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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No matter how lopsided the scores, veteran Washburn Rural volleyball coach Kevin Bordewick can almost always find things the Junior Blues need to improve on.
So even though Rural rolled to straight-set Centennial League victories over Hayden (25-18, 25-10) and Topeka West (25-5, 25-17) Tuesday night at Hayden, Bordewick won't have a shortage of things to talk to his team about when the Junior Blues return to practice on Wednesday.
"I don't think we were as focused as we needed to be in several areas and we are going to have some re-focusing to do tomorrow,'' said Bordewick, whose team improved to 10-0 overall and 4-0 in the league. "It doesn't matter who you play, you're keeping score as competing, so let's compete.
"I will give a lot of credit to T-West and Hayden. I thought those guys played really well in at least one of those sets against us.''
Washburn Rural celebrates a point during Tuesday's Centennial League triangular at Hayden. The Junior Blues took straight-set wins over Hayden and Topeka West to improve to 10-0. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural, which has a huge matchup with defending Class 6A champion Blue Valley West looming on Thursday, got off to a slow start against Hayden, trailing 12-9 and tied 13-13 before taking control late in its 25-18 win.
Sophomore Jada Ingram had a successful service run for the Junior Blues and ended the first set with a kill.
The second set against the Wildcats was all Rural, with the Junior Blues jumping out in front 10-2 and 19-5 on the way to the 15-point victory.
Washburn Rural also dominated its first set against Topeka West, opening up leads of 10-0, 15-1 and 22-4 on the way to its 25-5 win as juniors Brooklyn DeLeye and Taylor Russell and Ingram dominated things at the net.
Topeka West played much better in the second set, particularly early, before the Junior Blues opened up a 22-12 lead on a Russell service ace.
The Chargers cut Rural's lead to 24-17 on kills from juniors MaKinsey Jones and Malayah Henderson before Rural closed out the match.
The Hayden-Topeka West match was the closest of the night, with the Wildcats eeking out a 25-23, 25-22 victory.
Hayden senior Jadyn Paige Falley celebrates a Wildcat point during Tuesday's home triangular. [Photo by Kyle Grunert/Special to TSN]
Topeka West sophomore Brooklyn Alexander (23) attempts a spike Tuesday night at Hayden while Wildcat junior Janessa Broxterman goes for the block. [Photo by Kyle Grunert/Special to TSN]
Hayden built a 14-12 lead in the first set but West battled back to force ties at 14, 15 and 18 and took a 22-20 lead on a kill from sophomore Addison Brooks.
The set was also tied at 23-all before Hayden ended the set with two straight points.
Hayden built a second-set advantage of 15-8 and went up 17-10 on a kill from senior Jadyn Paige Falley before West battled all the way back to take a 22-21 lead.
The Wildcats closed out the win with four straight points, scoring the final two points on an ace and a kill from sophomore Reagan Huscher.
"I'm just worried about progressing until we get to sub-state,'' Hayden coach Jim Davis said. "We had some good play tonight from some of our underclassmen, which I was very happy with.''
MATCH RESULTS
Washburn Rural def. Hayden, 25-18, 25-10; Washburn Rural def. Topeka West, 25-5, 25-17; Hayden def. Topeka West, 25-23, 25-22.
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Washburn University sophomore place-kicker Kameron Lake has been named the MIAA Special Teams Athlete of the Week after his performance in the Ichabods' 29-10 win over Central Missouri last Thursday.
A former Free State standout, Lake went 3 of 4 on field goal attempts against Central Missouri, connecting from distances of 32, 39 and a career-long 48 yards.
Washburn sophomore kicker Kameron Lake has been named the MIAA Special Teams Athlete of the Week. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Lake's 48-yard field goal is tied for eighth on the Ichabod distance. He also averaged 64.1 yards per kickoff with three touchbacks in seven attempts and was two for two on extra points.
The Ichabods will be back in action Saturday when they travel to Nebraska-Kearney, which moved up to No. 23 in this week's AFCA Coaches Poll. The Ichabods are receiving votes just outside of the top 25.
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Washburn University's volleyball team moved up one place in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association rankings to become the No. 3 team in the nation.
The Ichabods begin MIAA play this week on the road at Fort Hays State Friday and at No. 1-ranked Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday.
Washburn went 3-1 last weekend at the Mountain Lion Invitational to improve to 8-1 on the young season. The Ichabods' only loss came on Saturday to then-ranked No. 15 Colorado School of Mines.
Freshman outside hitter Jalyn Stevenson celebrates a kill in a recent Washburn University volleyball match. The Ichabods moved up to No. 3 in the latest AVCA national rankings. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Nebraska-Kearney moved up two places to take over the No. 1 spot in the national rankings with a perfect 7-0 record.
Angelo State remains at No. 2 with Washburn No. 3. Concordia St. Paul and Wayne State round out the top five.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West will induct five former Charger athletes, one coach, one special contributor and one team into the Topeka West Athletics Hall of Fame Thursday night.
Former West athletes Tony Barry, Jeff Benson, Misty Caryl Lingerfelt, Katie Freund Niemann and Daniel Heflin will be inducted Thursday as well as the late Bill Allen, a former Charger coach. Rome Mitchell will be inducted as a special contributor while the 1967 West girls gymnastics team will be inducted as a team.
A reception in the Topeka West Leadership Studies room will be held for the inductees at 6 p.m., followed at 7 by the induction ceremony in the Topeka West Auditorium. Admission is free to both of events.
The inductees will be also introduced at halftime of Friday's Homecoming football game against Hayden at Hummer Sports Park (7 p.m. kickoff).
Those chosen for induction in 2021 are:
TONY BARRY -- A 1982 West graduate, Barry participated in football and basketball for the Chargers. He was a two-year letter-winner in both football and basketball and was named second-team All-City and second-team All-I-70 League as a senior in football. He was named All-I-70 League as a senior in basketball. Barry currently resides in Topeka and is very active at Christ the King parish and CASA in Topeka.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It's been a tough start to the 2021 season for Seaman's boys soccer team, with none of the 1-5-0 Vikings' losses harder to take than Monday's 2-1 double-overtime non-league defeat to Lawrence at Seaman.
But despite that heartbreaking defeat, which came with just 2:13 remaining in the second 10-minute overtime session, Seaman assistant coach Jenna Cunningham saw several positives that the Vikings can take from Monday's performance moving forward.
"We really fought,'' said Cunningham, who coached the Vikes in coach Jacob Kirmer's absence. "We haven't had a game like that where we wanted to win it so bad.
"We wanted to win so bad, so this one hurts. We really wanted to get that one, but there were improvements.''
Seaman senior Justin Kruse (1) and Lawrence senior Dominic Chieu wait for the ball to come down during Monday's soccer game at Seaman. The Lions took a 2-1 win in double overtime. [Photo by Rick Peterson]
Seaman drew first blood on a goal from senior Pablo Font at the 28:17 mark of the first half off an assist from freshman Kaelin Loy and the Vikings never trailed until Lawrence junior Cale Scott ended the game late in the second OT.
Seaman junior goalkeeper Ayden Thompson turned away several Lion scoring threats in both halves to give the Vikings a chance at the victory, but the hosts had trouble generating scoring opportunities after Font's early goal.
"We've got to pick it up defensively and offensively,'' Cunningham said. "We've got to find our attack, we've got to find a way to score.''
Seaman freshman Ethan Geiger (17) advances the ball as sophomore Alden Parker-Timms defends for Lawrence Monday at Seaman. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Seaman won't have much time to dwell on Monday's loss, with the Vikings going on the road to face Centennial League foe Junction City on Tuesday.
"I told them, 'Hey, you've got tonight to think about it and it should hurt and it does, but we've got to move on tomorrow,'' Cunningham said.
LAWRENCE 2, SEAMAN 1 (2 OT)
Lawrence 1 0 0 1 -- 2
Seaman 1 0 0 0 -- 1
Lawrence -- Goals: Josh Anderson, Cale Scott. Assists: Colin Sandefur, Josh King.
Seaman -- Goal: Pablo Font. Assist: Kaelin Loy.
