Going into the 2021 volleyball season, Beloit coach Brandy Paul knew she had something good on her hands despite losing her top-two hitters off last year's 22-11 team that lost in the sub-state semifinals.
 
It took just one match to confirm that notion. Beloit opened the season with an epic 19-25, 25-17, 25-19, 21-25, 16-14 victory over TMP-Marian, which was ranked No. 3 in the Class 3A Kansas Volleyball Association preseason poll.
 
"That was huge," Paul said. "We are always battling it out with TMP. They have a great program and a great coach. I think that was a great confidence builder. As a coach, you can tell them how much you see that they can be a special team, but then you get a win like that and they start believing."
 
And just like that, the team Paul thought she had materialized. After picking up a win over Ellis on Tuesday, Beloit is 27-7 heading into the homestretch of its schedule. 
 
"I thought we could be here," Paul said. "It just depended on how well we developed. We had our veteran players and some younger players. … I saw this group being something special this summer if we could keep developing and getting better each week and they put in the time. We've really been hitting our peak the last couple of weeks."
 
Not only are the Trojans hitting a peak, they're also hitting some pretty lofty milestones.

 
In a North Central Activities Association sweep of Southeast of Saline in late September, senior setter Makenzie Travis recorded her 2,000^th career assist, a total she's since pushed to 2,243.
 
In Tuesday's win over Ellis, senior libero Trinity McMillan went over the 500-dig mark for the second straight season. With 508 digs this season, she's well withing rance of the single-season record of 547 set by Breezy Schroeder in 2018 and already has surpassed last year's total of 502.
 
Freshman teammate Addison Budke joined her own 500 club on Tuesday as well, pounding out 22 kills in the win over Ellis to get to 519 for the season. That's just one away from the school single-season record of 520 set by Shea Larson two years ago and ranks her No. 1 in Kansas in kills (18^th nationally for schools reporting stats on MaxPreps).
 
"Most of those records came in the postseason so we're way ahead of schedule with them," Paul said. "I knew Addie coming in would be something, but you never know with a freshman how they'll respond to varsity. She has kind of gone above and beyond what we thought. We knew she had that potential, but we didn't know she's reach it her freshman year."
 
Team milestones also have been hit. Last Tuesday's sweep of Ellsworth locked up the Trojans' sixth straight NCAA league championship. Beloit has won 43 consecutive league matches and 69 of the last 70 league contests – its last league loss coming to Republic County in 2017.
 
"We put quite a bit of emphasis on taking care of our league and our Tuesdays," Paul said. "That's just kind of become the tradition and the mind set they have developed. And it's at every level, not just the varsity."
 
Beloit wraps up league play next Tuesday against Republic County before heading into the postseason.
 
Of Beloit's seven losses this season, five have come to teams ranked No. 1 in their respective classes – Class 3A No. 1 Smoky Valley, Class 2A No. 1 Smith Center (twice) and Class 1A Division II No. 1 Hanover (twice). The Trojans have also beaten Smith Center and Hanover, both of those wins coming at the Concordia Invitational where they bounced back from a pool-play loss to Smith Center to beat Hanover 25-19, 27-25 in the semifinals and Smith Center 26-24, 15-25, 25-22 in the finals.
 
"Our tournaments have been hard, like state tournaments," Paul said. "But that's great. Without those tournaments and that competition I wouldn't have seen what I needed to change and adjust to be where we're at right now."
 
Even with a strong resume, Beloit is not ranked in Class 3A. The Trojans were as high as No. 4 early in the season, but have since slipped out. 
 
"We are kind of flying under the radar," Paul said. "But I don't mind."
 

• Little River wrapped up the Wheat State League title last week with a sweep of Rural Vista (25-17, 25-16) and Herington (25-18, 24-26, 25-11). Little River and Herington went into the night undefeated in league play but the Redskins pulled out the three-set win behind a big performance from outside hitter Alaina Eck. Eck had 18 kills on 35 attempts with only two errors in the Herington match and also came up big defensively with 13 digs. Little River improved to 25-3 on the season overall.
• Southern Coffey County claimed the title at the Uniontown Invitational last weekend, sweeping Marmaton Valley, Northeast-Arma, Galena and Colony-Crest. Junior middle hitter Josie Weers recorded 64 kills at the tourney while senior setter Callie Johnson had 92 assists.
• After clinching the Centennial League title a week ago, Washburn Rural navigated another tough week, taking a 25-8, 25-9, 26-24 win over defending state runner-up Olathe Northwest before winning the title at the Derby Invitational. In the championship match at Derby, the Junior Blues topped previously unbeaten Wichita Northwest 25-20, 25-11. Rural is 27-0 and No. 1 in Class 6A and ranked nationally.
• Basehor-Linwood's Mila Seaton broke the school record for career kills at the Oct. 2 Ottawa Invitational where the Bobcats went 4-1 with the lone loss to ranked Maize South. Seaton, a junior, had 62 kills at the tournament and now has 310 this season and 849 in her career, topping the old school record of 782.
• Bishop Ward went 3-1 and took first at the Wyandotte County Tournament last Saturday, keyed by senior Abby Hill. 

 
 
Wamego golfers riding high going into state tournament
 
Already winners of five of its seven regular-season tournaments, Wamego got an extra boost of momentum going into next week's Class 4A state tournament at Monday's regional meet at Clay Center.
 
State runner-up a year ago, Wamego served notice it will be in the hunt again for this year's title at Salina Municipal Golf Course. The Red Raiders not only won their third straight regional championship, but did so in record-setting style.
 
Placing all six golfers in the top 11, Wamego posted a team score of 358 to beat runner-up Hayden by 30 shots. The team score was a school record for the Red Raiders, topping a 366 they posted last season. Wamego's best team score this season was a 373, though earlier this season the Red Raiders also set the school's 9-hole team score record with a 174.
 
Kirby McKee paced Wamego with an 86 to take third, while Sara Springer was fourth with an 89 and Ashten Pierson took fifth with a 90. Trista Hoobler also finished in the top 10 in seventh (93).
 

• Hayden's runner-up finish continued a strong finish by the Wildcats, who were second at the KC Piper Invitational and then won the Basehor-Linwood Invitational. Kate Roeder and Hannah Reynoldson medalled in both meets while Avery Grunert led the Wildcats at regional in sixth with a 91 while Roeder tied for seventh.
• Silver Lake captured its fourth straight Class 3-2-1A regional championship, posting a team score of 417 to win the Council Grove regional by two shots over Council Grove. Santa Fe Trail's Braegen Buessing was the individual regional champion with a 91, five shots ahead of Cheney's Kaitlyn Fowler. Osage City's Olivia Phillips, who took up golf this summer, tied for third.
• Washburn Rural placed two in the top four and six in the top 16 to run away with the Class 6A regional title at Heritage Park Golf Course in Olathe. Aliyah North shot an 81 to lead the Junior Blues with a runner-up finish to Olathe West's Elizabeth Lyons by a stroke, while Avery Scott was fourth with an 83 as Rural posted a 345 team score to win by 14 shots over Olathe West.
• Seaman's Lois Deeter tied for second at the Class 5A regional at Cypress Ridge Golf Course in Topeka, shooting a 75 to finish five shots behind Kapaun Mt. Carmel's Kate Tilma. Emporia's Avary Eckert was fifth and both Seaman and Emporia qualified as teams along with Kapaun and Bishop Carroll with Seaman counting on two JV golfers stepping in to replace sick teammates.

 
Perfection awaits?
 
Putting undefeated records on the line at last week's regional meets, Chapman's Elyssa Frieze and Seaman's Grace Unruh and Lauren Sweeney emerged with those unblemished marks still in tact.
 
Frieze captured the singles title at the Class 4A regional at El Dorado, going 3-0 on the day. Frieze won her first two matches in dominating 6-0, 6-0 fashion before taking a 6-2, 6-0 win over Wellington's Kim Reichenberger in the finals. Frieze will take a 26-0 record into this weekend's state tournament in Winfield and is the highest returning placer from last year's 4A state tournament where she took fifth.
 
Unruh and Sweeney, meanwhile, claimed their second straight regional championship with the doubles title at the Vikings' home Class 5A regional. The Viking duo improved to 32-0 and dropped just one game on the day, taking a 6-0, 6-0 win in the finals against Emporia's Lillee Frank and Kaitlyn Vasquez.
 
Seaman swept the titles at the regional with Nina Del-Zio beating teammate Katie Krummins for the singles title with a 6-4, 6-1 win. The Vikings ran away with the team title, scoring 20 points to double up runner-up Shawnee Heights.
 

• Hayden freshman Ainzley Zulueta avenged one of her regular season losses in the singles final of the Class 4A regional held at Topeka's Kossover Tennis Center to capture the tourney title. Zulueta dropped just one game in reaching the finals before knocking off top-seeded Breanna Quigley of Bishop Miege 6-2, 6-1. Hayden also won the doubles title as Lauren Sandstrom and Emily Sheetz downed Miege's Livi Shull and Claire Winklhofer 6-1, 6-4 in the finals. Hayden and Miege each scored 20 points to tie for the team title.
• Sacred Heart's Isabella Matteucci and Katie Weiss continued their quest for a Class 3-2-1A doubles state title, taking the title at the Hillsboro regional with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Smoky Valley's Karee Adam and Campbell Gaskill. Hesston's Gracie Dawes topped Marysville's Shea Kramer 6-2, 6-4 for the singles title at the regional, while Rossville's Alivia Sherer beat Maranatha's Olivra Favero for third.
• Manhattan's Jillian Harkin had no trouble capturing her third straight Class 6A regional singles title, handling Washburn Rural's Sheriden Wichman 6-1, 6-1 in the finals of the Topeka High regional. Rural claimed the team title, going 1-2 in doubles with Kate Fritz and Meredith Kucera topping teammates Shelby Smutzler and Hailey Beck 6-3, 6-4 in the finals.
• The match of the Topeka High regional, however, belonged to Topeka High's doubles team of Mary Dietrick and McCall Beall. In a match to clinch a state berth, the Trojan duo battled back from being down 4-6, 1-5 (15-30) to pull out a three-set victory in a match that took 3 hours and 40 minutes. "It was the longest match in my 29 years of coaching," High coach Duane Pomeroy said of the eventual 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 High victory. "It was enjoyable to watch as all four girls, dead tired, but found a way to fight on."
• Ellsworth's Nicole Haase captured the singles title at the WaKeeney Class 3-2-1A regional, improving to 26-2 on the season with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Wakeeney-Trego's Caroline Brungardt in the championship match.
• Basehor-Linwood's Bella Zarate became the school's first-ever tennis state qualifier, taking fourth at the Seaman 5A regional.

 
 
Washburn Rural sweeps Topeka City Championships
 
Depth can go a long way in cross country, especially when it rises to the top.
 
Washburn Rural's girls finished 1-2-3 at the Topeka City Championships last Saturday and put five in the top 10. That was enough to hold off Seaman, which followed the Junior Blues' top trio with four straight finishers and had six in the top 12.
 
Madeline Carter led Rural's charge, winning her second straight city crown with a time of 18:14.9, nearly 15 seconds ahead of teammate Khloi Bird and 28 seconds ahead of third-place teammate Payton Fink. Seaman followed with Bethany Druse in fourth, Joslyn Grace in fifth, Emma Schultz in sixth and Stella Appelhanz in seventh.
 
Rural also won the boys' team title, riding its depth. Alexander Holmes was the highest individual placer for the Junior Blues in fourth, but Rural put four in the top 12 to beat Hayden.
 
The Wildcats were led by individual champion Tanner Newkirk, who also won his second straight city title. Newkirk finished in 15:22.0 to win by 20 seconds over Shawnee Heights' Kory Sutton, who set a school record in his runner-up time of 15:41.8.
 

• Central Heights sophomore Emma Cubit captured her first-ever varsity title, winning the crown at the Pleasanton Invitational. Cubit, who missed her freshman season with an injury, improved her career-best time by 34 seconds and bested the field by nearly a minute with her winning time of 21:17.20.
• Sacred Heart senior Maddie Ehrlich picked up a big victory at the Ellsworth Invitational, beating Minneapolis standout Alayna Cossaart to win the girls' race. Ehrlich finished in 21:09.1 to top Cossaart by 25 seconds.
• Wamego's boys added another meet title to their ledger, taking first at the Sabetha Invitational. The Red Raiders placed four in the top seven, led by a 3-4-5 finish from Noah Morenz, Brady Stegman and Emery Wolfe. Marysville's Silas Miller took the boys' individual title in 16:34.31, while Baldwin's Riley Smith was the girls' winner in 20:37.47, leading a 1-3-4 Bulldog finish.
• West Franklin's Emma Bailey led a 1-2-3 Falcon finish at the Osage City Invitational, winning in 20:23.03 and followed by teammates Lily Judd and Hope Crabtree. Hunter Bailey made it a clean sweep for the Falcons with the boys title, winning by two seconds over Silver Lake's Cameron TenEyck in 17:09.32. West Franklin swept the team titles as well.
• Southeast of Saline posted a clean sweep of the titles at the Riley County Invitational on Saturday. Jentrie Alderson led a 1-2 finish in the girls race with Abby Commerford with Alderson winning in 19:07.84. Dylan Sprecker led four Trojans in the top five in the boys' race, winning by 44 seconds over Council Grove's Kodi Downes in 16:22.43.

 
 
Rural soccer extends streak
 
Washburn Rural got a scare, but its Centennial League streak is alive and well.
 
Needing overtime to beat league rival Seaman 2-1 last Tuesday, the Junior Blues followed with a 10-0 shutout of Topeka West on Thursday. That wrapped up Rural's 27^th consecutive league title, a streak that began in 1995.
 
Ashton Rake scored the game-winner against Seaman in overtime, putting back a header attempt by Porter Schafersman off a corner kick. Schafersman picked up his fourth hat trick of the season in the win over West, while Easton Bradstreet and Griffin Heinen each added two goals.
 
Rural is now 13-0-0 on the season.