By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman's volleyball team has never really been at full strength this fall, with Tatiana Dowling's Vikings fighting through a series of injuries.
But Seaman persevered to earn a third straight berth in this weekend's Class 5A state tournament berth at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina, which makes Dowling extremely proud of what the Vikings have been able to accomplish.
Seaman's volleyball team displays its Class 5A sub-state trophy for fans after winning last Saturday's title at Seaman. [Photo by Sarah Carson/Special to TSN]
Seaman will take a 30-8 record into this weekend's Class 5A state volleyball tournament at Salina, the Vikings' third straight state tournament berth. [Photo by Sarah Carson/TSN]
"I think any time you have to deal with as much adversity as we've had as far as the injury bug goes that you have a lot to be proud of when we're at the point that we're at this season,'' Dowling said.
The Vikings have been without junior Hope Dapkiewicz all season and lost sophomore Ava Esser to an ACL injury early in the year while junior standout Taylin Stallbaumer missed significant time early in the season and other players were sidelined at various times throughout the regular season.
"We've had people out with various injuries throughout the year, whether it's a concussion or a back injury that sat out some games randomly at tournaments,'' Dowling said.
But the silver lining to Seaman's injury woes is that several underclassmen were able to step up and help keep the United Kansas Conference champions on track..
"We played a lot of younger kids because we had so many injuries, especially with some of our upperclassmen and people that we relied on, so I felt it made us a deeper lineup,'' Dowling said. "Looking forward, if we need them in the postseason and definitely in the years to come, it will make them more experienced.''
Seaman, 30-8 on the season, earned the No. 6 seed for this year's state tournament and will open Pool II play at 3:30 p.m. Friday against No. 3 seed Maize South (31-5).
The Vikings, who dominated last Saturday's sub-state tournament on their home floor, will also face No. 2 seed St. James Academy (33-3) and No. 7 Lansing (26-8) in pool play, with the top two finishers in both pools advancing to Saturday's 9 a.m. semifinals.
After making it to the state quarterfinals in 2020 and finishing fourth at state a year ago, the Vikings will be looking to take another big step this weekend.
To help get prepared for their state bid Seaman put together an extremely tough regular-season schedule that included matchups with some of the state's premier programs.
Of Seaman's eight losses, six came against teams that are in state tournaments in Kansas and Missouri, including a pair of matches with 6A No. 1 seed Washburn Rural as well as matchups with St. Thomas Aquinas (35-3) and St. James Academy, the No. 1 and 2 seeds in 5A.
The Viking have seven wins against teams that are headed to state and Dowling said her team is definitely battle-tested entering the state meet.
"It's definitely a goal for us to be up there and to compete,'' Dowling said. "We obviously want to win it all and that's why we schedule all those teams in our regular season, so that we can prepare for those games.
"It prepares up for what we're going to face but also in what we need to work on against those teams and what our weaknesses are so that we can adjust. We love playing teams like that. We love playing teams that are going to make us better.''
The first goal this weekend is to make is to Saturday and the state semifinals.
"We make mini-goals and our first goal was to get to Friday,'' Dowling said. "Now that we've gotten to Friday we'll make our next goal to get to Saturday and fom there we'll keep setting mini-goals until we accomplish them all, hopefully.''
CLASS 5A STATE VOLLEYBALL
At Tony's Pizza Events Center, Salina
FRIDAY POOL PLAY
Pool I (Court A)
3:30 p.m. -- Andover Central (4: 33-7) vs. Hutchinson (5: 30-7)
4:30 -- St. Thomas Aquinas (1: 35-3) vs. Bishop Carroll (8: 28-9).
5:30 -- Andover Central vs. Bishop Carroll.
6:30 -- St. Thomas Aquinas vs. Hutchinson
7:30 p.m. -- Hutchinson vs. Bishop Carroll.
8:30 -- St. Thomas Aquinas vs. Andover Central.
Pool II (Court B)
3:30 p.m. -- Maize South (3: 31-5) vs. Seaman (6: 30-8).
4:30 -- St. James Academy (2: 33-3) vs. Lansing (7: 26-8).
5:30 -- Maize South vs. Lansing
6:30 -- St. James Academy vs. Seaman
7:30 p.m. -- Seaman vs. Lansing
8:30 -- St. James Academy vs. Maize South
SATURDAY
1 p.m. -- Semifinals
(Consolation and championship matches will begin 25 minutes after last semifinal has concluded)
