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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
KEARNEY, Neb. – No. 2-ranked Washburn University volleyball opened the 2022 season with a pair of shutout victories at the Nebraska-Kearney Fall Classic on Friday, with the Ichabods sweeping Central Washington and Minot State.
The Ichabods opened the day with a 25-21, 25-21, 25-15 win over Central Washington before taking a 25-9, 25-12, 25-17 win over Minot State
Jalyn Stevenson
Iyannah Jackson
Washburn will close out its opening weekend of competition on Saturday with matches against Midwestern State and Sioux Falls.
The WU-Central Washington match started out tightly contested with seven lead changes and 12 tied scores in the opening set.
Trailing 15-11, a kill from Halle Meister started a 7-1 run to push the Ichabods in front, 18-16. The Wildcats clawed back and took a one-point advantage at 19-18 and 20-19 when back-to-back kills from Iyannah Jackson and Meister gave Washburn a 21-20 lead.
Central Washington scored only one more point in the set to knot up the score at 21 before the Ichabods rattled off the next four in a row to win, 25-21.
Samatha Moburg was involved in each of the final four points as she recorded three kills and was a part of a block.
The second set got going with more back-and-forth scoring until Washburn broke the 5-5 tie with seven unanswered points and capitalized on four Wildcat errors during that stint.
Although Central Washington trimmed the deficit to two at 14-12, the Ichabods never trailed in the set and captured another 25-21 win.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden's soccer team had to sweat out its season-opener against Topeka West until the final horn sounded, but even though coach Klaus Kreutzer knows his Wildcats have a long ways to go to be the team he wants it to be, Friday's 2-1 home non-league win was a good start in the right direction.
Topeka West's Jaden Patterson (left) and Hayden's Jake Muller (right), who scored a goal, race for the ball in Friday' 2-1 Wildcat win over the Chargers. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Hayden's Easton Blosser (7) and Topeka West's Aden Shaul, who scored the Chargers' lone goal, battle for the ball on the sideline in Friday's 2-1 Hayden win at Hayden. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"It's better to look from the top than looking up from the bottom,'' Kreutzer said. "And I thought we worked hard. They didn't necessarily make good decisions, but I thought the effort was OK.
"I think I learned a whole lot because I've got 10 new players.''
Hayden, which advanced to the Class 4A-1A state quarterfinals a year ago, never trailed after a goal from senior Jake Muller at the 14:43 mark of the opening half and the Wildcats protected their 1-0 halftime advantage when sophomore goalkeeper Chase Blaser came up with a save on a Topeka West penalty kick.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news has finished its tour of preseason football practices at all 10 Shawnee County high schools and will post preview stories over the coming days leading into the opening games of the 2022 season Sept. 1-3.
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Topeka High football coach Carlos Kelly knows there's sure to be some challenges ahead this fall for a young Trojan team that faces a brutal schedule.
But Kelly, who has just seven seniors on his roster, will be focused on making steady progress as the Trojans try to work towards re-capturing their place as a Centennial League and Class 6A contender.
Third-year Topeka High football coach Carlos Kelly talks with Trojan quarterback Peyton Wheat during a 2021 game. [File photo/TSN]
"We'll have to be patient and our schedule does not allow us any kind of leeway on patience, but at the same time Coach 'A' (Walt Alexander) was here for quite a while and he went through those nicks and bruises at the beginning to get it started off and then they did a really great job,'' said Kelly, a former assistant on Alexander's staff.
"Coach 'A' was a good coach. A lot of people don't give him credit for what he did off the field in the weight room and getting guys to buy in.''
Now Kelly, whose Trojans are coming off a 2-7 campaign, is trying to follow that same blueprint.
"It starts from everywhere and everything has to be on point for a smooth machine to run tip top,'' Kelly said. "Every cog in the machine has to do their part.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
When Washburn University soccer got a penalty kick opportunity with just over 10 minutes left in Thursday's season-opener against Oklahoma Baptist, Ichabod coach Davy Phillips wanted Vivian Soto-Herrera to take the shot.
It turns out that Soto-Herrera's teammates and the sophomore midfielder herself wanted that, too, and Soto-Herrera delivered, snaking the PK past OBU goalkeeper Mia Pendleton to give Washburn a 1-0 non-conference victory at Yager Stadium.
Viviana Soto-Herrera (middle) is congratulated by her Washburn soccer teammates after converting a penalty kick to give the Ichabods a 1-0 season-opening win over Oklahoma Baptist Thursday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"I told my assistant (Jessica Hillebert), 'I want Viv on it,' and she said, 'Viv already has it, she already stepped to the spot,' '' Phillips said. "I think everybody knows that Viv is a fantastic finisher, so we felt confident in her.''
"The whole team just pointed at me and I was like, 'OK, I'll take it,' '' Soto-Herrera said.
Soto-Herrera admitted she likes being in that role.
"I do,'' she said. "I have trust in myself.''
Soto-Herrera's penalty kick was the only goal of the night, but the Ichabods took 15 shots to just two by the Lady Bison and WU held an 8-2 edge in shots on goal.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news has finished its tour of preseason football practices at all 10 Shawnee County high schools and will post preview stories over the coming days leading into the opening games of the 2022 season Sept. 1-3.
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You might think that new Silver Lake football coach Logan Pegram would have been fighting some butterflies when he walked out onto CJ Hamilton Field for the start of fall practice on Aug. 15.
After all, Pegram is taking over for a living legend in Hamilton, the winningest coach in Kansas history, and is the Eagles' first new head coach since Hamilton returned from a short stint at Washburn University in 1979.
First-year Silver Lake football coach Logan Pegram, a former Eagle standout, puts his team through a drill during a preseason practice. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But the Silver Lake graduate, who said he benefitted from having all summer to get to know his new team, said all he was feeling was excitement to get started in his new role.
"So much goes into it with the preparation throughout the summer that the relationships with the kids are there and you know what to expect and they know what to expect, and I have five rock-solid assistant coaches,'' Pegram said.
"The only thing I got a little nervous about is when I came out and they weren't warming up like we told them to warm up, but it was awesome coming out here. It's like the start of a good school year and I was ready to rock and roll.''
Pegram, who was a star lineman for Hamilton at Silver Lake before playing collegiately at Northern Illinois, said he wants to embrace the Eagles' rich tradition, which includes eight state championships and 18 championship game appearances under Hamilton, moving forward.
Pegram's coaching staff includes multiple holdovers from last year's staff and he also added a couple of other coaches very familiar with the program to complete his staff this season.
"I was able to hire two Silver Lake alums, Brit Dewey, who had a really good career here and was a Shrine Bowl guy, and then we got Jace Lowe, who was also an ex-Shrine Bowl guy here,'' Pegram said. "So all of us played in the program and all of us understand 'IT.' ''
