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By NICHOLAS GAINEY
Special to TopSports.news
The Topeka West Chargers' boys soccer season came to a close Thursday night in a 2-0 defeat to the Hays Indians in Class 5A regional championship at Hummer Sports Park.
The matchup was the second of the season between the two teams, with Hays coming out on top 2-0 on Sep. 10.
The 11th-seeded Indians earned a 2-1 win over Bishop Carroll on Monday night, while the third-seeded Chargers downed Goddard 7-0 to set up the rematch.
The teams were unable to be separated for the first 10 minutes of the contest. The Chargers survived an early scare in the fifth minute after Hays earned a corner kick, but a wide-open header from sophomore defender Brecken Otte sailed just over the crossbar.
The match would not remain scoreless for long, as the Indians took the lead in the 10th minute. Following a foul, Ivan Maldonado launched a free kick into the box, where senior Cooper Johnson was waiting to put a right-footed shot into the Charger net.
The situation would go from bad to worse for Topeka West, which gave up possession shortly after the kickoff and were forced to defend an attack from Hays. Just 19 seconds after assisting on his team’s first goal, Maldonado scored the Indians’ second goal to put the visitors in control.
Hays looked to stay aggressive, once again repelling the Charger attack and taking the ball into the hosts’ half of the pitch. The Indians nearly had a third goal in three minutes, but a shot by Henry Speno off a volley hit the crossbar before being corralled by West goalkeeper Gage Kindred-Noragon.
After the onslaught of pressure by the Hays attack, the Chargers settled in and held possession for longer periods of time. Despite the improved offense, West was unable to claw back into the contest, entering halftime with a two-goal deficit.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 3 West seed Washburn Rural took control of Thursday's Class 6A regional soccer final with two goals in the opening seven minutes on the way to a 3-0 win over No. 11 Free State at McElroy Field.
Washburn Rural soccer celebrates its Class 6A regional championship after Thursday's 3-0 win over Free State. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Senior Matthew Houser (9) scored two goals in the first seven minutes to power Washburn Rural to a 3-0 win over Free State in Thursday's Class 6A regional final. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Senior Matthew Houser scored twice within a span of a minute and 14 seconds at the 34:17 and 33:03 mark of the first half and junior Brody Grogan added a final goal with 22:56 left in the second half as the 13-2-3 Junior Blues advanced to next Monday's state quarterfinals.
Sophomore Brodye Kocher-Munoz was credited with a pair of assists for the Junior Blues while junior Miles Cook picked up the shutout in goal as the Junior Blues dominated the game from start to finish.
Rural outscored its two regional foes by an 11-0 margin after opening postseason with an 8-0 win over Maize on Monday.
"I just told them, I thought our two performances this week are some of the best stuff we've done all year and that's obviouly what you want,'' Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel said. "All the little things we've been talking about kind of came to fruition the first 10 minutes. We've always been a set play team and we ran everything perfect (early). We earned four corners in the first five minutes and scored on a couple and really ran them right against a good team and a good goalkeeper (Yusef Iskandrani).
"A good start. If you get a lead, any anxiety you have you feel like you can kind of take a deep breath and we were able to relax. They were a good team, that was a good performance for us.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball opened its 2024-25 season on Wednesday night with an 89-36 exhibition road loss to No. 13-ranked Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum.
Washburn guard Amaya Davison scored six points for the Ichabods in Wednesday's 89-36 exhibition loss to Kansas State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will play their final exhibition game of the season on Friday at Kansas (6:30 p.m. tipoff).
After the Wildcats scored the first six points of the game Payton Sterk opened up the scoring for Washburn with a 3-pointer at the 8:48 mark of the first quarter.
Kansas State pushed the lead to double digits with hot shooting from deep early on.
The Ichabods held KSU scoreless over the final two and a half minutes of the quarter, going on a 4-0 run to close the quarter with three points by Brooke Gomez.
The Wildcats opened the second quarter with a quick run that made the WU deficit 24 points.
Amaya Davison was able to score six points in a row for Washburn, first with a 3-pointer, followed by a steal and fast break old-fashioned 3-point play. Turnovers kept Washburn from cutting into the lead further with 17 giveaways in the first half as Kansas State went into the break leading 40-19.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After falling to Missouri Western in a hard-fought five-set loss in their first meeting of the season, the Washburn Ichabods rolled to a 3-0 sweep over the No. 23-ranked Griffons Wednesday night in Lee Arena.
The entire Washburn volleyball team celebrates Wednesday's 3-0 MIAA sweep over Missouri Western after recording the final point. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn avenged an earlier loss for the second straight night, with the Ichabods sweeping Northwest Missouri on Tuesday.
"Obviously you feel good about that and as a coach you're happy,'' Washburn coach Chris Herron said. "We're hot right now. We feel good about ourselves, they like each other, everybody's on the same page, the focus is there and the intensity level is really what's there more than anything else.
"In basketball they call it 50-50 balls. Well we have 50-50 balls in volleyball and it's called transition and if you can win the transition balls that's what wins matches and that's what I thought we did tonight.''
With Wednesday's win the Ichabods improved to 18-4 overall and 9-3 in the MIAA while surpassing their win total from the 2023 campaign.
The Ichabods led from start to finish in the opening set for a 25-21 victory before rallying from seven points down to take a 25-23 second-set win and closing out the sweep with a 25-20 win in the third set.
Jalyn Stevenson and Alex Dvorak each had four kills for the Ichabods in the first set and battled back from a 16-9 deficit to take a 22-19 lead in the second set on a kill from Emery Keebaugh and closed out the win with a block.
Washburn closed out the match in a third set that saw the Ichabods break a 9-9 tie before using a 10-4 run to pull away from Missouri Western (18-5, 8-3).
The Griffons came back with a 6-0 run of their own to tie the score at 19-19 but Missouri Western's ensuing service ace was wiped off the board due to a successful WU challenge and the Ichabods outscored Missouri Western 5-1 to end the match.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After placing fourth in Class 5A in both 2021 and 2022, Seaman's volleyball team broke through last fall to claim the school's first state title.
Now the Vikings' focus is on winning a second straight crown Friday and Saturday at the Tony's Pizza Events in Saturday, earning the top 5A seed with a glossy 37-2 record.
Seaman volleyball celebrates its Class 5A sub-state championship last Saturday at Seaman. [Photo by Charles Spurlock/Special to TSN]
After rolling through last Saturday's home sub-state with straight-set wins over Topeka West (25-10, 25-11) and Maize South (25-15, 25-20), the Vikings will open this year's state title bid with Friday pool play.
Seaman will open its day with a 4:30 p.m. Pool I match against United Kansas Conference foe De Soto, the No. 8 seed at 17-19, followed by a 6:30 match against No. 5 St. Thomas Aquinas (30-5) and an 8:30 match against No. 4 seed Blue Valley Southwest (32-5).
The top two finishers in both pools will advance to Saturday's 1 p.m. semifinals, followed by the championship and third-place matches.
Maggie Moulden, one of six seniors on the Seaman roster, said she feels like the Vikings are up to the challenge of repeating.
“(We're) definitely wanting to go back and win state again,'' Moulden said. "We know we’re going to see very good competition, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Senior Kinley Wilhelm agreed.
“We just have a connection like no other and this is our fourth straight trip as seniors and I think it is a great opportunity to have one last ride together,'' she said. "I’m super-excited with how we played (in sub-state) and hoping we can transfer that to the tournament (this weekend).”
On the other side of the 5A bracket are No. 2 seed Great Bend (35-2), No. 3 Andover (31-4), No. 6 St. James Academy (28-6) and No. 7 Kapaun Mt. Carmel (30-7).
CLASS 5A VOLLEYBALL
At Tony's Pizza Events Center, Salina
FRIDAY'S POOL PLAY
Pool I
3:30 p.m. -- Blue Valley Southwest (4: 32-5) vs. St. Thomas Aquinas (5: 30-5).
4:30 -- Seaman (1: 37-2) vs. De Soto (8: 17-19).
5:30 -- Blue Valley Southwest vs. De Soto.
6:30 -- Seaman vs. St. Thomas Aquinas.
7:30 -- St. Thomas Aquinas vs. De Soto.
8:30 -- Seaman vs. Blue Valley Southwest.
Pool II
3:30 p.m. -- Andover (3: 31-4) vs. St. James Academy (6: 28-6).
4:30 -- Great Bend (2: 35-2) vs. Kapaun Mt. Carmel (7: 30-7).
5:30 -- Andover vs. Kapaun Mt. Carmel.
6:30 -- Great Bend vs. St. James Academy.
7:30 -- St. James Academy vs. Kapaun Mt. Carmel.
8:30 -- Great Bend vs. Blue Valley Southwest.
SATURDAY
1 p.m -- Semifinals.
(Championship and third-place matches 25 minutes after conclusion of last semifinal).
Eight-time champ Rural No. 4 seed in Class 6A
Washburn Rural has flown under the radar a little bit this fall, earning the No. 5 ranking in Class 6A through the regular season, but Kevin Bordewick's Junior Blues are back in their familiar spot as a state contender, earning the No. 4 state seed with a 30-6 record entering Friday and Saturdays state tournament at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina.
Washburn Rural celebrates a kill from senior Layla Collins (3) in Saturday's Class 6A sub-state volleyball tournament at Rural. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Junior Blues dominated last Saturday's sub-state at Rural, taking a 25-11, 25-8 semifinal win over Liberal before earning its state berth with a 25-14, 25-19 win over Lawrence Free State in the championship match.
Rural, which has won eight state titles under Bordewick, most recently in 2022, will open this season's state bid with three Friday pool matches, beginning at 8:30 a.m.
The Junior Blues will open the state tourney with an 8:30 match against No. 5 seed Wichita North (30-8), followed by a 10:30 match against No. 8 Manhattan (20-15) and closing out pool play against top seed Blue Valley West (33-4) at 1:30 p.m.
Bordewick, No. 2 on the all-time Kansas wins list, said seeds don't matter a lot at state and that his team will approach things the way it always has.
"We've been the low seed, we've been middle, we've been the top seed and everybody's got an even record,'' Bordewick said. "We're just going to play as hard as we possibly can.
"The pressure's what you make of it and we're just going to go in and just see what we can do.''
