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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman's volleyball team has never really been at full strength this fall, with Tatiana Dowling's Vikings fighting through a series of injuries.
But Seaman persevered to earn a third straight berth in this weekend's Class 5A state tournament berth at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina, which makes Dowling extremely proud of what the Vikings have been able to accomplish.
"I think any time you have to deal with as much adversity as we've had as far as the injury bug goes that you have a lot to be proud of when we're at the point that we're at this season,'' Dowling said.
The Vikings have been without junior Hope Dapkiewicz all season and lost sophomore Ava Esser to an ACL injury early in the year while junior standout Taylin Stallbaumer missed significant time early in the season and other players were sidelined at various times throughout the regular season.
"We've had people out with various injuries throughout the year, whether it's a concussion or a back injury that sat out some games randomly at tournaments,'' Dowling said.
But the silver lining to Seaman's injury woes is that several underclassmen were able to step up and help keep the United Kansas Conference champions on track..
"We played a lot of younger kids because we had so many injuries, especially with some of our upperclassmen and people that we relied on, so I felt it made us a deeper lineup,'' Dowling said. "Looking forward, if we need them in the postseason and definitely in the years to come, it will make them more experienced.''
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights' stellar season continued with a convincing 3-1 soccer victory over Kansas City-Washington in the opening round of Class 5A regional play Tuesay night at the Bettis Family Sports Complex.
The dominating outing from Shawnee Heights allowed the Thunderbirds to advance to play St. James Academy in Thurday's regional championship game.
Coming into Tuesday's playoff contest, Shawnee Heights had won four out of its last five games.
In addition, Shawnee Heights had outscored the opposition during its hot streak, 15 goals to three.
In the first half, although Shawnee Heights' dominated with its three goals, KC Washington controlled the pace of play. The Wildcats had the ball in Thunderbird territory for most of the half and showed a sense of urgency.
"We did enough offensively in the first half to put the game away, which was nice," Shawnee Heights coach Nic Simons said. "We struggled to get a rhythm in the midfield, but the shots we did have to go in were great shots for us."
No one would argue that the Thunderbird backline was the X factor in the first half. Excellent goalie play from Carter Freeman took away nearly nine goals that KC Washington was so close to having.
"Carter (Freeman) has been nothing short of excellent," Simons said. "I know we gave up that last goal with just a few minutes left in the game, but sometimes it happens. Carter is only a sophomore, which is exciting."
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Lawrence entered Tuesday's Class 6A regional soccer contest at Washburn Rural as an underdog, but an underdog that had won its last two games against the Junior Blues.
And for virtually the entire first half, the Lions looked like they might have another upset in them before a goal from senior star Easton Bradstreet with 30 seconds left before halftime jumpstarted the Junior Blues on the way to a 3-1 victory at McElroy Field.
"They're not your typical 15 seed, obviously,'' Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel said of the Lions. "The playoffs are an interesting beast because often-times the lower-seeded teams can play with nothing to lose and the guys on top play with a little more nervousness and expectations.
"I thought the first half we just kind of looked pretty tight and pretty nervous and that has a lot to do with Lawrence being a good team. We were really fortunate to get the goal right at the end of the half that probably calmed us down a little bit and then the key part of the game was the first 10 minutes of the second half when we got goals two and three.''
Bradstreet scored his second goal of the night at the 35:33 mark of the second half before junior Benett Hallauer scored less than three minutes later to put Washburn Rural in command, 3-0.
Bradstreet also had an assist for the 14-3-0 Juior Blues while freshmen Draden Chooncharoen and Dylan Willingham were also credited with assists.
With his two goals Tuesday Bradstreet now has 27 goals on the season and 55 in his career, just three off Austin Halsey's school single-season record of 30 and two behind Halsey's career-record of 57.
Lawrence (6-11-1) scored its lone goal with 1:08 remaining on a shot from senior Carson Schraad.
Washburn Rural will back home Thursday to host Wichita Northwest (11-5-1) in a 6 p.m. regional final.
The Junior Blues took a 4-3 double-overtime win over Northwest on Sept. 1.
Northwest advanced to Thursday's regional final with a 2-1 win over Wichita Southeast.
WASHBURN RURAL 3, LAWRENCE 1
Lawrence (6-11-1) 0 1 -- 1
Washburn Rural (14-3-0) 1 2 -- 3
Lawrence -- Goal: Carson Schraad.
Washburn Rural -- Goals: Easton Bradstreet 2, Benett Hallauer. Assists: Draden Chooncharoen, Dylan Willingham, Easton Bradstreet.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
As you would probably expect from teams that were virtually even in season records and postseason seedings, Tuesday's Hayden-Mulvane Class 4A regional soccer opener was a close game from start to finish.
But the only goal of the game was enough to allow Hayden to extend its season, with the hosts taking the 1-0 victory to advance to Thursday's regional final at 16-1-0 Buhler.
"Give them credit,'' Hayden coach Klaus Kreutzer said of Mulvane. "I think they made us work pretty hard and we were on our haunches a good part of the time, but we'll take it.''
Hayden, the No. 8 seed in the 4A West regional pairings, improved to 8-8-1 on the season while No. 9 seed Mulvane ended its season at 7-10-0.
There was no scoring in Tuesday's contest for more than 62 minutes before freshman Aiden Roberts found the back of the net off a pass from senior Jake Muller for the game-winner.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Sure, veteran Washburn Rural volleyball coach Kevin Bordewick and his Junior Blues would like to forget about what happened in last year's state volleyball tournament when Rural dropped tough three-set matches in the semifinal and third-place matches to finish fourth after opening the season with 41 straight wins.
But although its a painful memory, Bordewick said Rural has discussed what transpired a year ago and what they need to do to make sure that this weekend in the Class 6A state tournament at Salina has a happier end.
"We already have talked about it because I don't want it to be the white elephant in the room,'' Bordewick said. "We talk about the pressure, we talk about what's expected, we talk about what happened last year and how we didn't show up and compete, and I think that will drive us a little bit.
"I think it will help us if it's talked about and out there. I don't want it hidden and then all of a sudden something goes bad and it just snowballs on us.''
Washburn Rural is in much the same position it was a year ago, entering Friday's pool play as the No. 1 seed with a 40-1 record.
Senior Brooklyn DeLeye, who recently eclipsed the 2,000 kill mark for her career, leads a veteran Rural team that also includes tournament-tested seniors Taylor Russell, Chloe Carlgren and Katie Borough and juniors Zoe Canfield and Jada Ingram.
Bordewick is confident that having another year's experience could pay off for the Junior Blues this weekend.
"I think any experience always helps and I think we've seen that maturity,'' Bordewick said. "And no offense to any of the seniors that were on last year's team, but I do think this group, even though we lost once early, is actually a little bit better as far as understanding each other than last year, just because of another year that we've gotten under our belt.''