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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

No. 13-ranked Washburn University volleyball is back at home to host Central Missouri in Whiting Fieldhouse at 6 p.m. Tuesday for White Out In Whiting night.

Washburn volleyball is back in Whiting Fieldhouse Tuesday to face Central Missouri. [File photo/TSN] 

The first 200 fans attending Tuesday night's match will receive a free Washburn Volleyball T-shirt. 

Washburn is 16-3 on the year overall and 5-1 in the MIAA after defeating No. 17 Emporia State 3-2 last Saturday in Emporia.

Central Missouri enters the match with a 12-7 record overall and 4-2 in the MIAA after falling 3-1 to No. 8 Missouri Western last time out on Oct. 2.

Washburn moved up to No. 13 in the latest AVCA poll with 572 total points.

Brynne Topolski leads Washburn with 219 kills (3.37 per set) while also hitting a team-high .308. She has added 97 digs, along with making 37 blocks. The Lincoln, Neb. junior has recorded double-figure kills in 13 matches with one double-double.

She is third in the MIAA in kills per set while ranking sixth in the conference in points per set. She is also ninth in the MIAA in hitting percentage.

Emma Siron is second for the Ichabods with 199 kills (3.21 per set) while hitting .201 on the outside. She has served a team-high 25 aces while also registering 160 digs and making 19 blocks. Siron ranks third on the team with 72 assists.

The Sedalia, Mo. native has tallied 10 double-digit kill matches with eight double-doubles. She is fifth in the MIAA with 3.79 points per set while ranking sixth in the MIAA in kills per set. The junior ranks sixth in the MIAA in aces per set with 0.40.

Senior Shawnee Heights product Taylor Rottinghaus has started 17 matches at libero, recording a team-high 295 digs (4.84 per set) and has seven matches with 20-plus digs. Rottinghaus has also added 50 assists with 17 aces served. She ranks third in the MIAA in digs per set.

Washburn earned its first ranked victory of the season last Saturday night as the Ichabods took down No. 17 Emporia State.

After Washburn took the first two sets, 25-15 and 25-22, Emporia State responded with 25-22 and 25-19 set victories to force a fifth set. After trailing 8-4 in the fifth set, the Ichabods rallied to come from behind and win 15-13.  

Washburn freshman Hayden Meats tallied 16 kills for a second straight day against the Hornets, hitting .208 with 11 digs for a double-double. Natalie Hedlund finished in double figures with 13 kills and hit .270.

Siron finished one kill shy of the first triple-double for Ichabod volleyball in more than 20 years as she slashed nine kills with a team-high 24 assists and added 10 digs. Lauren Tyler also had a double-double with 18 kills and 13 digs while Rottinghaus scooped 17 digs in the back row.  

Emporia State was led by 15 kills from Lavra Krizanic and 47 assists by Brailee Bogle.    

Washburn trails 51-26 in the all-time series against the Jennies but has won the last three meetings.

After Tuesday's match Washburn heads on the road for its next four matches, beginning Friday, Oct. 9 against Central Oklahoma in Edmond with first serve at 6 p.m.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Senior star Emma Sweeney and the Seaman girls tennis team have bigger goals ahead.

Seaman girls tennis poses for a team picture after winning its fifth straight UKC team title Tuesday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Submitted photo]

But the Vikings got what they hope is a strong postseason run off to a banner start Tuesday at Kossover Tennis Center, with Sweeney earning her third straight United Kansas Conference singles championship while Seaman earned its fifth straight conference team title in as many tries.

Seaman senior Emma Sweeney won her third straight UKC singles title Tuesday at Kossover Tennis Center, losing just one game in five matches on the day. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Seaman's Cadence Speer (left) and Camryn Lux won the doubles championship Tuesday as the Vikings won their fifth straight UKC team title. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] 

Sweeney dropped just one game in five matches on the day, capped by an 8-0 win over Piper's Ann McPherson in the final while the Vikings' teams of Cadence Speer and Camryn Lux and Brenna Prokop and Kallie Zurmely finished one-two in doubles and Seaman got a third-place singles finish from Lilly Wiens en route to winning the team title by a 95-81 margin over Spring Hill.

"It's one of those goals that we're always trying to get, along with city and regionals and then, obviously, this year state after getting second last year,'' Sweeney said. "Every year we've been in the league we've won it, so we just want to keep the winning streak going.''

Seaman coach Jamie Robinson agreed.

"We look at it as a tremendous acomplishment,'' Robinson said. "We wanted to defend the title and we knew Spring Hill could be a threat, especially in doubles, and our doubles came through big time and we also got a third-place finish in singles, so that was fun.

"Wow, it was just a great day and this is a big lifting point going into regionals.''   

Sweeney, a three-time Class 5A state medalist and last year's singles runnerup, entered Tuesday's UKC meet as the clearcut singles favorite and said she just wanted to keep building momenum heading into regional and state competition.

"I just wanted to play really loose and have confidence going into regionals,'' Sweeney said. "I just wanted to play my game and not let anything get in my head and just stay loose mentally and physically.''

Shawnee Heights finished fifth as a team Tuesday while Topeka West placed eighth.

Seaman, Heights and West will all compete in Saturday's regional meet at Kossover (9 a.m. start), with competitors vying for berths in next week's 5A state meet at Andover.

UKC tennis competitors and coaches showed their support for Becky Kazmaier, wife of Basehor-Linwood coach Ryan Kazmaier, in her cancer fight with identical T-Shirts prior to the start of Tuesday's conference meet at Kossover Tennis Center. [Submitted photo]   

UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE GIRLS TENNIS

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

In some ways Washburn University redshirt junior volleyball standout Emma Siron was looking forward to Tuesday's match against her former team, Central Missouri, while part of Siron also dreaded the reunion.

Emma Siron (8) sets the ball to Morgan Sears in Tuesday's 3-1 Washburn MIAA win over Central Missouri in Whiting Fieldhouse. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

"I think both,'' said Siron, who spent the first three years of her college career at UCM, earning first-team All-MIAA honors last season, before transferring to Washburn. "I was definitely looking forward to seeing all of them, but playing them and being on the other side, I was definitely dreading.''

But after a somewhat slow start by Siron and the No. 13-ranked Ichabods, Washburn delivered a 3-1 come-from-behind win over the Jennies in Whiting Fieldhouse as Siron contributed eight kills while hitting .500 and recording 20 assists and 11 digs.

Washburn junior Emma Siron (right) is congratulated by her teammates after a big play in Tuesday's 3-1 MIAA win over Central Missouri. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

"The first set I had a lot of jitters, and it showed, but after that I finally got in a flow and the team got in a flow and it was just like normal volleyball,'' Siron said.

After playing outside hitter for most of the season, Siron has also been pressed into service as a setter after Ichabod junior Shannon Frakes went down with an injury.

"In high school when I graduated I was a setter, but in college I haven't set for three years,'' said Siron, a Sedalia, Mo. native. "My first outing was a little rough, but it definitely feels better now and the team has just welcomed it and supported me, so it's been a real easy position to fall into.''

"She did a great job,'' Washburn coach Chris Herron said of Siron's performance against Central Missouri. "Her overall game, that's impressive. She's setting, she's swinging, she's passing, she's serving, she's blocking. Her overall game was very impressive tonight.'' 

The Jennies, 12-8 overall, 4-2 MIAA, came out firing and took the opening set, 25-22. But after that Washburn flipped the script, winning 25-11, 25-12 and 25-17 in the ensuing three sets to secure the victory.  

Central Missouri opened the match up with an 8-3 advantage and kept Washburn (17-3, 5-1 MIAA) at arm's length throughout the middle of the set until the Ichabods were able to pull within two at 18-16 after an attacking error on the other side.

That was as close as Washburn got, with the Jennies closing out the three-point opening win. 

The first four points in the second set went to Washburn after a kill from Brynne Topolski and another four-point burst extended the Ichabod lead to 11-3 after Morgan Sears and Siron teamed up for a block.

The Washburn offense hit .379 as a team in the set, as Sears finished it off with a kill to wrap up the 14-point win. 

An early offensive burst created separation for Washburn again early in the third set as the Ichabods built a 15-5 lead after Sears and Natalie Hedlund combined for a block that capped off a 10-1 run.

Sears started a string of four straight points that made it a 22-8 set as the Ichabods eased into the 13-point win in the third. 

After a brief lead early in the fourth set from the Jennies, the next four points went to Washburn to take the lead back at 6-4.

Central Missouri hung around and was able to tie the set at nine before Hedlund slashed a kill that started a 9-1 run that included three straight service aces from Autumn Gibbs, putting the Ichabods up, 18-10.

Washburn was able to trade points the rest of the way, winning 25-17 in the set and taking the 3-1 match win.

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