By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural continued its outstanding volleyball season with a pair of impressive wins over Seaman and Olathe West on Thursday night at Rural.
The Lady Blues' Senior Night wins over Olathe West and Seaman were as hard-earned and as sweet as it gets.
Washburn Rural is the No. 1 team in Class 6A for a reason. The Lady Blues have taken down imposing teams throughout the entire 2022 campaign. Washburn Rural welcomed Class 5A No. 3/United Kansas Conference champion, Seaman, and Class 6A No. 3 Olathe West on Thursday.
Washburn Rural volleyball celebrates a point during Thursday's triangular sweep over Olathe West and Seaman at Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
“Every match has its ups and downs, luckily we had a lot more ups than we did downs,” Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. “Olathe West is one of the tallest teams we’ve seen all year. It also seemed like Seaman was just as tall. I thought we played well against Olathe West and we had to battle against Seaman.
“We allowed (Seaman) to go on too many big runs. I think we allowed three runs to Seaman of four or more points. We can’t allow those big runs because a team like Seaman will get you on that.”
Washburn Rural had its way in both sets against Olathe West. The Lady Blues only trailed one time (1-0) throughout the entire two sets. Chloe Carlgren, Brooklyn DeLeye, Layla Collins and the entire Washburn Rural squad dominated the match.
Washburn Rural wouldn’t have it any easier with Seaman coming up next.
The Lady Vikes also took two out of three sets against Olathe West during the triangular. Seaman overpowered and outlasted Olathe West in a highly competitive match victory over the Owls.
In the first set between former Centennial League foes, Washburn Rural got the best of the Lady Vikes. While Seaman was able to jump out to an early lead, the Lady Blues was able to put up a 5-point run that would give them a cushion.
Seaman senior Laynee Brown sets the ball during Thursday's volleyball triangular at Washburn Rual. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman couldn’t respond to Washburn Rural’s early firepower and the Lady Blues would take a 25-16 first-set victory.
DeLeye, Jada Ingram and Taylor Russell dominated the first set, giving the Lady Blues a huge confidence boost heading into the second set.
Seaman wouldn’t lay down and give up to the Lady Blues in the second set.
While the Lady Vikes found themselves in an early deficit, they were able to crawl out of the deficit and gain momentum.
Meagan Mills, Taylin Stallbaumer, Reagan McGivern, Brooklyn Gormley and the remainder of the Lady Vikes wouldn’t let off the gas after a 4-point run.
Clutch play from Seaman and never giving up on the ball allowed the Lady Vikes to beat the Junior Blues in the second set, 25-18.
The third set was a thrilling matchup. The final set had several ties and lead changes early in the contest. No matter how big of a lead the Lady Blues jumped out to in the final set Seaman was able to stick around.
The back-and-forth contest would fall in the favor of Washburn Rural in the end, winning the set, 25-20.
Washburn Rural finished the triangular 2-0, Seaman went 1-1 and Olathe West went 0-2.
MATCH RESULTS
Washburn Rural defeated Olathe West, 25-12, 25-19; Seaman defeated Olathe West, 25-23, 16-25, 25-18; Washburn Rural defeated Seaman, 25-16, 18-25, 25-20.
