Seaman volleyball rolls to triangular sweep, improves to 14-2
Seaman’s volleyball team is on a roll, reeling off 12 straight wins to improve to 14-2 after a pair of dominating straight-set Centennial League victories in Tuesday’s home triangular.
But Seaman coach Tatiana Schafer, whose Vikings were ranked eighth in last week’s Kansas Volleyball Association Class 5A rankings, knows that things are going to get a lot tougher, including a loaded field for Saturday’s Seaman tournament, and she’s fine with that.
The Vikings rolled to a 25-6, 25-5 win over Highland Park and a 25-11, 25-5 win over fourth-ranked (4A) Hayden and will now turn their attention to Saturday’s six-school round-robin tournament, which includes five teams (including Seaman) that were ranked in last week’s state rankings.
“Obviously it’s nice to win and it’s fun to win, but the tough games are the ones that you live for when you’re playing and when you’re coaching,’’ Schafer said. ”And those are ones that are really enjoyable and make it all worthwhile and those are the ones where you really see improvement.
“This weekend should be really tough for us. There’s a lot of really good competition, but we’re looking forward to it.’’
Schafer said the key Tuesday was to continue progressing as a team, a goal she felt like the Vikings achieved for the most part.
“I felt like we did in all aspects except for our serving,’’ Schafer said. ”We had quite a few serving errors tonight, which I felt like could have been better, but I liked the fact that we came out and set the pace, which was something we talked about, making sure that we play at that pace we want and keep the other team on their heels and make sure we’re always the team attacking.’’
Seaman jumped out to a 14-0 first-set lead over Highland Park behind the serving of freshman Taylin Stallbaumer and the Vikings went on to lead 19-1 before closing out the win on a Stallbaumer kill.
Seaman led 10-1 and 17-4 in the second set before ending the match on a kill from junior Drew Baxter.
The Vikings also dominated Hayden, which was playing without senior All-Stater Dejah Miller (knee injury).
Seaman took a 9-4 first-set lead over the Wildcats on a service ace from senior Camryn Turner and took a 15-7 advantage on back-to-back kills from Baxter.
A Stallbaumer ace put Seaman in front 17-8 and the Vikings ended the set on a Turner kill.
The Vikings took a 12-2 lead over the Wildcats in the second set and went up 18-4 on a Turner ace and 22-5 after back-to-back kills from freshman Brooklyn Gormley and Stallbaumer en route to the 20-point victory.
Hayden (5-10) went 1-1 on the night after a 25-2, 25-11 win over Highland Park in its first match of the night.
Wildcat junior Abby Dodd served 15 straight points to help Hayden open up a 16-0 first-set lead over the winless Scots, who got a late start on the year due to a coronavirus-related quarantine.
Hayden went in front 24-1 on a long service run from junior Sandy Anguiano, including multiple aces, and the Wildcats closed out the set on a kill from junior Jadyn Paige Falley.
Highland Park played its best volleyball of the night in its second set against Hayden, putting together a mini-run to get within 20-11 before the Wildcats closed out the match.
Hayden coach Josh Schmitz said his team is still learning to play without Miller, a two-time All-City pick, but said the Wildcats need to fight harder than they did against Seaman, particularly in the second set.
“I keep telling the girls there’s no quitting and we seemed to quit a little bit tonight, but we can’t do that because we’re a much better team than we showed tonight,’’ Schmitz said.
“We’re going to get after it in practice tomorrow and the rest of the week and come back for our next meet (Saturday at Seaman) ready to go.’’
In addition to Seaman and Hayden, Saturday’s tournament field will include Lansing (No. 3 in 5A), Spring Hill (No. 4 in 5A), Silver Lake (No. 8 in 3A) and Manhattan.
MATCH RESULTS
Seaman def. Highland Park, 25-6, 25-5; Hayden def. Highland Park, 25-2, 25-11; Seaman def. Hayden, 25-11, 25-5.
