statistical milestone she reached last Saturday at Nebraska-Kearney, with Maxwell becoming the 23rd player in Washburn history to reach the 1,000 kill mark for their career.
Even though Maxwell knew she was getting close to 1,000, it still kind of snuck up on her.
"I think it was during preseason and I checked and I saw I had like 800 (893),'' Maxwell said. "I think that was the only time I ever checked and then I kind of forgot about it since then.''
But after recording 13 kills in a 3-1 win over the then-No. 1 ranked Lopers, a win that propelled the 11-1 Ichabods to the top spot in this week's national rankings, Maxwell found out that she had more than one reason to celebrate that huge road win.
"It was a really cool moment,'' Maxwell said. "We were in the locker room and one of my teammates looked at her phone and it was a notification on her phone and she goes, 'Oh my God, Alli got 1,000 kills tonight!' So we all just screamed and it was a good moment.''
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THE PENNANT PLAYER PROFILE
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Christian Clark considered himself primarily a running back throughout his career at Shawnee Heights and his one year at William Penn.
But the 6-foot-1, 190-pound sophomore cornerback had the foresight to switch to the other side of the football at Washburn University, a move that's paid off for Clark and the Ichabods.
"Originally coming out of high school I did want to play running back and that was my main focus, but I guess maturing and being at William Penn I realized I really was a DB at heart,'' Clark said. "I've always been like naturally better at defense, so I just thought maybe I'd go somewhere else and play defense and I thought Washburn was a great fit, being close to home.''
Former Shawnee Heights standout Christian Clark, a sophomore cornerback for Washburn, comes up with a diving interception in the Ichabods' 29-10 win over Central Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
After seeing action in six games for Washburn in 2019 as a redshirt freshman and continuing to work at cornerback during the canceled 2020 campaign, Clark cracked the Ichabods' starting lineup this fall.
"This is my third year here now and it worked out pretty well for me because I redshirted at William Penn and got a grayshirt here, so I'm a sophomore on the field and I've got a lot of time left,'' Clark said. "It's worked out great because I've been able to learn the system and just get really comfortable here. I like it.
"I think especially physically it's better on my body and I like the challenge of cornerback, just being out there on your own a lot of times.''
Clark turned in a highlight-reel play in Washburn's 29-10 MIAA win over Central Missouri in the second game of the season, coming up with a diving interception to stop a Mules' scoring threat, the first interception of his college career.
"So far it's definitely the highlight of my career,'' he said. "It was a fun game, a really, really fun game. It made it better being the first home game of the season. Everyone comes out for that first game and being able to make that play was great.''
Clark has been in on seven tackles thus far for the 2-1 Ichabods, with two pass breakups to go with the interception.
He suffered a slight shoulder injury in last Saturday's 28-24 loss at Nebraska-Kearney and could miss Saturday's home game against Missouri Western (1 p.m. kickoff at Yager Stadium), but is confident he'll be back in action soon to continue making more and more progress in his role with the Ichabods.
"In high school you kind of play a little bit more off natural ability, and then playing on this level in a competitive league, you've got to really pay attention to technique and stuff,'' Clark said. "That was a big switch, just focusing on my technique and my core drill work, paying attention to where my eyes are and things like that.
"This is my first year really getting those key reps and I think over time I'm just going to get more comfortable out there. I'm still pretty raw in terms of playing corner, so I think as long as I just keep focusing and learning the game more, I think this is just the tip of what I can do.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Washburn University volleyball coach Chris Herron knows that being the No. 1 ranked team in NCAA Division II doesn't mean that anybody in the MIAA or across the D-II ranks are going to cut the Ichabods any slack.
But Herron, whose team took the court Tuesday night as a No. 1 for the first time in program history, also knows that being top-ranked is a nice reward for the school and Washburn players past and present who got the Ichabods to this point.
"It's cool for the program,'' Herron said after the Ichabods made their debut as a No. 1 with a 25-18, 25-15, 25-15 home MIAA win over Emporia State. "It's cool for our kids and all these kids that have come before, the (Dani) McHenrys and the Corrinne Stringers and Alyssa Carneys and all these kids that are from Topeka, Sarah Vicory and those kind of folks.
"Those folks helped build this program, so it's cool for them, too, and I hope that all of them are sharing in that. It only took us 20 years to get it.''
Washburn senior Allison Maxwell registers one of her 13 kills in Tuesday's 3-0 win over Emporia State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Herron said the key now is for the Ichabods to continue doing the things that got them to No. 1.
"It's pretty cool, but what you have to do is just eliminate the noise, basically,'' Herron said. "You've got to manage all those expectations that now come with that.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural and Seaman look to be top contenders for the team title in Thursday's city girls tennis tournament, and both the Junior Blues and Vikings tuned up for that meet with solid performances in Tuesday's Washburn Rural Invitational at Kossover Tennis Center.
No. 2 doubles champions Hailey Beck and Shelby Schmutzler led the way as Rural tied three-time defending Centennial League champion Manhattan for the team championship in Tuesday's eight-school tournament while No. 1 doubles champs Grace Unruh and Lauren Sweeney paced Seaman, the defending city champion, to a third-place team finish.
Seaman No. 1 doubles partners Lauren Sweeney (left) and Grace Unruh exchange a high five after winning a point in Tuesday's championship match in the Washburn Rural Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Unruh and Sweeney remained undefeated on the season with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Washburn Rural's Meredith Kucera and Kate Fritz in the No. 1 doubles final while Beck and Schmutzler remained unbeaten in No. 2 doubles with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Maize.
Washburn Rural also got second-place finishes in No. 1 singles from Sheriden Wichman and in No. 2 singles from Mena DiMarzio en route to sharing the title with Manhattan, which got championships from Jill Harkin in No. 1 singles and Maura Wiens in No. 2 singles.
"It was a great day and a great tournament,'' veteran Washburn Rural coach Kevin Hedberg said. "It's good to play full two out of three sets today because that's what we'll play at regionals and you have to get ready for that.''
Seaman's Unruh and Sweeney swept city, Centennial League and Class 5A regional doubles titles in 2020 before finishing fourth at state and Viking coach Jamie Robinson said the pair has put in the time to put themselves in a contending position again this fall.
"They practice before practice and after practice and it pays off,'' Robinson said.
The Vikings also got a third-place finish from Nina Del-Zio in No. 1 singles and from Katie Krumins in No. 2 singles.
Thursday's city tournament will also be played at Kossover, beginning at 3 p.m.
WASHBURN RURAL TENNIS INVITATIONAL
