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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 25-ranked Washburn University volleyball came up short in its MIAA Tournament Quarterfinal match with Northwest Missouri Thursday night as the Ichabods fell 3-1 in St. Joseph, Mo.
Washburn volleyball dropped a 3-1 quarterfinal match to Northwest Missouri Thursday in the MIAA Tournament. [File photo/TSN]
The 20-7 Ichabods will find out their NCAA Tournament fate on Monday night during the NCAA Selection Show.
The first set was in No. 4 seed Washburn's control the entire way as the Ichabods won 25-19. The No. 5 seeded Bearcats (16-11) evened the match with a 25-22 win in the second and continued their winning ways with 25-14 and 25-21 victories in the next two sets.
Both sides traded the first eight points of the match before a kill by Natalie Hedlund began a 4-2 burst from Washburn to put it ahead. Throughout the middle of the set a pair of 3-0 runs for the Ichabods began with a kill by Jalyn Stevenson with the second putting them up 18-12.
Northwest Missouri got back within three but never got any closer as the Ichabods held them back on the defensive end, holding the Bearcats to a -.024 hitting percentage in the set. Alex Dvorak finished off the first set with a kill at 25-19.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn University Ichabod men's cross country team returns to the NCAA Championships for the second time in three seasons on Saturday, running at 10 a.m. (PST) in Sacramento, Calif.
Washburn's men's cross country team will compete in the 2024 NCAA Division II National Championships on Saturday in Sacramento, Calif. {Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods finished 26th in the national meet in 2022 before narrowly missing a national berth a year ago.
Washburn turned in a strong regional finish which gave it a chance at a spot in the nationals field and junior Tommy Roehl, who ran on the '22 team, said the Ichabods were cautiously optimistic that WU would get a national bid.
"We felt pretty confident,'' Tommy said. "We'd done what we needed to earlier in the season. We beat out of region teams that helped us get that at large bid at the end of the day.''
Sophomore Sebastiaan Horselenberg agreed.
"We just all ran as hard as we could and knew no matter what it was going to be we tried our best,'' Horselenberg said. "And after we finished we had no clue what was going to happen. We were all scrolling on our phones and looking at the results that were coming in.
"The numbers were changing and eventually at some point all the numbers were standing still and it was just perfect for us and we were in a really good spot.''
Having said that, sophomore transfer Ross O'Brien said the team was a little nervous until it got the final word.
"From what I had heard and from what everybody was saying I felt comfortable we could get in, but I also knew last year we felt the same and we didn't get in so there's also that nervousness,'' O'Brien said. "We were walking to the vans to go drive to go on a long run when they announced the list, so we all found out together.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
(Kickoffs at 7 p.m.)
Hayden senior Jensen Schrickel has 681 receiving yards, 523 rushing yards and has scored 21 touchdowns for the 10-1 Wildcats. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
Class 3A
HAYDEN (No. 3 East: 10-1) at WELLSVILLE (No. 1 East: 11-0)
Hayden, second in Class 3A last fall, is one win away from a second straight berth in the state championship game after a 56-6 rout over Perry-Lecompton last Friday while Wellsville remained undefeated with a 35-14 quarterfinal win over Prairie View. Hayden senior quarterback Jett Wahlmeier has completed 111 of 163 passes for 1,765 yards and 21 touchdowns while junior Kade Mitchell has carried the ball 87 times for 705 yards, caught 26 passes for 419 yards and scored 23 total touchdowns. Senior Jensen Schrickel has caught 37 passes for 681 yards, rushed for 523 yards on 36 attempts and scored 21 total TDs after a seven-touchdown performance against Perry-Lecompton. Senior Broderick Desch has carried the ball 54 times for 351 yards and scored 11 touchdowns. Junior Jude Krentz leads Hayden with 115 total tackles (66 solo). Wellsville junior running back Armond Graves has carried the ball 136 times for 1,125 rushing yards (8.3 yards per carry) and scored 24 touchdowns while sophomore quarterback Pete Dorsey has completed 54 of 93 passes for 878 yards and nine TDs. Senior Matt Newhouse has caught 31 passes for 558 yards and five TDs while senior Kenyon Gillins has 37 receptions for 425 yards and three scores. The winner of Friday's game between the Wildcats and Eagles will advance to face the winner of Friday's game between No. 1 West seed Andale (11-0) and No. 7 Holcomb (9-2) in the state championship game Nov. 30 at Hutchinson.
Rossville senior Tayson Horak has passed for 1,322 yards and rushed for 1,062 yards for the 8-3 Bulldawgs. [File photo/TSN]
Class 1A
ROSSVILLE (No. 4 East: 8-3) at CENTRALIA (No. 3 East: 10-1)
Rossville advanced to the sub-state round of the Class 1A playoffs with a dramatic 42-38 comeback win over No. 1 East seed and previously-unbeaten Jackson Heights last Friday on the road, the Bulldawgs' eighth straight win. The Bulldawgs trailed by 17 points with five and half minutes remaining before recovering two onsides kicks and scoring three late TDs to pull out the victory. No. 3 East seed Centralia advanced with a 46-14 win over No. 2 East seed Pittsburg Colgan. Rossville senior quarterback Tayson Horak has completed 86 of 147 passes for 1,322 yards and 16 touchdowns and has rushed for 1,062 yards and 15 TDs on 130 attempts. Junior Conner Bush has carried the ball 69 times for 658 yards and 10 TDs while junior Jack Donovan has 31 catches for 466 yards and four TDs and senior Mekhi Jackson has 20 catches for 386 yards and four TDs. C. Bush has been in on 110 tackles with 9.0 tackles for loss while junior Andre Johnson has been in on 95 stops (45 solo). The Rossville-Centralia winner will play in the state championship game on Nov. 30 at Hutchinson against the winner of Friday's game between No. 1 West seed Conway Springs (11-0) and No. 3 Valley Heights (9-2).
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Obviously, the Washburn University women's soccer team would rather not be entering the NCAA Tournament off a loss.
Senior Khloe Schuckman leads Washburn with nine goals and five assists entering the NCAA Soccer Tournament. [File photo/TSN]
But it's a role the Ichabods are familiar with, and have flourished in.
A year ago Washburn lost in the MIAA Tournament semifinals before going on a postseason run that ended with a berth in the national championship match.
Davy Phillips' Ichabods will be looking for a similar run this season, beginning with a Central Region matchup with Central Oklahoma at 12 p.m. Friday in Warrensburg, Mo. on the campus of the University of Central Missouri.
The Ichabods will be playing Central Oklahoma for a second straight game after dropping a 1-0 decision to the Bronchos in last week's MIAA Tournament semifinal.
"Right after the game I told them, 'As much as we wanted to win we've been here before and it turned out well last year,' '' Phillips said. "I do think it's provided a renewed sense of urgency and commitment from the group. This group isn't too used to losing, which is a good thing, so that stung a little bit.
"They had every intention of going down there (to Wichita) and winning the tournament, they really did. But I think there's some positives that we can take away from it, despite the result.''
The Ichabods, 14-4-2, are the No. 5 seed while 12-6-3 Central Oklahoma is the No. 4 seed.
Washburn is in the top half of the Central bracket, joined by Central Missouri, Central Oklahoma, and Ouachita Baptist. Central Missouri earned the No. 1 seed in the Central Region and will host the first two rounds of the tournament. The Jennies are 15-4-2 and won the 2024 MIAA Tournament Championship. Central Missouri will take on No. 8 seed Ouachita Baptist (8-7-4).
The bottom half of the Central Region bracket will be played in Mankato, Minn., hosted by No. 2 seed Minnesota State. The Mavericks will face No. 7 seed St. Cloud State, while No. 3 seed Missouri Western will play No. 6 seed Concordia-St. Paul.
Senior Khloe Schuckman leads Washburn with nine goals and five asists while senior Ana Muruzabal has scored four goals.
Senior goalkeeper Alli Harrington has made seven starts in goal for the Ichabods since a knee injury to Hailey Beck and has posted a goals-against average of 0.56 per game with 23 saves and four shutouts.
Rebekah George leads UCO with 10 goals scored this season. George scored seven goals in conference play to earn MIAA Offensive Player of the Year.
Caleah Carter, Harmony Turner and Emma Nicholas share the team lead with four assists each.
Avery Bass has made 18 starts in goal for the Bronchos, making 73 saves with a goals against average of 1.11. Washburn is 3-13-2 all-time against Central Oklahoma.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball got the early-season monkey off its back with Tuesday's 22-point road romp at William Jewell.
Now the Ichabods will be looking to continue that upswing when they face off with Truman State on Friday at 11 a.m. in Kirksville, Mo. to wrap up their beginning of the season six-game road trip.
Washburn is 1-4 on the year after getting its first win with Tuesday's 80-58 road victory over William Jewell while Truman State will enter the morning matchup at 2-2 after falling 70-64 on the road to Winona State last time out.
Ichabod newcomer Payton Sterk scored a Washburn career-high 25 points Tuesday night as the Ichabods picked up their first victory, 80-58 at William Jewell. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics
"We just had to get that monkey off our back a little bit,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "I've said a lot that I really believe in this team and every team has got to run their own race. Our season started a little slower than we wanted it to, but we're continuing to get better and grow.''
Sophomore Madelyn Amekporfor, who had a seven points and a career-high 10 rebounds against William Jewell, agreed with her coach.
"Our last four games before the last one we knew we were getting better and better each game,'' Amekporfor. "We just knew it was our defense. We couldn't allow teams to score points in the 70s and 80s and we knew our defense was going to win that game. Our goal was to keep them under 60 points and be above 65 and that's exactly what we did and we came out on top.''
The matchup with former MIAA foe Truman State will be the 53rd in the series history.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah leads Washburn offensively with a 17.2 scoring average while also shooting a team and MIAA-high 67.9 percent from the field grabbing a team-best 6.4 rebounds per game. Nationally, Nwidadah is 10th in field goal percentage, shooting over 50.0 percent in every game this season.
Junior Payton Sterk is second on the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game while starting all five contests and playing a team-high 30.8 minutes per game. She is shooting 41.9 percent from the floor and a team-high 34.6 percent from 3-point range while dishing out 3.4 assists, most on the squad.
Gabi Giovannetti is averaging 12.6 points while shooting 43.1 percent from the floor and 100.0 percent at the free throw line. The junior has started all five games and leads the team with 10 made 3-pointers including, seven in the last three games.
Amekporfor, an Andover Central product, is scoring 8.0 points a game on 46.7 percent shooting while starting in all five games.
