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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural and Seaman look to be top contenders for the team title in Thursday's city girls tennis tournament, and both the Junior Blues and Vikings tuned up for that meet with solid performances in Tuesday's Washburn Rural Invitational at Kossover Tennis Center.
No. 2 doubles champions Hailey Beck and Shelby Schmutzler led the way as Rural tied three-time defending Centennial League champion Manhattan for the team championship in Tuesday's eight-school tournament while No. 1 doubles champs Grace Unruh and Lauren Sweeney paced Seaman, the defending city champion, to a third-place team finish.
Seaman No. 1 doubles partners Lauren Sweeney (left) and Grace Unruh exchange a high five after winning a point in Tuesday's championship match in the Washburn Rural Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Unruh and Sweeney remained undefeated on the season with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Washburn Rural's Meredith Kucera and Kate Fritz in the No. 1 doubles final while Beck and Schmutzler remained unbeaten in No. 2 doubles with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Maize.
Washburn Rural also got second-place finishes in No. 1 singles from Sheriden Wichman and in No. 2 singles from Mena DiMarzio en route to sharing the title with Manhattan, which got championships from Jill Harkin in No. 1 singles and Maura Wiens in No. 2 singles.
"It was a great day and a great tournament,'' veteran Washburn Rural coach Kevin Hedberg said. "It's good to play full two out of three sets today because that's what we'll play at regionals and you have to get ready for that.''
Seaman's Unruh and Sweeney swept city, Centennial League and Class 5A regional doubles titles in 2020 before finishing fourth at state and Viking coach Jamie Robinson said the pair has put in the time to put themselves in a contending position again this fall.
"They practice before practice and after practice and it pays off,'' Robinson said.
The Vikings also got a third-place finish from Nina Del-Zio in No. 1 singles and from Katie Krumins in No. 2 singles.
Thursday's city tournament will also be played at Kossover, beginning at 3 p.m.
WASHBURN RURAL TENNIS INVITATIONAL
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Even though Seaman junior standout Lois Deeter opted not to play the 2020 high school golf season, she was still playing the sport she loves, probably as much, if not more, than ever.
Now Deeter is back with her Viking teammates this fall, and appreciating every minute of it.
"I love my team,'' Deeter said Monday after winning her first city title by five strokes with an even-par 70. "They're so supportive and fun on and off the course.''
After a season away from high school golf, Seaman junior Lois Deeter is off to a great start this fall, including a city title on Monday. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Deeter used her time away from high school golf to put in intense work on her game, traveling to Texas to compete in a series of big tournaments and finishing as high as third.
"There's some pros and cons to it,'' Deeter said. "I grew a lot from going and traveling and playing with some really good girls, but I did miss the team, going out and supporting each other.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The tournaments get bigger from here on out, but Washburn Rural's girls golf team started its stretch run in impressive fashion Monday at Western Hills Golf Course.
The Junior Blues ran their winning streak in the city tournament to nine straight, placing five players in the top six spots en route to a 41-stroke victory over Seaman.
"It's always one that we highlight on the schedule,'' Washburn Rural coach Jared Goehring said. "The girls have pride in playing well in the city and when you are expected to come out and play well it adds a little bit of pressure, but I thought the girls responded very well today to that.''
Washburn Rural's golf team poses for a team picture after winning its ninth straight city championship Monday at Western Hills. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Seaman junior Lois Deeter shot an even-par 70 to take the city individual title by five strokes, but Washburn Rural swept the next five placers to run away with the team championship.
. @RuralGolf wins ninth straight city title by 41 strokes, @SeamanSchools junior @lois_deeter shoots an even-par 70 to win individual title by five strokes. ... bit.ly/3AGrbWZ
Washburn Rural junior Kaitlyn Crough finished second in Monday's city tournament with a 75, helping Rural win its ninth straight city title. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Rural senior Kaitlyn Crough finished second with a 75, while senior Aliyah North was third with a 76, juniors Avery Scott and Mallory Nelson tied for fourth with 80s and junior Annika Peterson placed sixth with an 86.
"Sure, we could have putted better, we could have done a little bit better with our short games, but we'll get that cleaned up for next week,'' Goehring said. "It was a good day for the program.
"We just want to keep building for the end of the season run. This marks the halfway point today. This was event No. 5 for us and we'll go right into the Centennial League next week and we want to keep building and playing our best golf in October and I think we're headed in the right direction.''
Deeter captured her first city title Monday after finishing second as a freshman and opting out of the 2020 season and said she was very happy with her round.
"I'll take that any day,'' Deeter said. "Shooting even is awesome. My short game was really good today. My drives were a little right and left, going back and forth, but I had good up and down shots getting on the green.''
Monday's city tournament was held in conjunction with the Topeka West Invitational and both Deeter and Washburn Rural also claimed titles in that event.
Deeter won that title by the same five-stroke margin that she had in the city event, while Rural won the team championship by a 31-stroke margin over Blue Valley West.
CITY GIRLS GOLF TOURNAMENT
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For the first time in program history, Washburn University volleyball is the No. 1-ranked team in the AVCA national poll.
The Ichabods hold a 10-1 record to start the season and are coming off a four-set victory at previously No. 1-ranked Nebraska-Kearney last Saturday at Kearney.
Prior to Monday, the highest Washburn had been ranked was No. 2 on four occasions. Washburn held down the No. 2 spot for the first three weeks of the 2008 season and then again in the seventh week during the 2010 season.
The Ichabods received 25 first-place votes and tallied 1,077 total points as they moved up two places from last week's ranking.
Chris Herron's Washburn University volleyball team has climbed to the No. 1 spot in the national rankings for the first time in program history. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Angelo State remains at No. 2 and Metro State-Denver jumped up three places to No. 3. Nebraska-Kearney fell down to No. 4 and Southwest Minnesota rounded out the top five after previously being ranked eighth.
Joining the Ichabods and Lopers from the MIAA in the top 15 are Central Missouri at No. 7 and Northwest Missouri at No. 13. Central Oklahoma is receiving votes in the poll.
Washburn will host Emporia State on Tuesday at Lee Arena before closing out the month at Central Missouri on Saturday.
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No. 3-ranked Washburn University claimed all three of the MIAA's weekly volleyball awards Monday as seniors Allison Sadler, Faith Rottinghaus and Allison Maxwell were recognized for their performances on the court last weekend.
The Ichabods (10-1, 2-0 MIAA) opened conference play on the road last week, sweeping Fort Hays State on Friday before taking down No. 1 Nebraska-Kearney in four sets on Saturday. The win against the Lopers marked the fourth victory over a No. 1-ranked opponent in Chris Herron's tenure at Washburn and the first since WU defeated UNK on Sept. 15, 2018 in Topeka.
Allison Sadler [Washburn Athletics]
Sadler was named the MIAA Setter of the Week after she averaged 12.86 assists per set and finished the weekend with 90 total assists and zero errors for a .415 setting percentage. In the win at Nebraska-Kearney, she recorded a double-double with 58 assists and 12 digs to go with three assisted blocks and a service ace. This marks the second time in Sadler's career that she has earned an MIAA weekly award, as she was named the conference Specialist of the Week on Oct. 28, 2019.
