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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 2 ranked Washburn volleyball will put its 15-set win streak on the line Thursday night against Central Missouri in Whiting Fieldhouse. [File photo/TSN] - Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Four Shawnee County schools continue to earn Top 10 spots in the Kansas Volleyball Association's state rankings released Wednesday, led by Class 3A Silver Lake, which is ranked No. 1 for the sixth straight week.
Silver Lake volleyball is ranked No. 1 in the KVA Class 3A state rankings for the sixth straight week. [File photo/TSN]
Silver Lake is now 34-1 on the season. The Eagles' lone loss came against 5A Shawnee Heights.
Hayden (23-7) is ranked No. 3 in 4A while Washburn Rural (21-4) is No. 6 in 6A and Rossville (23-13) is ranked seventh in 2A.
Kansas Volleyball Association State Rankings
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The 2025-2026 Washburn men's basketball team will have to replace four players who all received MIAA postseason honors from last season's 30-4 team that advanced to the NCAA Division II semifinals.
Jack Bachelor
Brady Christiansen
But the Ichabods' cupboard is far from bare. In fact, Washburn coach Brett Ballard feels like the pieces are in place for the Ichabods to challenge for another MIAA championship and put together a strong postseason run.
"I think we have five guys returning that all either had started, did start or probably would have started on almost any team in the country last year,'' Ballard said. "We were just deep and talented.''
Junior Jack Bachelor, a first-team All-MIAA pick last season, is the Ichabods' lone returning starter, but Washburn also returns several other experienced players from last year's team, including seniors Sam Ungashick and Brady Christiansen, and sophomores Dillon Claussen and Tyson Ruud.
"Jack has started, Sam has started in the past, and now is healthy and playing as good as anybody,'' Ballard said. "Brady has started before and has shown that he's a high-level MIAA guy and then Dylan Claussen didn't start last year because he was playing behind Andrew Orr, but he would have started on most of the teams in our conference.
"And Tyson Ruud, when healthy, I think showed you he's a high-level MIAA guy, so yes we lost a lot, but I really feel good about the talent and leadership of the guys returning.''
Ungashick, an All-MIAA honorable mention honoree as a sophomore before battling back from knee injuries last season, agrees with his coach that the Ichabods are capable of putting together another banner season this winter.
"We definitely feel that way,'' Ungashick said. "We have a lot of guys who played real minutes in our games last year and they're all back on this team and all playing at a high level in practice so far this fall.''
Washburn was picked No. 1 in both the MIAA Preseason Coaches and Media polls and Ungashick said the Ichabods embrace that challenge.
"We've kind of talked about that in practice, that we'd rather be No. 1 than last place, so I think that target on our back is forcing us to prepare in a good way for the season and I think that's pushing us to be the best and play to the best of our abilities,'' Ungashick said.
Bachelor, a 6-foot-2 point guard, averaged 13.6 points and 5.5 assists last season while hitting 66 3-pointers and shooting 85.6 percent from the free throw line.
Christiansen (6-7) has played 93 games as an Ichabod with 31 starts and averaged 7.0 points and 5.6 rebounds with 36 3-pointers last season while Claussen (6-8) averaged 7.4 points and 3.9 rebounds as a freshman, including a 17-point performance in the national quarterfinals.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball has made steady progress in Lora Westling's previous three seasons as the Ichabods' head coach, posting a seven-win improvement during that span.
And with an experienced, talented returning cast, the Ichabods are looking forward to making another big jump in the upcoming 2025-2026 campaign.
Yibari Nwidadah
Payton Sterk
Washburn, led by All-MIAA second-team picks Yibari Nwidadah and Payton Stert, is coming off an 18-13 season with a 11-8 mark inside the MIAA and was tapped No. 2 with a conference-high six first-place votes in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll and No. 3 in the Media Poll.
And while the expectations for the Ichabods are higher than they've ever been under Westling, the former WU standout said her team welcomes the challenge.
"Nobody wants to motivate being the underdog for many years,'' said Westling, whose Ichabods are in their first full week of official preseson practice. "You kind of know when you come in that you've got to turn some things around, but if you stay the underdog something's not going well, so I'm really excited for our players and returners to kind of have some return on that investment and showing that experience matters and they're doing things the right way and setting themselves up for a chance to be really good.
''They've got to flip their mindset and make a decision that they're going to be unbeatable and they're going to be hard to beat and they're going to do their best every time and know that the results will come if their doing what they do the best they can do it.''
Nwidadah, a 6-foot-2 senior post player, and Sterk, a 5-10 senior guard, give the Ichabods two of the conference's best players to build around while Washburn also returns its other three starters -- Gabi Giovannetti (5-10 senior), Madelyn Amekporfor (5-11 junior) and Brooke Gomez (5-7 sophomore) -- along with top reserve Aniah Wayne (5-8 senior).
Nwidadah averaged 16.8 points and 8.0 rebounds last season while shooting 62.6 percent from the field and Sterk averaged 15.7 points and hit a team-high 62 3-pointers and shot 84.6 percent from the free throw line.
Giovannetti averaged 11.6 points, shot 84.6 percent from the free throw line and hit 47 3-pointers, Amekporfor averaged 7.8 points and 5.2 rebounds, Gomez averaged 4.6 points with a team-high 83 assists and Wayne averaged 5.8 points.
"I could not be more excited about this season just because of how they've worked,'' Westling said. "They're hungry, they want it and it's a pleasure to be around.''
The Ichabods have also added three transfers, Britany Kogbara (6-0 junior), Kellyn Hunter (5-4 junior) and Kylin Shipman (5-8 sophomore), who could make an immediate impact this winter.
Kogbara was a first-team juco All-American last season for Mesa Community College when she averaged 13.4 points and 9.5 rebounds, Hunter averaged 14.1 points with 40 3-pointers last season for Spring Hill College and Shipman transferred in after seeing action as a freshman for Regis.
"They're going to be a lot of fun I think for Ichabod fans,'' Westling said. "They've got some pretty impressive skill sets that are really complimentary to what we're doing and credit to my staff, they just kind of hit a home run with our recruiting class.''
Washburn will open the season on Nov. 14 and 15 in Edmond, Okla. against St. Cloud State and Southwest Minnesota State in the Central Region Challenge.
The Ichabods will make their home debut in newly-renovated Lee Arena on Nov. 21-22 in the Washburn Classic against Southwest Baptist and Metropolitan State of Denver.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Wamego and Hayden's girls golf teams have gone back and forth over the last several seasons, combining to capture the past four Class 4A state team championships.
And while Wamego got the upper hand with a dominating win over two-time defending Hayden in Tuesday's regional tournament at Shawnee Country Club, the Wildcats earned another shot at the Red Raiders in next week's state tournament at Hutchinson with a runnerup regional finish.
Hayden senior Izzy Glotzbach tied for second with an 83 in Tuesday's Class 4A regional at Shawnee Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Led by three-time defending 4A individual champion Addison Douglass and putting all six players in the top nine, Wamego posted a four-person score of 326 while Hayden was a distant second at 366.
"They're really good, so we're going to have to play our best to compete with them, but the No. 1 thing for us was to make it out of here and get a chance to go do it (at state) and we did that,'' Hayden coach Jayson Duncan said.
"We played pretty good early and maybe need to clean up some things late.''
Douglas shot a sizzling four-under-par 69 to post a 14-stroke individual victory while the Red Raiders' Lillian Costa tied for second place with an 83, Sophia Hellman, Gentry McIntosh and Hailey Honeycutt tied for fifth with 87s and Maizie Nickel placed ninth with an 95.
Hayden's Brooke Johnson shot an 84 to place fourth and help the Wildcats finish second as a team in Tuesday's Class 4A regional at Shawnee Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Hayden senior Lauren Borjon finished eighth individually with an 89 in Tuesday's Class 4A regional at Shawnee Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Senior Izzy Glotzbach led Hayden with a tie for second place with an 83 while the Wildcats' Brooke Johnson finished fourth with an 84, Lauren Borjon placed eighth with an 89 and Kellyn Specht rounded out Hayden's top four with a tie for 20th with a 110.
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