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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman volleyball got through a tough early-season stretch without senior star Maegan Mills and is now back at full strength and beginning to flash the form that produced the first Class 5A state championship in school history last fall.
Mills, the reigning Topeka Shawnee County Player of the Year and a 5A All-Stater, missed the Vikings' first three matches after suffering a minor knee injury in Seaman's jamboree, but Seaman went a respectable 2-1 during that stretch and has not lost since, improving to 6-1 with a sweep of Thursday's home quadrangular.
Seaman celebrates a point in Thursday's volleyball quadrangular sweep on the Vikings' home court. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Seaman, ranked third in 5A by the Kansas Volleyball Association, opened its night with a 25-19, 25-14 win over Manhattan, followed by a 25-14, 25-21 decision over Silver Lake and a 25-14, 25-17 win over Shawnee Heights.
"You never complain when you go 3-0 against some pretty decent teams,'' Seaman coach Tatiana Dowling said. "I think that we definitely have our stuff that we've got to work on -- defensively, connecting with our hitters, speeding up our offense -- but I'm happy with how they stayed calm, cool and collected no matter what the situation is.
"I think that their experience really shows in those situations. They don't seem rattled.''
Seaman senior Maegan Mills spikes the ball in Thursday's quadrangular sweep at Seaman. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Mills, who has orally committed to Tulsa, also gave her team passing grades for its performance thus far, but is expecting more as the season moves on.
"I think we're doing pretty good,'' said Mills, who has committed to Tulsa. "I would say we definitely have a lot of ways to improve. We've worked on blocking a lot, but I think today we blocked pretty well. Our defense has been struggling a bit but we've just been doing a lot of defensive work in practice and we just need to work on coming out strong.
"The first couple of games we kind of came out kind of weak in a sense and we've just been focusing on coming out strong. We have our areas where we need to improve, but it's been a really good season so far.''
Mills said Seaman realizes that teams will be shooting for the Vikings as the defending state champion, but she said her team is up to the challenge.
"I would say we know there's pressure, but I don't think we feel it,'' Mills said. "We just know that everyone's going to come in guns blazing and they're not going to lay off so, we have to come out stronger and just really focus on our side and keep our errors down and that just comes from being a mentally strong team.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Silver Lake junior football standout Dayne Johnson and Seaman sophomore girls tennis standout Emma Sweeney have been selected by the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency as the Rising Stars of the Week.
The Dan Key Agency will recognize top Shawnee County underclassmen throughout the bulk of the 2024-2025 school year.
Here’s a brief look at the accomplishments of Johnson and Sweeney over the past week:
Silver Lake junior Dayne Johnson has been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency male Rising Star of the Week after helping lead the Eagles to a 33-26 season-opening overtime win over Rossville. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
DAYNE JOHNSON, Silver Lake
Johnson, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound wide receiver/safety, helped lead Silver Lake to a 33-26 overtime victory over rival Rossville in last Friday's season-opener.
Johnson caught 11 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns in the Eagles' win, catching 5 and 56-yard TD passes from Silver Lake senior quarterback Dysen Schooler.
As a sophomore Johnson earned first-team All-Mid-East League recognition and received All-Shawnee County honorable mention.
EMMA SWEENEY, Seaman
Sweeney opened her sophomore tennis season with the No. 1 singles championship in last Wednesday's Seaman Invitational.
Sweeney went 3-0 on the day, posting back-to-back 8-0 wins before taking an 8-3 win over Topeka High standout Madeline Deters to win the title.
Sweeney finished her freshman season with an 11th-place state finish in singles in the Class 5A state tournament after finishing second in the United Kansas Conference and 5A regional tournaments and third in the city meet in No. 1 singles.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn Universtity women's soccer team will hit the road for the first time in the 2024 season with weekend contests against the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs and Wayne State College Wildcats.
Washburn will face the Mustangs at 3 p.m. on Friday in Marshall, Minn. and the Wildcats at 1 p.m. on Sunday in Wayne, Neb.
Senior Cloe Quintana (16) scored Washburn's lone goal in a 2-1 loss to Maryville on Sunday. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Ichabods will be looking for to crack the victory column after dropping a pair of home contests last weekend, 2-0 to Missouri-St. Louis and 2-1 to Maryville.
This is the second season in a row that Washburn has played Southwest Minnesota State and Wayne State, hosting both schools last year at Yager Stadium. The Ichabods defeated the Mustangs 4-0 and the Wildcats 4-1.
Despite last weekend's losses, Washburn out-shot both opponents. The Ichabods led Missouri-St. Louis in shots by an 11-3 margin, with both teams recording three shots on goal. Washburn led Maryville 13-6, with the Ichabods recording six shots on goal to the Saints' four.
Senior Cloe Quintana recorded her first collegiate goal in the against Maryville. Quintana has made 61 appearances in her career for the Ichabods, tallying 3,294 minutes played.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University volleyball got off to a bit of a slow start in last Thursday's season-opening match against Sioux Falls (S.D.), dropping the first two sets in two-point nailbiters.
After opening the season with a 3-0 start in the Kansas City Classic, Washburn volleyball will attempt to continue that hot streak Friday and Saturday in Colorado. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
But Chris Herron's Ichabods turned the tables in a hurry, dominating the final three sets to knock off the Cougars before taking 3-0 sweeps over Winona State and William Jewell the next two days to finish off a perfect 3-0 performance in the Kansas City Classic.
"After we lost the first two sets, most of the time I'm kind of a lunatic at that point, but I just said, 'Look, here's the deal. When we came here, what did we have to do do? We had to win three sets, right? So let's just win three sets now,' '' Herron said.
"We made some changes. We had a couple of kids that I gave them the opportunity to start and they didn't respond very well so we took them out and put in two freshmen (Emery Keebaugh and Brynne Topolski) and those two kids, I don't want to say they ignited us, but man, they played well. Both of them played exceptionally well and kind of solidified the rest of the offense.''
Now the Ichabods will be looking to continue their hot start in Friday and Saturday's Mountaineer Volleyball Classic in Gunnison, Colo.
"I really feel good going into this weekend about not just the kids that played the vast majority of time, but what's happened was this week in practice there's been a huge uptick,'' Herron said. "The kids that didn't play say, 'Well, I want to play,' and the kids that didn't play also see, 'OK, here's the level of competition and I need to get to that level of competion and now I can see what he's been saying all along. Now I just need to go ahead and buy in, basically.' ''
The Ichabods will play four matches over the two-day tournament, beginning with a match against host Western Colorado at 11 a.m. (Mountain time) on Friday before finishing the day against Fort Lewis College (7 p.m. MST).
Washburn will face Western New Mexico (11 a.m. MST) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (3 p.m. MST) to wrap up the tournament.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka High reigned supreme in Tuesday's Topeka West tennis quadrangular at Kossover Tennis Center, with the Trojans topping city foes West, Shawnee Heights and Highland Park.
Topeka High won 11 of 12 matches on the day, taking 4-0 wins over Shawnee Heights and Highland Park and a 3-1 win over Topeka West.
Madeline Deters went 3-0 in No. 1 singles in Tuesday's Topeka West quadrangular, helping Topeka High go 3-0 as a team on the day. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Hailey Caryl teamed with Ava Ritter to go 3-0 in No. 1 doubles in Tuesday's Topeka West quadrangular, helping Topeka High go undefeated on the day. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Ava Ritter teamed with Hailey Caryl to go 3-0 in No. 1 doubles in Tuesday's Topeka West quadrangular, helping Topeka High go 3-0 as a team. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
High No. 1 singles player Madeline Deters, the No. 1 doubles team of Hailey Caryl and Ava Ritter and the No. 2 doubles team of Cora Ambrose and Sophia Ambrose all went 3-0 on the day while No. 2 singles player Gabby Falk went 2-1.
Host Topeka West finished second in the quad, taking a 4-0 win over Highland Park and a 3-1 win over Shawnee Heights.
West's Kailyn Bidwell went 3-0 in No. 2 singles for the Chargers.
TOPEKA WEST TENNIS QUADRANGULAR
