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Expectations remain sky high for Ichabod volleyball
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University volleyball graduated six seniors, including three All-Americans, off its 2025 team that posted a 27-5 record, earned a share of the MIAA regular-season championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Washburn University's 2026 volleyball team poses for a team picture during Monday's media day activities. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But Chris Herron's Ichabods still have the same sky-high expectations they've always had as they open preseason preparations for the 2026 season.
Washburn graduated MIAA Player of the Year and first-team AVCA All-America middle hitter Austin Broadie, first-team All-MIAA and AVCA All-America honorable mention outside hitter Bella Limback and middle hitter Alex Dvorak, who earned second-team All-MIAA honors last fall despite missing a big chunk of the season with an injury after earning AVCA All-America honorable mention in 2024.
But the Ichabods return three-time second-time all-conference defensive specialist/libero Taylor Rottinghaus, a former Shawnee Heights star, as well as second-team All-MIAA outside hitter Brynne Topolski and honorable mention all-conference outside hitter Keilah Rivers.
"We like the kids we have and why I feel good about it is that we have so much experience returning,'' Herron said. "Am I going to miss some of those other kids? Yeah sure, but you know what, I think the biggest thing for is we're ready to move on.
"You have this five for five (eligibility) thing and all these injunctions, but we're just going on. We're not worried about that stuff. We like our group and they tested really well (Monday) morning, everybody passed everything, so it's great.''
Now Herron is eager to see what heights this year's edition of the Ichabods can reach.
"We talked about that (Sunday) at our first meeting,'' Herron said. "When you change three or four pieces, they leave, and then three or four new pieces come in, the whole chemistry of that team has changed dramatically, so you have to find your own chemistry.
"We said, 'Whatever happened last year was fine and good, but that was last year, now you've got to find your own.' ''
In addition to Rottinghaus, Topolski and Rivers, Herron is expecting big things from sophomore middle blocker Brooklyn Morrisey, who came on strong late last season.
"Those middles (Broadie and Dvorak) were dynamite, they were just ridiculous, but we have Brooklyn Morrisey, who filled in the last 13 matches for Alex when she got hurt and played terrific,'' Herron said. "She played against 11 nationally-ranked teams and still hit .280-something, so that bodes well for us.''
The Ichabods have also added transfer setter Lauren Tyler from Drury and transfer first-team All-MIAA first-team outside hitter Emma Siron from Central Missouri State.
WU's Busenitz back in action after battling back from knee injury two plays into '25 season
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After working his way from walk-on status and a broken hand early in his career to earn a starting position on Washburn University's offensive line, Orrin Busenitz's 2025 football season ended just two plays into the Ichabods' season-opener against Truman State when the former Shawnee Heights standout suffered a serious injury to his left knee.
Former Shawnee Heights standout Orrin Busenitz (52) has fought back from a serious knee injury on the second play of the 2025 season to return to action for the Ichabods.[Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But while the '25 injury was the unquestioned low point of his career, the 6-foot-2, 295-pound offensive guard has battled back over the past year, determined to regain his spot as a mainstay in the trenches for the Ichabods, who opened their fall camp earlier in the week.
"You don't ever want to have a serious injury like that as I did last year, but we did it early so I've had the absolute most time to recover as possible,'' said Busenitz, who suffered a torn ACL and torn miniscus. "It was definitely tough but there's always a brighter side of some things. Coach (Zach) Watkins talks all the time about how not everything is as bad as it seems at first.
"I think for me I was able to maybe gain some better perspective of our team and I think I was able to build better relationships with the guys in that locker room and get as many mental reps as possible and all that.''
Busenitz, an All-Shawnee County pick and Kansas Shrine Bowl pick as a senior at Shawnee Heights, also used his rehab time to work on his overall physical conditioning.
"Yeah, the knee was messed up, but I'll tell you what, the rest of my body felt great, the best it's felt in three years,'' Busenitz said. "My shoulders felt really good, so there's always a brighter side to it.
"People talk all the time about how with these injuries, a lot of it's more mental. And it's just getting back out here on the field and trusting what your body can do and trusting that you've done the work to recover and strengthen it up. And now it's just time to go.''
Love for football draws former Hayden star Finn Dunshee back to hometown Ichabods
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Former Hayden star Finn Dunshee hasn't played football since helping lead the Wildcats to a runnerup finish in Class 3A in 2023 and playing for the East in the 2024 Kansas Shrine Bowl.
Finn Dunshee (33), who helped 12-1 Hayden post a runnerup Class 3A state finish in 2023, is back on the football field after a two-year absence with hometown Washburn University. [File photo/TSN]
But even though he had gone on to run Division I track at Texas Christian University after winning six state titles for the Wildcats, Dunshee never completely lost his love for the gridiron.
And as time went on, that love got stronger, prompting Dunshee, named the TopSports.news Shawnee County Male Athlete of the Year in 2024, to leave TCU and accept the opportunity to play football for the hometown Ichabods.
"I'd been thinking about it, maybe not my freshman year, but that summer going into my sophomore year I had been down there at those Texas games and Texas football's a little different,'' Dunshee said. "Everybody's going crazy and I was like, 'Man, I miss football.'
"I started to get the itch again. I went through my sophomore (track) season and I came home and I ended up hitting the portal and I was like, 'Hey, you guys interested?' ''
When Washburn reached out, Dunshee said it was a relative easy decision to come home.
"I have a big family here in Topeka and I've got all these nieces and nephews and I love them to death, so I was like, 'Why not Washburn?' '' said the 5-foot-10, 175-pounder, who is projected as a wide receiver and returner for WU.
"They were interested in me in high school and just reached out. They were like 15 dudes over their limit, but they ended up giving me a spot, so I was pretty excited.''
Dunshee, a three-time state champion in track as both a junior and senior, joined Washburn for summer workouts to get re-acquainted with the game of football before opening up fall camp this week.
